Laporan Projek ilmiah Tahun Akhir

Dikemukakan kepada Fakulti Pengajian Pendidikan, University Putra Malaysia,

Sebagai memenuhi keperluan untuk kursus FCE4999

THE STORY TELLING AND ITS IMPACT TO THE PRIMARY STUDENTS IN

LEARNING LANGUAGE.

BY

Parwathi A/P Narayanan (J43780)

DECEMBER 2015

Penyelia: Pn. Juridah Md Rashid.

Fakulti Pengajian Pendidikan

ABSTRACTS
This paper seek and briefly to examine together with extended research on the vital
importance of storytelling in standard three(3) primary school childrens learning experience
and the relevance of storytelling to improve literacy level among students in English language.
The paper also provides teachers with suggestions for getting started with storytelling in the
classroom. The best thing the teachers can do to help every students succeed is to provides
teachers with suggestions

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Performance in speaking and reading has remained a serious global issue in most
primary government schools in Malaysia especially in rural places. Despite a rising focus
education Ministry to target to a special teaching strategy such as implementing story telling in
teaching and learning English language for year one until three are most welcoming. The
sample of the study consisted of 60 students specifically choosen from Sekolah Rendah
Kebangsaan Taman Kosas standard three primary school class 3 amanah and 3 cekap and
assigned to experimental and control groups.
The paper also offers recommendation for how to use storytelling, including using a range of
stories to help meet students interest. Exploring storytelling as a way for students to learn and
develop their inner strength and understanding of themselves and others since from young age.
Apart from that discuss more detail about the reading and writing skills by building upon the
ability to orally articulate personal experience.
This paper seeks to examine a group of students in standard three (3), performance level of
different categorization of group. The rest of the paper is organized as accordingly. This
research is fully based on qualitative and partially on quantitative study.

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CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Contextual Background of the study.
The decision to use storytelling in the standard 3 primary classes in an integral way is
problematic. The common public perception is that storytelling is of little more use than as
an entertaining diversion. Admittedly, both teller and their audience appear to enjoy
themselves and some learning theorists believe that students learn best when they enjoy
what they are learning. In truth, much learning does occur but because it is primarily
cerebral, the learning is not readily observable. Indeed the act of storytelling itself appears
difficult to define because so much of what takes place in a storytelling session involves
unobservable mental processing by both the teller (Teachers) and listeners (students).
Yet the potential of storytelling as a viable teaching learning tool can be recognized only
if its inherent nature is clearly understood.

What is "storytelling"? Telling stories, of course! In 2015, there are so many diverse,
wonderful, and sometimes overwhelming ways to do this. What I want to explore is
traditional, oral storytelling, which has been a part of human life since we first left Africa
200,000 or more years ago. Perhaps storytelling was the reason language developed in the
first place, as our minds began to inquire, wonder, think.

1.1.1 Why Do We Tell Stories?

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Whether in caves or in cities, storytelling remains the most innate and important form of
communication. All of us tell stories. The story of your day, the story of your life, workplace
gossip, the horrors on the news. Our brains are hard-wired to think and express in terms of a
beginning, middle and end. It's how we understand the world.
Storytelling is the oldest form of teaching. It bonded the early human communities, giving
children the answers to the biggest questions of creation, life, and the afterlife. Stories define
us, shape us, control us, and make us. Not every human culture in the world is literate, but
every single culture tells stories.
You already are. Teachers are storytellers, and storytellers have been teachers for millennia. In
reality, teachers don't see themselves as storytellers. Or rather, they see the occasional
storyteller and think it's a theatrical, exaggerated show more akin to acting. But hang on a
minute -- being a teacher definitely involves acting and theatrics.
1.1.2 What can storytelling offer to students?
Students have an innate love of stories. Stories create magic and a sense of wonder at the
world. Stories teach us about life, about ourselves and about others. Storytelling is a unique
way for students to develop an understanding, respect and appreciation for other cultures, and
can promote a positive attitude to people from different lands, races and religions.

Teachers like to know "why" when it comes to introducing any new skill or curriculum
component, and rightly so. As a full-time teacher I was astounded when I incorporated
storytelling into my curriculum. Working up tales and performing them took time, yes, but the
benefits affected the reading, writing and understanding of my students in so many ways that I

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felt it was well worth the time. Even in a short visit, I can see students' increased confidence
and facility with language because of storytelling.
Teachers and tellers once helped me compile a list of the positive effects of storytelling on
children and their learning. If you want to be able to convey to others the value of storytelling
in education, help yourself to this list of all the reasons for "Why storytelling?"

