| Summary: | 碩士 === 國立高雄師範大學 === 英語學系 === 96 === ABSTRACT
The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationships between storytelling and vocabulary acquisition of elementary school EFL students. The study also aimed to find out the differences between genders in students’ listening and speaking vocabulary acquisition respectively, motivation after storytelling, and feedback on the storybook after each storytelling.
In the study, 29 first-graders (14 males and 15 females) in Fo-Kung Elementary School in Kaohsiung City were recruited. During the nine-week English storytelling, there were 2 forty-minute classes each week. Three storybooks were included for each of the 2 topics: animals and body parts. Before storytelling, Vocabulary Pretests were administered to decide the target words that would be tested in the Vocabulary Posttests. After storytelling and the related activities were done, a Feedback Questionnaire on each storybook measuring the overall impression the students had on the storytelling experience was administered to compare the responses between the genders. Subsequently, the Vocabulary Posttests for each topic were tested to investigate the effects of storytelling on students’ listening vocabulary acquisition. In addition, the difference between listening and speaking vocabulary acquisition was also explored. The males’ and females’ abilities to acquire listening and speaking vocabulary were then compared. Finally, the differences in the males’ and the females’ learning motivation after storytelling were probed through the Motivation Questionnaire.
The major findings of this study are summarized as follows:
1. Storytelling enhanced students’ listening vocabulary acquisition and helped their speaking vocabulary acquisition. However, students acquired listening vocabulary more than speaking vocabulary.
2. The gender factor did not affect students’ listening and speaking vocabulary acquisition in a decisive way. Storytelling was positively correlated with the children’s listening and speaking vocabulary acquisition, no matter if they were males or females.
3. Under an enjoyable learning environment created by storytelling, the students’ nervousness resulting from being afraid of not understanding the teacher’s stories was eased, the students’ participation in class was encouraged, a happy interaction between the tellers and the listeners was developed, and students’ positive attitude toward English learning was promoted.
4. The effective storytelling skills helped young EFL students better understand English stories and aroused students’ interest in storytelling.
5. Both genders showed positive responses to the six storybooks of which the theme is related to their lives. The predictable plots and repetitive words or sentences in the storybooks provided students with a successful English learning experience Thus, students’ attitude toward listening to and reading English storybooks could be improved.
To sum up, the findings of this study revealed that storytelling helped the male and the female students acquire listening and speaking vocabulary and enhanced their learning motivation, and students’ responses to English storybooks were positive. As a result, it should be worth implementing storytelling to the English classes in elementary schools in Taiwan.
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