Aim for the BestAim for the Best

Katherine Katherine 吳昭瑢 吳昭瑢 Sunny Sunny 王馨儀王馨儀Cerella Cerella 洪于晴 洪于晴 Jasmine Jasmine 馮依馮依萍萍

The Effects of Storytelling on EFL Young Learners’ Reading Comprehension and Word Recall

G-S or Problem-Solution?G-S or Problem-Solution? Problem-SolutionProblem-Solution

IntroductionIntroductionBasal reader and authentic materials from Basal reader and authentic materials from English childrenEnglish children’’s literature.s literature.

Young learners encounter difficultiesYoung learners encounter difficulties– The searching and guessing of new words is an The searching and guessing of new words is an

exhaustive task that lower the interest of reading.exhaustive task that lower the interest of reading.

– The lack of oral language may pose a difficulty to The lack of oral language may pose a difficulty to reading. (spoken language or idiomatic expression)reading. (spoken language or idiomatic expression)

One night I decided to get rid of my nightmare once for One night I decided to get rid of my nightmare once for allall

– Lack of background knowledge may impede Lack of background knowledge may impede Taiwanese young learnersTaiwanese young learners’’ reading comprehension. reading comprehension.

IntroductionIntroductionTo deal with the above possible causesTo deal with the above possible causes– the teacher needs to integrate different the teacher needs to integrate different

modalities of learning (verbal, nonverbal, and modalities of learning (verbal, nonverbal, and sensory), so that students would rely less on sensory), so that students would rely less on dictionary or translation to figure out the dictionary or translation to figure out the message.message.

This study proposesThis study proposes– that contextualized storytelling may be an that contextualized storytelling may be an

effective intervention that could increase effective intervention that could increase comprehensible oral input and employ a multi-comprehensible oral input and employ a multi-sensory approach to help meaning sensory approach to help meaning construction. construction.

IntroductionIntroductionPurpose Purpose To investigate the effects of To investigate the effects of contextualized storytellingcontextualized storytelling as a as a teacher intervention on young learnersteacher intervention on young learners’’ reading by extending to reading by extending to EFLEFL context in the context in the realm of reading instruction. realm of reading instruction.

IntroductionIntroductionContextualized storytellingContextualized storytelling – Proposed by Stephen Cary (1998)Proposed by Stephen Cary (1998)– An instructional approach to help ESL learners An instructional approach to help ESL learners

improve their English acquisition in the U. S.improve their English acquisition in the U. S.– It is a multi-sensory approach, which relies on It is a multi-sensory approach, which relies on

both verbal and nonverbal communication in both verbal and nonverbal communication in the telling process. ( heavy props, visual aids, the telling process. ( heavy props, visual aids, concrete referents, proper prosodic delivery, concrete referents, proper prosodic delivery, and rich body language in the telling) and rich body language in the telling)

– The abundant contextual clues utilizes The abundant contextual clues utilizes learnerslearners’’ nonverbal knowledge to grasp the nonverbal knowledge to grasp the language in without the help of the mother language in without the help of the mother tongue. tongue.

PurposePurposeHypothesis Hypothesis contextualized storytelling might contextualized storytelling might

strengthen the retention of strengthen the retention of vocabulary and improve reading vocabulary and improve reading comprehension for the merits of comprehension for the merits of multi-sensory stimulations it could multi-sensory stimulations it could provide. provide.

Research QuestionsResearch QuestionsDoes the contextualized storytelling Does the contextualized storytelling based on multi-sensory approach an based on multi-sensory approach an effective intervention better than Dual-effective intervention better than Dual-Code Model and text-only reading in EFL Code Model and text-only reading in EFL reading?reading?What are the performance differences What are the performance differences between proficient and less proficient between proficient and less proficient learners in word recall and reading learners in word recall and reading comprehension with the intervention of comprehension with the intervention of the contextualized storytelling?the contextualized storytelling?

Participants: sixth graders (n=129)Participants: sixth graders (n=129)

– modified Dolch Basic Sight Vocabulary modified Dolch Basic Sight Vocabulary testtest

– 36 proficient students, 36 less proficient 36 proficient students, 36 less proficient studentsstudents

MethodologyMethodologysubjectssubjects

MethodologyMethodologysubjectssubjects

randomly assigned to three groups:randomly assigned to three groups:– CControl ontrol groupgroup (n=24) read the text-only story (n=24) read the text-only story

without illustrations or storytellingwithout illustrations or storytelling

– IIllustration-supplemented llustration-supplemented groupgroup (n=24) Dual (n=24) Dual Code approach and read the text with Code approach and read the text with illustrations illustrations

– SStudy tudy groupgroup (n=24) adopted multi-sensory (n=24) adopted multi-sensory approach (contextualized storytelling) listened approach (contextualized storytelling) listened to the story before reading the illustrated text.to the story before reading the illustrated text.

– Experiment OneExperiment One

C GroupC Group: Read : Read text only.text only.

vs.vs.I GroupI Group: Read : Read text with text with illustrations.illustrations.

vs. vs. S GroupS Group: Listen to : Listen to the storyteller and the storyteller and then read the then read the illustrated text.illustrated text.

MethodologyMethodologyProceduresProcedures

– Experiment TwoExperiment Two

All three groups All three groups listened to the listened to the story first before story first before reading the reading the illustrated text.illustrated text.