The cultural, ethnic, and linguistic diversity of the specific region gives specific educator an
excellent opportunity to enrich students leaning. Diverse points of view, personal histories,
prior experiences, and learning styles can be used to greatly enhance teaching and learning. The
professional literature suggests numerous ways for teachers to design instruction so that all
children learn. Storytelling is one way it costs nothing, is enjoyable, and can be used anywhere
and at any time (Zabel, 1991).

In a number of countries including Malaysia where this was previously not the case,
foreign language competence, and particularly a good command of English, has now become
essential for good job prospects and an improved standard of living. One country where this
has become particularly clear, is Ukraine. At the same time educational specialists are
increasingly suggesting that it is best to start teaching children a foreign language between the
ages of 3 and 5, that is as early as in pre-school (Barkasi 1998; Filatov 1998; Cameron 2001;
Cherniakova 2002; Ellis and Brewster 2002; Harmer 2007; Ksenofontova 2008; Larson-Hall
2008; Curtain and Dahlberg 2009; Gunjko 2010; Munoz 2010)

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There are consensuses that are education of children is one of the key vehicles
engendering the development of economies. (UNESCO, 2009). Individual who become
teachers generally wants to be the very best they can become in their field and seek to have
elevated purposes in their teaching pursuits (Fink, 2003, p.244). They want their students to
have significant learning experience, grow and progress especially the three most valid
characters such as reading, listening and writing.

This detailed and briefing research paper highlight research on the importance of storytelling
and how it embark students learning in English language and standard three students
experience in classroom. The main aim of this paper to provides English teachers with
suggestion and extended recommendation for getting started with storytelling in the classroom
especially for language subjects.

In order for schools to improve the literacy learning of all students, different pedagogical
strategies need to be employed. Using storytelling in the classroom is one way to address
literacy development by improving oral language, reading, comprehension, and writing. This
research paper will identify how storytelling really can be used as a pedagogical strategy in the
classroom to enhance literacy learning in the areas of reading and writing.

From the moment students enter kindergarten until their last exam in high school in Malaysia,
students are being instructed and assessed on their reading and writing ability. Even with the
goal of improving literacy achievement in the national blueprint No child should left behind,
many childrens are still struggling to read at a basic level. (Haycock & Huang, 2001). With so
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many students struggling to become literate, steps must be taken to improve all students
reading ability. If something is not done, the achievement gap between proficient and
underachieving and illiterate students will most likely continue to grow.

Engaging in storytelling activities is a way to motivate even the most reluctant students.
Storytelling is defined as, relating a tale to one or more listeners through voice and gesture
(National Council of Teachers of English, 1992,p.1). One of the possible solutions for early
English teaching is to apply alternative teaching method, storytelling etc. Many language
teaching specialists world-wide (Nunan 1988; Brumfit et al. 1991; Ellis and Brewster 1991;
Wood 1998, Brewster et al. 2004; Write 2004 and others) suggest that storytelling is an
appropriate and effective way in enhancing young learners skills and interest in English and
improving their learning output. Rokhayani (2010) holds that storytelling provides an
outstanding opportunity for young learners to master the foreign language. In addition, stories
can bridge the gap between language study and language use and also link classroom learning
with the world outside (Rokhayani 2010). Numerous books devoted to storytelling as a
teaching technique (Ellis and Brewster 2002; Wright 2004 etc.) advocate the use of authentic
stories, written entirely in English, accompanied by English instruction that is using a method
of full or partial immersion in the target language. It is not stated to what extent the native
language is supposed to be used to help children acquire new lexicon and understand the plot
of the story.
Researchers have found that literacy instruction is most effective when developed through
social interaction and collaboration with others (Dugan, 1997). In fact, some other researchers
have found that the weakest readers and writers are often the most adept at storytelling.
(NCTE,1992). This research paper focuses and mainly proves on synergistic relationship
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between language in interactive way, teachers and students can obviously storytelling to
improve effective learning.

1.2 Statement of Problem

Vocabulary is central to language and very important in language learning. It is unacceptable to
understand a written text without knowing the vocabularies it consists. Therefore , Schmitt
(1997:203) says that vocabulary learning strategies are the processes by which information is
obtained, stored, retrieved and used . The problem of this study is that many learners of
English as a foreign language (EFL) have difficulties in retrieving the vocabulary and the
vocabulary learning through rote memorization results in poor performance in the
communicative use of previously learned vocabulary.

