This study examined the effects of storytelling versus story reading on the oral language development and story comprehension of young children. 38 three- and four-year-olds were divided into two groups - one that heard stories told and one that heard stories read. Results showed that the storytelling group performed better on retelling stories without illustrations, while the story reading group relied more heavily on illustrations. Both approaches benefited the children's oral language complexity and comprehension skills. The researchers concluded that combining storytelling and reading could provide powerful literacy experiences to influence children's development.

1. The Effects of Storytelling and Story Reading
on the Oral Language Complexity
and Story Comprehension of Young Children
EFFECTS
OF STORYTELLING AND STORY READING

4. Purpose
Literature
Review
Method
Result
Conclusion
Participants
Measurement
Procedure
Further Study

5. The influence on
the language development
and story comprehension
of young children
Purpose

6. The development of oral language is
one of children’s most massive accomplishments
that occur during the first five years of life
(Genishi, 1988)
Literature
Review

7. Influence of Story Reading on
Language Development
Literature
Review

8. Wells (1986) states that the number of hours a child is read to during their preschool
years is the best predictor of the child's later reading achievement in school.
Not only do children acquire language and literacy skills, but they also experience
vocabulary growth, knowledge of handling books, and many other skills (Snow, 1983).
Story reading can foster communication opportunities for young children, as they
discuss the text and illustrations (Kaderavek & Justice).
Literature
Review

9. Influence of Storytelling on
Language Development
Literature
Review

10. Imaginative development is a key benefit of stories being told (Ellis, 1997).
He also suggested that storytelling is the most effective way to develop listening skills.
Both can enhance children's imaginations
as well as encourage them to create mental pictures (Aina, 1999).
Storytelling, however, seems to require more visual imagination than story reading,
because there are no book illustrations to preempt (선수치다)the listeners' attention.
Trostle and Hicks (1998) conducted a study to determine whether children who
heard stories told performed better on comprehension and vocabulary tests as
compared to children who heard stories read.
Literature
Review

11. 24 22Method

12. Group A
(Telling)
Group B
(Reading)
38 Participants
(3 year old + 4 year old children)
Participants

13. Oral language samples
*Language complexity(development)
-Mean length of utterance (MLU): a measure of linguistic productivity
-Fluency (total number of words)
-Vocabulary diversity (number of different words)
Measurement

14. Program for Analysis: SALT
(Systematic Analysis of Language Transcripts)

15. Oral language samples
*Story Elements & Comprehension
-the use of beginnings and ending
-theme
-setting (time and place)
-moral of the story (resolution)
-narrative (dialog)
-characters
-sequence
Measurement

17. 2 Questions
Read/Tell
Follow-up Qs
Activities
Read aloud
Post-test(Retelling + Telling)
Pre-test(Retelling)
Procedure

18. Retelling
Test(Retelling + Telling)
Telling

19. Literal
questions

20. Result

21. 0
0.05
0.1
0.15
0.2
0.25
0.3
0.35
0.4
Beginning
Ending
ThemeSetting
Moral
Mean score comparisons of story conventions and comprehension.
Reading Pre Reading Post

22. 0
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.4
0.5
0.6
Beginning
Ending
ThemeSetting
Moral
Telling Pre Telling Post

23. 0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
MLU Fluency Diversity
Mean score comparisons of language complexity.
Telling Pre Telling Post Reading Pre Reading Post

24. Reading Group
Better on creating
the wordless picture
book story
(heavily relied on the
illustrations to retell the
story)
Telling Group
Better on the retelling
(Created their own
diverse images when
retelling)

25. 1) Storytelling particularly helped the children's imaginative recollection of the
story.
2) storytelling and story reading are both beneficial
to the development of oral language complexity and story comprehension in
young children.
3) Combining these approaches could provide powerful literature experiences
to influence the oral language development and story comprehension
of young children – critical factors in their literacy development.
Conclusion

26. Difference in attention levels between the groups
While presenting stories, the researchers commented that
they “felt sorry for the children in the story reading group,”
because they were not being given the same quality of experience
as the children in the storytelling group.
Telling group: less easily distracted from the story
more engaged as demonstrated by facial expressions and anticipation displayed
Further Study