Story reading and storytelling as effective ways for learning of English language
Teaching English in public elementary schools in our country is a job that has been haphazard. English in these schools can be taught by people with no English language proficiency, not to mention any language teaching background. This situation is affecting the quality of the English programs in the schools and the approach to students’ learning of that foreign language. In order to make this situation a little better it is north to implement of story reading and storytelling as a teaching tool for teaching English to young learners.
Children are considered natural language learners; according to second language acquisition theory, they can learn faster and with much less difficulty than adults, but they should be exposed to natural learning environments, to real communication situations and to special teaching practices that make learning a meaningful, enjoyable and lifelong process. Teaching should be focused on children and on. The development of their communicative skills that will enable them to communicate meanings and messages in real social contexts. Some outstanding methods such as Total Physical Response (TPR) and Natural Approach help children to learn the language in such a way.
Storytelling
The use of storytelling in the L2 classroom creates a good learning environment and provides meaningful and comprehensible input. “Through stories, the language acquisition device is activated and it is easy for children to induce the language elements from the data provided by the stories” (Krashen, 1981, p. 78). Storytelling has special pedagogical values for the foreign language classroom, as Rossiter (2002, p. 1) points out below “Stories are effective as educational tools because they are believable, rememberable, and entertaining. The believability stems from the fact that stories deal with human-like experience that we tend to perceive as an authentic and credible source of knowledge. Stories make information more rememberable because they involve us in actions of the characters. In so doing, stories invite active meaning making. Language learners can benefit from storytelling because stories help them to develop the ability to understand spoken language and engage in thinking skills. Through the stories, the learners become aware of cultural values different from theirs, sharpen their memory and develop the ability to predict. Telling stories provides the opportunities for students to speak the foreign language creatively, integrate information and knowledge they learn from other sources, and become more confident in the ability to express themselves spontaneously.
According to Curtain & Dahlberg (2004), “storytelling can provide experience with the interpretive mode for children, even at very early stages of language acquisition, when the stories meet the following criteria: the story is highly predictable or familiar to the children from their native culture, with a large proportion of previously learned vocabulary” (p.56). In early stages it is especially helpful to choose stories that include vocabulary representing the home and the school environments of the children.
The story is repetitive, making use of formulas and patterns that occur regularly and predictably. In the best stories chosen, these repeated elements provide language that children can use later for their own expressive purpose. Cameron (2001, p. 163) defines this repetitive pattern in a story as parallelism. “The pattern of predictability + surprise, or repetition + change is often reflected in patterns of repetition of the language. This repeated pattern, or parallelism, creates a way into the story for the active listener, as well as providing a natural support for language learning.” The stories are memorable, as the language is repeated, and this encourages students to participate. This recycling of patterns incites students to predict what is coming next in the story and, at the same time, exercises their imagination. In addition, Lipton (1998, p. 129) echoes the idea of active participation on the part of the students by saying that the ideal story “should have a short refrain that is repeated periodically throughout the story, so that after a while the children naturally chime in and repeat the refrain without being asked”.
When stories meet these criteria it is much easier for students to make meaning clear not only because the stories are related to their real life environment but also because the use of pantomime and body language makes the story more comprehensible for the students. On the other hand, stories contain patterns that help students to get familiar with and internalize the new language.
Story Reading
Reading stories aloud allows children to make connections between oral language and the print that represent that oral language. While reading aloud, the teacher should point to the word or line to emphasize those connections. The purpose of reading stories is to give students oral language input and a bridge to literacy in the new language. For reading stories in the early language stages, the teacher should first do a lot of pre-reading work which prepares the learner to be able to understand the story. This pre-reading work is focused on building up vocabulary through different kinds of activities such as games, puzzles, matching activities, songs and other sorts of activities that help students to become familiar with the new language. After reading the story aloud, the learner can be involved in a variety of post-reading tasks and language activities which can make the story more comprehensible and move them from receptive skills (listening and reading) to productive skills (speaking and writing). A very good tool for reading stories aloud is the use of big books. Curtain & Dahlberg (2004) describe what a big book is: “A big book is an enlarged piece of commercial or student-made literature, intended to recreate the intimacy and good feelings of one-on-one “read-aloud” sessions with an entire class. So they are large enough so that the entire class can see and share in the experience. Most big books have a predictable story line with strong rhythm, rhyme, repeated patterns, logical sequence and supportive illustrations.”
When reading aloud, big books play an important role since they can be a good source for teacher and students to make connections between the pictures and the written text. The pictures in the big books help children a lot because they can associate pictures and words and arrive at a better understanding of the story. A story is more memorable if it can be related to a sequence of pictures. Big books become a very engaging tool for reading aloud; they are made up of great illustrations that help students make sense of the story as well as make predictions. They include short texts with repeated patterns that allow students to internalize the new vocabulary and structures in an enjoyable and unconscious way. Children like listening to stories over and over again; this repetition allows them to acquire certain language items and reinforce others unconsciously. Using stories allows teachers to introduce new vocabulary by exposing children to the language in different contexts, thereby enriching their thinking skills and introducing them to the productive skills. Also, as noted by Ellis & Brewster (2002), many stories have natural repetition of key vocabulary and structures that helps children remember details and learn to anticipate what is about to happen next in the story.
Repetitive stories are particularly easy for children to memorize. Repetition helps children learn the patterns and structure of a story and, eventually, word recognition. Repetition makes books predictable and helps develop vocabulary and sequencing. Repetitive patterns can be the schema for students’ comprehension of the children’s story and for being able to predict the action in the plot and the ending. The recurring phrases and events can aid their understanding and memory. In addition, the repetition featured in the text is a great way for children to improve their reading skills. It also gives them a strong base to develop the confidence to move on to more interesting and complex texts.
Resources:
Cameron, L. (2001). Teaching languages to young learners.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Curtain, H., & Dahlberg, C. A. (2004). Languages and children:
Making the match. Boston: Pearson Education.
Ellis, G., & Brewster, J. (2002). Tell it again: The new
storytelling handbook for primary teachers. United
Kingdom: Pearson Education.
Krashen, S. D. (1981). Second language acquisition and
second language learning. Oxford: Pergamon Press.
Lipton, G. (1998). Practical handbook to elementary foreign
language programs. Lincolnwood, IL: National textbook.
Nunan, D. (1990). Second language teacher education.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Rossiter, M. (2002). Narrative and stories in adult teaching and
learning. (Report No. EDO-CE-02241). Washington, DC.