One of the important ideas of this research paper is to acquire insight into how the teachers
implement storytelling in the programme for young learners at the pre-reading stage, what
materials they use and the challenges they experience while developing and delivering
storytelling lessons.

The findings from the study indicate that, for the teachers interviewed, English teacher,
storytelling has a place their English teaching, but it is not a very structured part of their
lessons and is only picked up occasionally. This seems to a large extent to be rooted in the fact
that storytelling is not highlighted in the current national curricula and textbooks for the

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primary school especially for standard three English text books, which also explains the lack of
ready-made materials for storytelling to young learners in the pre reading period. On the
occasions when storytelling is used, it appears often to be by means of constructed short
stories, made up by the teachers themselves in accordance with their current teaching needs
that are to raise students motivation, to introduce new vocabulary or to reinforce acquired
vocabulary. It appears that, due to the limited time allocated to teaching English in the primary
school, teachers find it difficult to conduct storytelling lessons entirely in English and they
have to resort to help from the first language to make the input more comprehensible.
The teachers reported that they find storytelling an efficient classroom activity, but a rather
time-consuming one. The teachers interviewed suggested that time restrictions in their own
everyday life may be reinforcing their tendency to rely heavily on the contents of course books,
and may indirectly make it less relevant to include storytelling in the lessons. At the same time,
teachers find it difficult to use storytelling frequently in the classroom because of the limited
range of available storytelling material adapted for the young learners. Based on these findings,
I conclude that it may be possible to help establish the storytelling technique more firmly in the
teaching process by developing a set of specially designed, structured teaching materials for
primary school students young learners in the pre-reading period. Moreover, it appears worth
consideration to blend English with the native language at the early stages of the storytelling
programme, and then gradually reduce the amount of the native language used.

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1.3 Objectives of the Study.

Students will be given the opportunity to have daily language practice in the safe and
relaxed environment of their classroom. This daily language practice will allow the students to
interact on a personal level with both the teacher and fellow classmates. The students are able
to gain language knowledge from their participation both as speakers and listeners. These
personal interactions are meaningful because the students are able to interact with one another,
carry on conversations, and hear significant rules being modelled involving sentence structure.
Each lesson within the unit will focus on a particular aspect or skill set of storytelling, each
week building upon the last in complexity. The skills learned in this unit will help to develop
the students oral language, which is necessary to become successful academic learners in the
classroom. This will further prepare the students to effectively take on the second grade
curriculum.
In this unit students will meet the following objectives:
To help students feel at ease and minimize their stage fright when speaking to others-

confidence building.
To help students to learn to visualize images when learning a story.

To encourage students to have spontaneous oral production with emphasis on

coherence, and the mood of the story

To encourage students to have self-expression with emphasis on the use of body

language, manipulation of setting, to make a lively and communicative presentation
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To encourage students to speak at a moderate pace, have clear enunciation, and pay
attention to the following phonetic features: Consonant clusters, stress, linkage, single
word and phrases

To develop students ability to pay attention to the coherence in speech delivery and to
be able to memorize chunks of utterance effectively.

1.3.1 Hypotheses:

It is hypothesized that:

Using storytelling technique as a means for acquiring vocabulary can help students to
enhance their vocabulary knowledge and help to memorize it when needed.

Using storytelling by teachers in classroom brings out significant difference in language

learning (i.e. vocabulary learning) as compared to a situation where no storytelling is
used. So ,there is significant difference between the control group and the experimental
group in acquiring vocabulary correctly by using storytelling as a means of learning .

1.3.2 Value of the study

For a teacher , storytelling is important because of its effectiveness in fostering a relaxed and
intimate atmosphere in the classroom. So, teachers can hold the attention of their classroom
and teach not only the art of storytelling, but also the information of core subjects using stories.
This teaching method brings fun into learning for today's video generation. For students , they
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can increase their skills in both speaking and listening, as well as writing , and they can more
easily retain the information found in the contents of a story especially vocabulary.

