{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,17]],"date-time":"2026-09-17T06:03:50Z","timestamp":1789625030091,"version":"build-2803163510"},"reference-count":51,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,17]],"date-time":"2026-09-17T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1789603200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Psychol."],"abstract":"<jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Background<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>The WHO Regional Office for Europe has increasingly recognized the potential value of arts and music participation for children\u2019s health, well-being, and development. However, how music supports children\u2019s learning when integrated with narrative activities remains insufficiently understood.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Objective<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>This review examined the practice structures, language\u2013narrative and socioemotional outcomes, and learner- and design-related conditions associated with music-supported narrative learning for children aged 3\u201312\u202fyears.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Following PRISMA 2020, Scopus, Web of Science, and ERIC were searched for English-language original empirical studies published from January 2016 to August 2026. Nineteen studies were included. Inductive thematic synthesis, outcome-oriented narrative synthesis, and cross-study explanatory synthesis were used. Quantitative and qualitative evidence were synthesized separately before integration, and cross-study relationships were interpreted as patterns of co-occurrence.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Results<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Practices included auditory enhancement of predefined narratives, sung or rhythmized text, embodied and multimodal activities, and generative music\u2013narrative creation. Language\u2013narrative findings were heterogeneous. More favorable outcomes were reported in some studies when music was functionally aligned with target language or narrative content, but this pattern was inconsistent. Socioemotional evidence more often concerned expressive, participatory, and relational affordances, especially in generative and collaborative practices.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Conclusion<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>This review integrates language\u2013narrative and socioemotional evidence within a common framework and identifies two emerging patterns\u2014information organization and expression\u2013relationship\u2014shifting attention from whether music works to which musical functions and participation structures relate to particular outcomes, although these patterns require further validation.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.3389\/fpsyg.2026.1956337","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,17]],"date-time":"2026-09-17T05:33:10Z","timestamp":1789623190000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["When music tells a story: children\u2019s language and socioemotional development through music-supported narrative learning"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"17","author":[{"given":"Rong","family":"Ma","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Chinese & ASEAN Arts School of Music and Dance, Chengdu University","place":["Chengdu, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Chuan","family":"Chen","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Music and Dance, Sichuan Technology and Business University","place":["Chengdu, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,17]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"105816","DOI":"10.1016\/j.neubiorev.2024.105816","article-title":"A framework for joint music making: Behavioral findings, neural processes, and computational models","volume":"167","author":"Abalde","year":"2024","journal-title":"Neurosci. 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