Influence of Folktales as a Communication Tool In Teaching English Language
1.1 BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY
The benefits of folktales or storytelling in Education are being discovered as research in this area continues to grow. According to Milford (2007) when a component of art such as folktales or storytelling is integrated into the reading curriculum, students experience more meaningful learning. They are more actively involved with the text. The use of storytelling has been linked to improved literacy and language development. When children participate in storytelling, it can increase reading comprehension (Bayly, 2007). They learn to listen to stories; they must visualize the setting, character, problems and other parts of a story. These comprehension skills must be acquired and applied when students are reading in order to gain understanding (Milford, 2007).
Folktales or storytelling began with the advent of civilization. Generations heard and experienced the power of the word through oral expression. Oral interpretation gave way to the written word when cave paintings, and stone tablets, became the means of conveying and preserving the story. It was not until the end of the middle ages, when Gutenberg invented the printing press that the common person was instructed to read the written word. Prior to that time, folktales or storytelling was the primary source of the literary instruction and entertainment (MacKinney, 1996). However, to date only limited research has been done on the effects or impact of storytelling on children’s learning in Nigeria
The importance of folktales or storytelling has been demonstrated in the results of over 75 years of educational research (Wood, 1994). Gold and Gibson (2001) emphasize that storytelling is the foundation of literacy development. They also state that storytelling demonstrates the relationship between the printed word and meaning and invites the listener into a conversation with the author. Trelease (1994) says that folktales or storytelling fosters the desire to read independently. It is like a TV or radio advert for literature.
Folktales or storytelling time encourages children to grow as readers and broadens the types of literature they choose to read. The single most important activity for building knowledge required for eventual success in reading, is reading stories aloud to children (Anderson et al., 1985). Moreover, Beach (1993) states that oral reading instruction is a legitimate part of the developmental reading programme and can offer benefits of increased fluency, comprehension, and vocabulary. It is obvious from the foregoing that researchers seem to agree that as long as teaching exists, folktales or storytelling should be incorporated in the curriculum, regardless of the students’ ages.
Rog (2001) states that reading stories aloud mean to develop children’s ‘‘concepts about print, story structure, and other elements of text’’ and ‘‘provides the child with a wealth of information about the processes and functions of written language’.
It develops children’s attention span and listening skills (Dragan, 2001). Reading stories aloud to children gives them new understandings on various subjects that they encounter only through books (Terblanche, 2002).
Influence of Folktales as a Communication Tool In Teaching English Language
In addition, Needlman (2004) asserts that there are many good reasons to read folktales or stories aloud to students. These include: reading together is fun; reading aloud keeps interest high; reading aloud is especially important if your child is having difficulty learning to read; reading aloud builds listening skills; reading aloud builds vocabulary; stories are the building blocks of imagination and stories help teach character. Moreover, Rippel (2006) indicates that reading aloud to students has many benefits.
Some of these benefits are: hearing stories read aloud expands the students ‘vocabulary; through read-aloud stories, students can learn about many different topics: science, history, geography, etc.; the student’s attention span increases as he/she sits still for an interesting story; through hearing well-written stories being read aloud, students are absorbing proper grammar and word usage and when teachers read with their students, they are modeling an important skill for them.
In the current environment of research-based practices, many educators may be skeptical about allowing the use of a ‘‘new’’ educational tool until the effect of that tool has been clearly documented through quantitative research. This study investigates the impact of teacher’s use of folktales on the performance of pupils in communication skills in primary schools in Kaduna, Nigeria. This is an issue previous studies conducted in Nigeria, have not tackled properly. To the best knowledge of the researchers, this is the first time a research of this nature is being conducted to determine whether or not reading comprehension significantly improves when pupils are told folktales or stories by the teacher
1.2 statement of the problem
Over the years, the used of folktale as a communication tools in teaching of English language has been shifted to the background. Through folktales, young language learners are exposed to a wide range of authentic vocabulary. This vocabulary can be nouns of concrete objects such as house, horse, mouse, rose, table, chair, red, dwarf, and so, or verbs: say, swim, jump, eat, sleep, run, shout, complain, lose, threaten, kill, like and adverbs: slowly, sadly, luckily. Young learners also have the chance to listen to meaningful input in chunks, rather than just single words. This gives them more chances to learn vocabulary incidentally. When teachers read stories aloud, children are exposed to patterns of language that are not found in everyday communication. They can use language of more complexity and gradually expand and strengthen formal language knowledge.