1.4

Significant of The Research

It is common for teachers to read stories to young standard three school students in class.
Storybook reading is widely recommended in educational literature (kaderavek and justice, 2002;
Rubin and Wilson, 1995; snow, 1983). In addition to its entertainment value, some proponents of
storytelling believe that storytelling may have considerable potential as an educational tool (Alna,
1999; Colon-Vila, 1997; Hamilton and Weiss, 1993; Mallan, 1997). The role of storytelling in the
foreign language classroom has been the concern of many teachers and scholars; however, its
validity as an equal complement to language learning has often been ignored (Hyland, 1990).
Farrell and Nessel (1982) pointed out classroom storytelling has a ragtag reputation among
school teachers. The reason for this reputation may be that much of the evidence that indicates
storytelling is beneficial to students (Gallets, 2005). In the current environment of research-based
practices, many educators may be sceptical about allowing the use of a new educational tool
until the effects of that tool have been clearly documented through qualitative research. This study
investigates the effect of teachers storytelling on the reading comprehension of primary school
students conducted in Sekolah Rendah Taman Kosas, did not tackle at all. To the best knowledge
of the researchers, this is the first attempt to determine whether or not standard three students
reading comprehension significantly improves when they are told stories by the teacher.
Therefore, it is hoped that:

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(1) It will help researchers involved in the educational process gain insights into storytelling and
seek to improve it over time.
(2) It may encourage further research, which in turn, may lead to the enrichment of the field of
storytelling in general and language teaching and learning in particular.
(3) It will help teachers to better understand the issue and integrate storytelling into their
classroom routine.
(4) The information gathered in this study will aid proponents of storytelling in better
understanding the educational effects of their craft.
(5) As a result of this study and of other studies, practitioners of storytelling will be welcome in
schools not only as entertainers, but also as partners in the educational
Process.
By this research, we are able to track and notify the challenges encounter by students and other
benefits obtain by them.

Students will develop vocabulary through listening, speaking, reading and writing.

Students will listen to and respect the opinions of others about written, oral and visual
texts.

Students will listen to, read and respond to texts about and from many cultures and
times.

Students will recognize values and beliefs included in a text.

Students will determine purpose, point of view and audience, and choose an
appropriate written, oral or visual format.
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Students will use oral language with clarity and voice to communicate a message.

Students will use strategies to generate and develop ideas for speaking, writing and
visual activities.

Students will read, listen to and tell stories from a variety of cultures, and identify the
similarities and differences in the way language is used.

Shifting storytelling from an entertainment or educator-controlled activity to a robust mode of

student inquiry requires thoughtful consideration. While some students will feel comfortable
from the onset, others may need time and assistance to use this tool confidently. How educators
promote and use storytelling will impact on how students perceive its value. It is also worth
noting that different activities will appeal to different students. Oral, written, visual and
physical stories are all possible options (McDrury and Alterio, 2002). Prior to introducing
storytelling processes and activities, it is prudent for educators to consider questions such as:
Is storytelling the most compelling and memorable way for this group of students to learn
English and if so, why?
What form of storytelling best suits these students' learning needs?
What outcomes do I want this group of students to achieve?
Will these outcomes be assessed, and if so, how?
What forms of support are needed?
How can confidentiality and anonymity issues be addressed?

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1.5 Research Questions

In my thesis I would like to address the following research questions:

1. How often do the teachers use the storytelling technique in their lessons and for what
purposes?
2. Do they often experience a lack of ready-made materials for use in storytelling in their
lessons?
3. To what extent do the teachers use the native language in their lessons? How is the
storytelling approach perceived and used amongst Standard 3 students for (English)
lesson?
4. What are the differences and similarities between Arif class and Bestari class teachers
use of storytelling and what can be learned from the implementation of storytelling
experience?
5. Which challenges do teachers and students experience while working with the
storytelling techniques and how do they deal with these challenges?

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1.6 Scope of the Research

What benefits does learning through storytelling have for students?
To learn through storytelling is to take seriously the human need to make meaning from
experience, to communicate that meaning to others, and, in the process, learn about ourselves
and the worlds in which we reside. Meaningful storytelling processes and activities incorporate
opportunities for reflective dialogue, foster collaborative endeavour, nurture the spirit of
inquiry and contribute to the construction of new knowledge. In addition, cultural, contextual
and emotional realities can be acknowledged, valued and integrated into storytelling processes.
Students who learn through
telling and reflectively processing their stories develop skills that enable them to link subjective
and objective perspectives, capture the complexity of experience and bring about thoughtful
change to self and practice. When storytelling is used as a robust mode of inquiry, student
learning is enhanced in multiple ways.
1.6.1 Teaching English to young learners
Based on their work, experiences and discussion at the Language Resource Center at Iowa
State University, Curtain and Dahlberg (2009) listed some of the most important issues related
to second language acquisition for young learners. They offer the following concise summary
of their current understanding of effective foreign language pedagogy for young learners:
Second-language acquisition proceeds according to predictable stages.

