Crafting scenes: Improving narrative writing through imaginative embodiment and linguistic choices.

This article investigates the effectiveness of an imaginative embodiment pedagogy—an approach integrating metalinguistic understanding and cognitive stylistics concepts—to improve fifth-grade students' narrative writing by enhancing their linguistic choices for immersive, embodied effects. Conducted at a bilingual international school in Hong Kong, the study involved four experienced teachers who applied this pedagogy through one-on-one writing conferences over nine weeks with 12 students, focusing on five key narrative grammar concepts: vantage point, specificity, motion, foregrounding, and energy. Linguistic analysis of student writing samples before and after the intervention showed increased and more precise use of grammatical features associated with these embodied effects, contributing to richer, more immersive narratives that move from telling to showing. The findings suggest that teaching imaginative embodiment supports students' metalinguistic awareness and authorial agency, offering specific strategies for linking imaginative thinking with linguistic precision in upper elementary writing instruction. Limitations include the small sample size and qualitative design, indicating a need for further research on broader applicability and retention across age groups and genres.