Storytelling and English-Speaking Skills

Summary of Hien & Phuong (2024)

Background & Existing Knowledge

Students often face significant challenges in developing English speaking skills, including lack of confidence, limited vocabulary, and difficulty with pronunciation and fluency. Traditional teaching methods may not always adequately address these multifaceted issues, leading to low motivation and achievement in oral communication.

New Insights from This Study

✔ Storytelling was identified as a highly effective technique for addressing common challenges in English speaking.

✔ A three-month intervention with seventh-grade A2-level students demonstrated significant improvements in speaking proficiency.

✔ The study revealed that storytelling enhanced both students' achievement and motivation in English-speaking skills.

Practical Applications: How Educators Can Use This Research

Course Design

📌 Integrate storytelling activities regularly into English language curricula, focusing on communicative practice.

📌 Design tasks that require students to retell, create, and perform stories, promoting fluency and confidence.

📌 Use storytelling to introduce new vocabulary and grammatical structures in a contextualized and engaging manner.

Evaluation Tools

📌 Utilize pre- and post-tests to measure improvements in speaking proficiency (e.g., fluency, accuracy, vocabulary).

📌 Employ questionnaires to gauge students' motivation and attitudes towards learning English through storytelling.

📌 Observe and assess students' active participation and engagement during storytelling activities.

Instructional Support

📌 Train English language teachers in effective storytelling techniques and narrative pedagogy.

📌 Provide teachers with diverse storytelling resources, including folk tales, contemporary stories, and prompts for original narratives.

📌 Encourage a supportive classroom environment where students feel comfortable taking risks and experimenting with spoken English through storytelling.

Conclusion

This research robustly demonstrates the effectiveness of storytelling as a pedagogical technique for significantly improving students' achievement and motivation in English speaking skills, offering a practical and engaging approach for language educators.

Key Words

Storytelling, English speaking, Language acquisition, Motivation, Achievement

Reference

Hien, N. T. T., & Phuong, V. T. (2024). The effectiveness of the storytelling technique on students' achievement and motivation in English speaking skills. Multidisciplinary Reviews, 2024. https://doi.org/10.31893/multirev.2023spe011

Suggested Citation

Ross, E. M., & Malar, D. B. J. (2025). Storytelling and English-Speaking Skills. Excellent Educator, 2(15), 3.