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Part of
Narrative, Literacy and Other Skills: Studies in intervention
Edited by Edy Veneziano and Ageliki Nicolopoulou
[Studies in Narrative 25] 2019
► pp. 263–284

Chapter 12
Using a storytelling/story-acting practice to promote narrative and other decontextualized language skills in disadvantaged children

| Lehigh University

This study examined whether a peer-oriented practice of child-initiated storytelling and group story-acting, integrated as a regular component of the preschool curriculum, can serve as a powerful context for promoting the development of narrative skills and a broader range of decontextualized language skills in young children from low-income and otherwise disadvantaged backgrounds. This storytelling and story-acting practice (STSA) was introduced into one Head Start class of 3- to 5-year-olds for an entire school year, with a similar class in the same Head Start center serving as a control group. Results indicated that participation in the STSA significantly promoted the development of both narrative and productive vocabulary skills. These findings help corroborate the claim that young children’s narrative skills form part of an interconnected cluster of decontextualized oral language skills whose early mastery is a key foundation of emergent literacy. They also highlight the need for researchers to recognize that the social contexts promoting children’s learning and development are not exclusively restricted to adult-child interactions.

Keywords: narrative, storytelling, story-acting, decontextualized language, peer group, preschoolers
Article outline
  • Introduction
  • Narrative development, reading comprehension, and school success
  • Decontextualized language skills in narrative discourse and emergent literacy
    • The significance of “self-contextualizing” narrative discourse
  • Promoting narrative development: Adult-child interaction and the untapped potential of peer-group practices
  • Storytelling and story-acting in the preschool curriculum: A peer-oriented narrative practice as a matrix for development
    • Including low-income children
  • The study: Evaluating the storytelling/story-acting practice in a head start classroom
    • Participants
    • Research design
    • Procedure
      • Intervention phase: The storytelling and story-acting practice
      • Additional data collection and fidelity of implementation
      • Pre-test and post-test assessments
        • Expressive vocabulary test (EVT)
        • Figurine-based narrative task (FBNT)
        • Conceptualizing and coding the FBNT
  • Results
    • Intervention class: Operation of the storytelling and story-acting practice
    • Intervention and control classes: Comparative measures
      • Promoting narrative development: Figurine-based narrative task (FBNT)
      • Building decontextualized language skills: Expressive vocabulary test (EVT)
  • Discussion, conclusions, and implications
    • How should we explain the developmental and educational benefits of the storytelling/story-acting practice?
    • Some wider implications
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 6 May 2019
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/sin.25.13nic
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