STORYTELLING

RESEARCH FINDING:  

Telling young children stories can motivate them to read.  Story-
telling  also  introduces  them to cultural values  and  literary 
traditions before they can read, write, and talk about stories by 
themselves.

COMMENT:

Elementary  school teachers can introduce young students  to  the 
study of literature by telling them fairy tales such as the Three 
Billy  Goats Gruff or Beauty and the Beast and myths such as  The 
Iliad.   Even  students  with  low motivation and  weak  academic 
skills are more likely to listen,  read,  write, and work hard in 
the context of storytelling.

Stories from the oral tradition celebrate heroes who struggle  to 
overcome great obstacles that threaten to defeat them.   Children 
are  neither  bored nor alienated by learning literature  through 
storytelling;  they enjoy,  understand,  and sympathize naturally 
with  the goats on the bridge,  Beauty in a  lonely  castle,  and 
Hector and Achilles outside the walls of Troy.   With the help of 
skillful  questioning,  they  can  also learn to reflect  on  the 
deeper meanings of these stories.

Children also benefit from reading stories aloud and from  acting 
out dramatic narrations,  whether at home or at school.   Parents 
can  begin reading to their children as infants and continue  for 
years to come.


Storytelling can ignite the imaginations of children, giving them 
a  taste of where books can take them.   The excitement of story-
telling  can  make reading and learning fun and  can  instill  in 
children a sense of wonder about life and learning. 


Applebee,  A. N. (l978).  The Child's Concept of Story:  Ages Two 
to Seventeen.  Chicago:  University of Chicago Press.

Baker,  A.,  and Greene, E. (l977).  Storytelling:  Art and Tech-
nique. New York:  R. R. Bowker Co.

Bettelheim, B. (l975).  The Uses of Enchantment:  The Meaning and 
Importance of Fairy Tales.  New York:  Alfred A. Knopf.

Cook, E. (l969).  The Ordinary and the Fabulous:  An Introduction 
to Myths,  Legends and Fairy Tales for Teachers and Storytellers.  
Cambridge and New York:  Cambridge University Press.

Sawyer,  R. (l962, Revised Edition).  The Way of the Storyteller.  
New York:  The Viking Press.

Thach,  E.  (June  l980).   "Storytelling:   Classics of the Oral 
Tradition."  Report to the National Endowment of the  Humanities, 
Washington, D.C.