English-as-a-Foreign-Language Preservice Teacher Training: Implications of Cooperative Storytelling in Preschool Students

• In Event: Teachers and Teacher Educators Using Action Research to Inform Practice

Abstract

Stories are said to be able to help children develop not only language, but also support the development of imagination and creativity. In Taiwan, English as Foreign Language (EFL) teachers are continuously seeking new ways to bridge the gap between theory and practice. To better understand the effects of storytelling in pre-school EFL students, the current presentation focuses on the findings of a semester long cooperative action research undertaken by six junior EFL pre-service student teachers (PT). A total of four stories are told to a group of 21 pre-school children of a bilingual kindergarten in Taiwan. Each storytelling is considered as one action research cycle wherein the PTs take turns telling the stories. In addition, the PTs also practice cooperative learning processes, such as, positive interdependence, individual accountability, equal participation, simultaneous interaction, and group processing. After each storytelling process (action research cycle), observation logs and students’ performance in terms of story comprehension and retelling competencies are noted and analyzed. After the telling of the four stories was completed, overall implications were generalized and listed as follows: 1.) Storytelling provides opportunities for children to engage in the lesson. 2.) Extended group learning activities also draw children’s attention. 3.) Children are able to retell and/or create their own stories based on their own imagination. More specifically, storytelling seems to motivate learners’ interests; pre-school students seem eager to play the roles highlighted in the stories and be part of the stories. PTs noted that the cooperative processes seemed to help reinforce the PTs’ storytelling techniques, while the action research processes provided an opportunity to observe and learn from each other.

Author

• Tsu-Chia Julia Hsu, Lunghwa University of Science and Technology