<![CDATA[Early literacy instruction in Indonesia remains dominated by conventional approaches emphasizing isolated technical skills, with minimal attention to holistic narrative competence development. This study aimed to (1) develop an Interactive Storytelling Framework grounded in emergent literacy theory, narrative theory, and sociocultural learning principles, and (2) examine its effectiveness in enhancing literacy and narrative abilities of children aged 6-7 years. A Design-Based Research approach with sequential explanatory mixed methods was employed over eight months. Participants included 267 first-grade students from three public elementary schools in Medan Denai District, North Sumatra, assigned to experimental (n=133) and control (n=134) groups using a quasi-experimental design. Results revealed statistically significant between-group differences favoring the experimental group. For literacy skills, ANCOVA showed F (1,264) =112.09, p<0.001, ηp²=0.298, Cohen's d=1.07. The experimental group achieved mean gains of 20.87 points versus 11.45 points in controls (82% greater improvement). For narrative abilities, F (1,264) =286.14, p<0.001, ηp²=0.520, Cohen's d=1.48, with experimental gains of 6.92 versus 2.84 points (144% greater improvement). Student engagement was significantly higher in the experimental group (M=14.03 vs. 11.39, d=1.51) and correlated strongly with literacy gains (r=0.628) and narrative gains (r=0.712). Thematic analysis identified five mechanisms: meaningful contextual learning, active participation, narrative metacognition development, adaptive differentiation, and real-life transfer.]]>
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