Tell me a fact and I’ll learn. Tell me a truth and I’ll believe. But tell me a story and it will live in my heart forever. — Indian Proverb

Storytelling is one of our oldest artforms. It has deep roots in social history and touches people’s lives in some quite profound ways, as the Indian proverb shows. But can its powerful properties be channelled into language learning? Does the proverb ring true in the primary languages classroom?

Expecting children to eternally cherish your stories could lead to some disappointment. However, research suggests that stories can have a real and lasting impact on language learning and what’s more, are central to our understanding of diversity and culture.

The role of stories in ‘implicit’ learning has received particular attention. In their 1983 book Once upon a time: using stories in the language classroom, Morgan and Rinvolucri champion storytelling, ‘that most ancient and compelling of human activities’, as a favourable ‘communicative’ alternative to traditional language teaching methods (Morgan and Rinvolucri, 1983: 1). According to them, stories engage learners and facilitate learning through ‘unconscious’ processes.

The extent to which the learner is conscious of the structures being learned is one way researchers have sought to distinguish implicit from explicit learning (Reber, 1976). Although there are several theories that attempt to explain what exactly learning something implicitly entails, a convenient way to think about things is ‘learning without awareness of what is being learned’ (DeKeyser, 2003: 314).

Research indicates that using stories in the languages classroom may indeed be conducive to the kind of learning Morgan and Rinvolucri (1983) describe.  For example, Elley (1991) reported that exposing children to a wide range of high-interest storybooks rapidly improved their reading and listening comprehension in the new language and encouraged positive attitudes towards books.

Commenting on the study, Elley noted that ‘when immersed in meaningful text, children appear to learn the language incidentally’ (Elley, 1991: 375). This observation is supported by results from similar studies that have also reported a relationship between extensive reading and ‘incidental’ improvements in second language spelling and word learning (Krashen, 1981) - ‘incidental in the sense that in trying to do one thing (comprehend meaning in reading), something unintended (vocabulary acquisition) occurs’ (Schmidt 1995: 7).

Of course, it could be that practising reading in general is the greatest aid to language development. However, Tomlinson (2003a, 2005) argues that stories facilitate learning in a unique and invaluable way. Reflecting on his work teaching English as a second language, he writes that ‘throughout the world both children and adults have always learned more effectively through narrative than from any other way’ (Tomlinson, 2003a: 14).

Tomlinson (2005) attributes the success of stories to ‘universal likings’ – an inherent appeal unaffected by cultural differences (Tomlinson, 2005: 149). Children’s enthusiasm for stories is something that Raymonde Sneddon has also observed in her research. Investigating the use of dual-language books in developing community languages, Sneddon (2008) found that children employed a wide range of strategies to negotiate meaning such was their eagerness to understand the text. From transferring knowledge of English to relating the books to personal experience, the children’s range of strategies indicated that they ‘understood a great deal about the reading process, loved stories and had become, or were becoming, independent readers’ (Sneddon, 2008: 81).

The universal appeal of stories creates many opportunities for teaching primary languages and intercultural understanding. The European Picture Book Collection is devoted to exploring these possibilities and exploiting the potential for authentic children’s books to broaden cultural horizons. The project drew together experts in children’s literature from fifteen European countries, working to select a range of culturally representative picture books which could be used with pupils in upper Key Stage 2 to enhance intercultural learning across the curriculum.

 As part of this research, the European Picture Book Collection sought to identify the characteristics of a ‘good’ picture book. An attribute of prime importance was the ability to ‘invite children into secondary worlds’ (Cotton, 2000: 19). These ‘secondary worlds’ offer a safe environment for children to gain intercultural experiences, enabling them to encounter and consider a range of lifestyles and beliefs.

The value communities place on stories is perfectly captured by a comment from a Bengali woman, participating in a London-based project, City of Stories: ‘We tell stories because children need to put themselves in other people’s shoes. Children of the future can share an experience I’ll never have again and they will never have at all.’

Such heartfelt and insightful testimonies suggest that stories, tales, folklore and myths may hold the key to a world of languages. Stories are everywhere, ‘hidden inside everyone’ (Morgan and Rinvolucri, 1983: 3). What better place than the primary languages classroom to let them out?

Useful websites

• The European Picture Book Collection – information about the books, an online teacher’s guide, background to the project and useful websites
• City of Stories – background to the project, contacts for educational resources and information about the interactive story trail at the Discover Centre in Stratford, East London

References

Cotton, P. (2000). Picture Books Sans Frontières. Stoke on Trent: Trentham.

DeKeyser, R. (2003). ‘Implicit and explicit learning’. In C. Doughty and M. Long (Eds.), Handbook of Second Language Acquisition (pp. 313-348). Oxford: Blackwell.

Elley, W. B. (1991). ‘Acquiring literacy in a second language: The effect of book-based programs.’ Language Learning 41.3: 375 – 411.

Morgan, M. andRinvolucri, M. (1983). Once upon a time: Using stories in the language classroom. New York: Cambridge University Press.

Reber, A.S. (1976). ‘Implicit learning of synthetic languages: The role of instructional set.’
Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Learning and Memory 2: 88-94.

Sneddon, R. (2008).’Young Children Learning to Read with Dual Language Books.’ English Teaching: Practice and Critique 7.2: 71-81.

Tomlinson, B. (2005). ‘Suiting EFL methodologies to social contexts.’ In E. Hinkel (Ed.), Handbook of research in second language teaching and learning (pp. 137–153). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.

Tomlinson, B. (2003a). ‘Humanizing the coursebook.’ In B. Tomlinson (Ed.), Developing materials for language teaching (pp. 162–173). London: Continuum.