What is the MultiModal Narrative intervention?
MultiModal Narrative (MMN) is a validated educational intervention program designed to promote oral narrative language in Catalan and English, through different strategies of oral and multimodal (communication with the body) interaction. It has three versions that can be implemented at the preschool, primary, and secondary education levels.
The program has been developed based on scientific evidence and practical evidence, through processes of co-creation with teachers from Catalonia. Furthermore, it has been validated in real educational contexts, and key implementation indicators, such as feasibility and acceptability, have been assessed, reinforcing its potential for transfer and adoption in other schools.
Why the MMN intervention?
Easy to use
Materials freely available with teacher guides
Authentic language contexts
Animated short stories that are entertaining and easy to understand
Fun and engaging
Interactive and collaborative activities that include story enactment and encourage student participation
Multiple opportunities to practice
Different activities with modeling and reformulation by teachers to refine language use
Promotes learning of various language skills
Training of various language skills, such as oral expression and vocabulary
Based on evidence and scientifically validated
Activities grounded in scientific and professional evidence. Demonstrated effects on language learning
The pillars of the MMN intervention
The MultiModal Narrative intervention is based on four different pillars grounded in evidence from existing research.
Multimodality
The intervention promotes the use of natural hand gestures, bodily movements, facial expressions and the expressive use of the voice.
Guided interaction
The intervention incorporates activities for telling and retelling stories based on a guided and sequenced structure with interaction between teacher and students.
Positive feedback
The intervention promotes the use of positive feedback, through repetitions and expansions, to provide a complete linguistic model.
Audiovisual support
The intervention includes different audiovisual supports, such as animated cartoons, videos, images and icons.
Here you will find videotutorials on how these pillars are implemented:
Multimodality
Visual support: Guided interaction and positive feedback
Audiovisual support
Three versions of the MMN intervention
The MultiModal Narrative intervention is available in three different versions: each for a different audience and context
9 sessions
for preschool education
in Catalan
group and individualized implementation
24 sessions
for primary education (reception classrooms)
in Catalan
small group implementation
6 sessions
for secondary education
in English
group implementation
How is oral discourse trained in the three versions?
The three versions of the MMN intervention train oral discourse through similar activities:
Animated cartoons
Storyteller
Question & Answer
Retelling
To learn more, visit the sites for the three versions:
What is the evidence for the MMN intervention?
Multimodality contributes to improving students’ linguistic and cognitive skills.
The MMN intervention promotes the identification of the different elements of the story and fosters richer vocabulary, through sequenced narrative activities.
The use of positive feedback encourages students to feel more confident and motivated in their learning.
Audiovisual supports facilitate story comprehension, as they help visualize and structure it.
How to cite the MMN intervention?
Florit-Pons, J., Yao, T., Espejo-Álvarez, J., Folch-Claramunt, J., Gómez i Martínez, M., Vilà-Giménez, I., & Prieto, P. (2026). MultiModal Narrative . http://multimodal-narrative.upf.edu/