To verify the To verify the effectiveness of effectiveness of storytellingstorytelling

Two experimentsTwo experiments

Research assumptionResearch assumptionExperiment OneExperiment One

IFIF more multimedia inputmore multimedia input then then word retention word retention

& & comprehension comprehension

Experiment TwoExperiment Two

IF IF the the storytellingstorytelling was consistent in it’s influence was consistent in it’s influence thenthen

C and I groups C and I groups storytelling storytelling C and I groups’ C and I groups’ performancesperformances

MethodologyMethodologyProceduresProcedures

MethodologyMethodologyProceduresProcedures

ProceduresProcedures: : Table one

Materials:Materials: Ice CreamIce Cream and and Dragons and Giants Dragons and Giants fromfrom Arnold Lobel Arnold Lobel’’s Frog and Toad series s Frog and Toad series (1976,1979) (1976,1979)

Assessments:Assessments:– word recall testword recall test– story retell teststory retell test

MethodologyMethodologyResultsResults

First ExperimentFirst Experiment

Word recall : Word recall : – Hypothesis was not supported.Hypothesis was not supported.– Contextualized storytelling was not better than Dual-Code Model and Contextualized storytelling was not better than Dual-Code Model and

text only reading. (RQ1 => No )text only reading. (RQ1 => No )– Word recall performance actually correlated with the subjects’ Word recall performance actually correlated with the subjects’

proficiency levels but not with the groups. (RQ2 )proficiency levels but not with the groups. (RQ2 )

Story retelling Story retelling – Hypothesis was supported, different modes of reading results Hypothesis was supported, different modes of reading results

differently (RQ1,yes) differently (RQ1,yes) Retelling scores (mean): S (28.33)>I (11.42) > C (4.75)Retelling scores (mean): S (28.33)>I (11.42) > C (4.75)

– Proficient learners and less proficient learners did not make much Proficient learners and less proficient learners did not make much differencedifference 。。 (RQ 2)(RQ 2)

S group the reading comprehension of the less proficient learners S group the reading comprehension of the less proficient learners was close to the proficient ones (28.3 vs.30.96) was close to the proficient ones (28.3 vs.30.96)

MethodologyMethodologyResultsResults

Second ExperimentSecond Experiment

Word recall : Word recall : – Hypothesis was not supported. (RQ1, No )Hypothesis was not supported. (RQ1, No )– Proficient learners and less proficient learners did not make Proficient learners and less proficient learners did not make

much progressmuch progress 。。 (RQ 2)(RQ 2)

Story retelling Story retelling – Hypothesis was supported. C, I, and S groups performed no Hypothesis was supported. C, I, and S groups performed no

significantly different. (RQ1,yes)significantly different. (RQ1,yes)Retelling scores (mean): S (30.46)>I (31.19) > C (29.84)Retelling scores (mean): S (30.46)>I (31.19) > C (29.84)

– Less proficient learners improved slightly more than proficient Less proficient learners improved slightly more than proficient learners. (RQ 2)learners. (RQ 2)

– 11 subjects from S group dropped compared to the first ones.11 subjects from S group dropped compared to the first ones.

Conclusion and SuggestionsConclusion and Suggestions Contextualized storytelling Contextualized storytelling – is effective intervention in reading comprehension for is effective intervention in reading comprehension for

both proficient and less proficient students.both proficient and less proficient students.– Not effective in word recall.Not effective in word recall.– Oral language ability and input from the learning Oral language ability and input from the learning

environment may differ the development of reading environment may differ the development of reading fluency.fluency.

– Students enjoyed the story and more willing to Students enjoyed the story and more willing to participate. participate.

– The hypothesis about the multi-sensory approach as a The hypothesis about the multi-sensory approach as a more effective intervention than Dual-code Model and more effective intervention than Dual-code Model and text-only reading in EFL learnertext-only reading in EFL learner’’s overall reading s overall reading comprehension was confirmed. comprehension was confirmed.

Conclusion and SuggestionsConclusion and SuggestionsThe findings of this study on word recall did not support the The findings of this study on word recall did not support the theoretical assumption. It could be because word recall theoretical assumption. It could be because word recall demanded more in memorization. Therefore, an immediate demanded more in memorization. Therefore, an immediate result might still favor the students who possessed better result might still favor the students who possessed better word recognition skills. Or less attention was allocated to word recognition skills. Or less attention was allocated to isolated words. isolated words. contextualized storytelling has proved in helping reading contextualized storytelling has proved in helping reading text. Yet, how it affects text reading process or reading text. Yet, how it affects text reading process or reading fluency remains unclear. Therefore, the differences of text fluency remains unclear. Therefore, the differences of text reading process between the proficient and less proficient reading process between the proficient and less proficient learner may be examined. learner may be examined. A longitudinal study may help to clarify the reasons on the A longitudinal study may help to clarify the reasons on the students whose story retelling were declined. In addition, students whose story retelling were declined. In addition, individual differences with this approach may be considered individual differences with this approach may be considered a factor for further study.a factor for further study.The teacher is encouraged to incorporate storytelling in The teacher is encouraged to incorporate storytelling in their teaching.their teaching.

Good Sentences:1. Mayer and Sims (1994) further point out that verbal materials

can activate or construct visual representations or vice versa.

2. As the Dual-Code Model posits an added benefit of involving visual input in reading, the multi-sensory approach may postulate a broader view, though not particularly for reading, that incorporates different modalities of learning to obtain the best possible results for learners with special needs and diversified learning styles.

3. The teacher is advised to balance their teaching approaches or styles that address the needs of students.

4. Thus, the contextualized storytelling seems to provide an encouraging framework for vocabulary learning.

Good Sentences:

5. In terms of grammar learning, storytelling may serve as a steppingstone to the learning of syntax as it demonstrates grammatical and syntactic features in meaningful context.

7. This approach that utilizes the students’ non-verbal knowledge or ability had satisfactorily led to a gain in general comprehension.

6. They laughed at the parts that were amusing and gasped at the unexpected acts of the characters.