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... a target age (kindergarten age). As far as the children were ESL kindergarteners, the books had to contain attractive and colorful illustrations, and the stories in the book should be suitable for both storytelling and story reading. Procedures The researchers obtained consent from the parents of the children, and then storytellers read the story aloud to all the participants from both groups. This was done to establish a baseline for the pretest data collection.
After the storytellers have read the story to children, the researchers conducted individual interviews with each ESL child. The children were asked to retell the story they have heard. The retelling was recorded in order to complete final analysis. Four days later the researchers began the experiment. Children listened to the stories two times a week for eight weeks. Before each story, the researchers asked ESL children several questions in order to encourage childrens interest.
The story session lasted 20 minutes each. The story was either told or read (depending on the group of children under study) by a researcher. Then the children were asked questions about the story, and were then engaged in the activity related to the story they had heard. Collected Data When the interviews with ESL children were completed and recorded, the recordings were transcribed into the SALT (Systematic Analysis of Language Texts) program for further analysis.
The information obtained was of three major types: What ESL children were able to remember (including the childrens ability to remember the episodes of the story and the characters of the story); Any type of information related to the ESL childrens use of the formal story structure (beginning, ending in the story retelling, to mention a few); The meaning of the story, or what ESL children considered the story might mean; Findings and Results The Use of Formal Story Elements Beginning As it is shown in Table 1 (Formal Story Elements), in the group, where the researchers were reading the story aloud, after the treatment period the quantity of ESL children who appeared to use a formal story introduction when they were asked to retell the story increased by 25 per cent. At the same time, it was found out that in the group, where the researchers were telling stories instead of reading, fourteen per cent of ESL children used a formal beginning. In such a way, over the course of the present pilot study, the reading group reported to have 11 per cent more on this measure than the telling group of ESL children. Yet, it should be taken into consideration that during the pre-treatment testing procedure the sampling in these two groups was also not similar on this measure, so the difference in this measure may not be as clear as it appears to be.
Further and more extensive research might be helpful to make the issue clearer. Ending As it is illustrated in the Table 1 (Formal Story Elements), in the group, where the researchers were reading the story aloud, after the treatment period the quantity of ESL children who appeared to use a formal story ending when they were asked to retell the story increased by 36 per cent. At the same time, it was found out that in the group, where the researchers were telling stories instead of reading, by the end of experiment, 35 per cent of ESL children used a formal ending. Therefore, the results indicate that over the course of the present pilot study the two groups (reading and telling) of ESL children reported the same progress, as 1 per cent difference can be negligible in the quantitative sample of sixty ESL children. Time or Place Statement As it is indicated in the Table 1, in the group, where the researchers were reading the story aloud, after the treatment period the quantity of ESL children who appeared to set the story within specific time or place when they were asked to retell the story made up 51 per cent. By the end of the experiment, the number of children in the reading group remained unchanged.
At the same time, 64 per cent of ESL children from the story telling group managed to set up their story retelling in a specific space or at specific time. However, by the end of the experiment, the number of children able to set up their story retelling in a specific space or at specific time increased by 18 per cent on this measure. Goal or Problem Statement As it is illustrated by the Table 1, 35 per cent more ESL children in the group, where the researchers were reading the story aloud, were able to state a goal or problem when they were asked to retell the story they had heard. At the same time, in the group, where ESL children were told stories, the increase made up only 24 per cent. Therefore, it is possible to make a conclusion that the groups had a difference of approximately 11 percent (what cannot be referred to as a negligible difference in the quantitative sample of sixty ESL children).
Goal Attainment or Problem Resolution As it is indicated in the Table 1, in the group, where the researchers were reading the story aloud, after the treatment period the number of ESL children able to attain the goal or to explain how the problem in the story was finally solved, there was an increase of 15 per cent. At the same time, in contrast to the reading group, the ESL children from the story telling group reported a 3 per cent decrease on the given measure. However, it should be taken into consideration that 3 per cent difference can be negligible in the quantitative sample of sixty ESL children. Therefore, the difference of 3 per cent in Goal Attainment or Problem Resolution measure may not be as clear as it was found out and more extensive research may be required to make the issue clearer. Conclusion As it is illustrated by the Table 1 (Formal Story Elements), ESL children from the group where the researchers were reading the stories aloud, reported the improved results on three of five measured that were used to examine overall performance and potential effect of storytelling on ESL Kindergarteners' comprehension and vocabulary. At the same time, it should be taken into consideration that the results obtained were not as exact and clear as the researchers might wish them to be.
This occurred due to variety of reasons, starting from relatively short duration of the experiment, and ending with the relatively small quantitative sample of the ESL children. It should be also taken into account that ESL children from the group where the researchers used storytelling, tended to use formal story beginning and formal story ending more frequently than children from the story reading group in the pre-test period. Yet, although the ESL children from story reading group were quite successful, they were unable to overtake the ESL children from storytelling group on most of the measures examined. What concerns the time or place statement measure, the ESL children from storytelling group reported worse results, probably, due to assumption that they are more likely to imagine the story than the children from the story reading group.
However, this assumption requires further research. At the same time, taking into account the findings and results, it is possible to make a conclusion that storytelling has effect on ESL Kindergarteners' comprehension and vocabulary. Table 1 Formal Story Elements Measures by Group
Pretest Score
Posttest Score
Mean Change
Beginning: Story reading (30 ESL children)
40 %
65 %
25 %
Beginning: Storytelling (30 ESL children)
57 %
71 %
14 %
Ending: Story reading (30 ESL children)
15 %
51 %
36 %
Ending: Storytelling (30 ESL children)
19 %
54 %
35 %
Time or Place Statement: Story reading (30 ESL children)
51 %
51 %
0 %
Time or Place Statement: Storytelling (30 ESL children)
64 %
82 %
18 %
Goal or Problem Statement: Story reading (30 ESL children)
44 %
79 %
35 %
Goal or Problem Statement: Storytelling (30 ESL children)
38 %
62 %
24 %
Goal Attainment or Problem Resolution: Story reading (30 ESL children)
42 %
57 %
15 %
Goal Attainment or Problem Resolution: Storytelling (30 ESL children)
48 %
51 %
- 3 % References And, O. (1999). The Importance Of Oral Storytelling In Literacy Development. The Ohio Reading Teacher, 31 (1), 15 - 18.
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