Theoretical aspects of the spectator role in James Britton's (1970) model of language use are explored within a perspective based primarily on the work of George Kelly, Susanne Langer, Jean Piaget, Michael Polanyi, and Denys Harding. This view is amplified in a series of empirical studies based on stories told by children between the ages of two and five, and on written and oral responses to repertory grids and open-ended questionnaires by six, nine, thirteen, and seventeen year olds and from five schools. Separate samples of eleven, thirteen, and sixteen year olds were drawn for a supplementary study of various spectator-role genres and media. Developmental changes center in: (1) the relationship between spectator-role experience and the life of the individual; (2) knowledge of the conventions of spectator-role discourse; and (3) the complexity of the experience (both personal and literary) over which a person has mastery. Spectator-role discourse emerges as a separate mode of language use at a very early age, but there is only a gradual separation of spectator-role experience from other life experiences. Not until adolescence is such discourse clearly a way to present possibilities rather than to describe reality. (Author)