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The degree of acquisition is correlated with the time available for instruction.
Standard three students acquire language best in a low-anxiety environment.
Culture is closely related to language and is an essential component of instruction.
Children acquire language through a focus on meaning rather than on grammar.
Children involve many senses in the acquisition process.
Meaning is established through visual cues.
Children acquire language through extended listening experiences and negotiation of meaning.
A relevant, meaningful context is necessary for effective language acquisition.
The teacher can use a variety of techniques to make the language understandable to children
(comprehensible input).
Children acquire language through tasks appropriate to their developmental level.
More manipulation is necessary for younger students.
Language analysis begins later.
Older students often demand more translations.
The rate and the degree of two different classes acquisition are affected by differing student
learning styles.
All language teachers must be aware of how languages are learned and of essential concepts of
second language acquisition, and this is especially the case when teaching early learners.

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1.7 Definition and Operational Definition

Storytelling deeply can be defined in its most basic form, storytelling is a process where a
person or a teacher ( the teller), using vocalization, narrative structure, and mental imagery and
in turn communicate back to the teller primarily via body language and facial expression. The
communication cycle is ongoing, and in the process a story is created. Diagrammatically
storytelling takes the following form.

According to the National Storytelling Association and Most dictionaries define a story as a
narrative account of a real or imagined event or events. Within the storytelling community, a
story is more generally agreed to be a specific structure of narrative with a specific style and set
of characters and which includes a sense of completeness. Through this sharing of experience
we use stories to pass on accumulated wisdom, beliefs, and values. Through stories we explain
how things are, why they are, and our role and purpose. Stories are the building blocks of
knowledge, the foundation of memory and learning. Stories connect us with our humanness
and link past, present, and future by teaching us to anticipate the possible consequences of our
actions.

It is the live, person-to-person oral and physical presentation of a story to an audience.

"Telling" involves direct contact between teller and listener. It mandates the direct presentation
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of the story by the teller. The teller's role is to prepare and present the necessary language,
vocalization, and physicality to effectively and efficiently communicate the images of a story.
The listener's role is to actively create the vivid, multi-sensory images, actions, characters, and
events---the reality---of the story in their mind based on the performance by the teller, and on
their past experiences, beliefs, and understandings. The completed story happens in the mind of
the listener, unique and personal for each individual.
1. Storytelling is an interactive performance art form. Direct interaction between the
teller and audience is an essential element of the storytelling experience. An audience
responds to the teller's words and actions. The teller uses this generally non-verbal
feedback to immediately, spontaneously, and improvisation ally adjust the tones,
wording, and pace of the story to better meet the needs of the audience.
2. Storytelling is, by design, a co-creative process. Storytelling audiences do not
passively receive a story from the teller, as a viewer receives and records the content of
a television program or motion picture. The teller provides no visual images, no stage
set, and generally, no costumes related to story characters or historic period. Listeners
create these images based on the performer's telling and on their own experiences and
beliefs.
3. Storytelling is, by its nature, personal, interpretive, and uniquely
human. Storytelling passes on the essence of who we are. Stories are a prime vehicle
for assessing and interpreting events, experiences, and concepts from minor moments of
daily life to the grand nature of the human condition. It is an intrinsic and basic form of
human communication. More than any other form of communication, the telling of
stories in an integral and essential part of the human experience.

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4. Storytelling is a process, a medium for sharing, interpreting, offering the content

and meaning of a story to an audience. Because storytelling is spontaneous and
experiential, and thus a dynamic interaction between teller and listener, it is far more
difficult to describe than is the script and camera directions of a movie, or the lines and
stage direction notes of a play. Storytelling emerges from the interaction and
cooperative, coordinated efforts of teller and audience.

1.7.1 Operational Definition

STORYTELLING the telling or writing of stories.

IMPACT To drive or press closely or firmly to learn storytelling or the tremendous impact
by storytelling gained by standard three students.
PRIMARY STUDENTS Standard three Arif and Bestari Classes students in Sekolah
Rendah Kebangsaan Taman Kosas age 9 years old.
LEARNING - Knowledge acquired by systematic study in storytelling of through practice,
Training or classroom activities.
LANGUAGE. English language for standard three students only.

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1.8 Limits of the study

The study is limited to the Third year students of Sekolah Rendah Kebangsaan Taman Kosas
education for the academic year (2015) from two different classes . It is concerned specifically
with the effect of using storytelling on the acquisition of vocabulary and other related skills can
be obtained through storytelling by Students during English lesson .

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