Determining the Effectiveness of Storytelling Activities on the Phonological Awareness of Preschool Children

Ghasemtabar , Seyyed Amir; Rabieinezhad , Mohammad Reza; Fazli Darzi, Bahareh

Volume 14 - Articles-1403 MEJDS (2024) 14: 127 | Back to browse issues page

Mendeley

Zotero

RefWorks

Ghasemtabar S A, Rabieinezhad M R, Fazli Darzi B. Determining the Effectiveness of Storytelling Activities on the Phonological Awareness of Preschool Children. MEJDS 2024; 14 :127-127
URL: http://jdisabilstud.org/article-1-3175-en.html

Determining the Effectiveness of Storytelling Activities on the Phonological Awareness of Preschool Children

Seyyed Amir Ghasemtabar ^*¹

, Mohammad Reza Rabieinezhad¹

, Bahareh Fazli Darzi²

1- Assistant Professor, Department of Educational Sciences, Farhangian University, Tehran, Iran
2- Assistant Professor, Department of Persian Language and Literature Education, Farhangian University, Tehran, Iran

Abstract: (916 Views)

Abstract
Background & Objectives: Phonological awareness appears in children in the preschool years and develops and evolves in children until the beginning of elementary school. It is one of the most essential pre–literacy skills and predictors of success in reading. Also, early stimulation of phonological awareness prevents learning disabilities by facilitating learning to read. This prevention is critical because learning disabilities have negative consequences not only in the academic but also in social–emotional dimensions and behavioral dimensions. Hence, several interventions and strategies were designed by researchers to help develop and improve the phonological awareness of preschool children. Although the positive effect of storytelling activities on children's comprehension and attention span, language skills, and literacy has been shown in previous studies, its impact on children's phonological awareness has not been studied until this research. Accordingly, the present research was conducted to determine the effectiveness of storytelling activities on the phonological awareness of preschool children.
Methods: The research method was experimental with a pretest–posttest and follow–up design with a control group. From the statistical population of children aged 4 to 6 years in preschool centers in the 12^th district of Tehran City, Iran, 30 eligible volunteer children were randomly assigned to the experimental and control groups. Informed consent from parents and managers of preschool centers, interest of the child, age range between 4 and 6 years, and lack of any disease or mental and physical disorders were considered as the inclusion criteria. The exclusion criteria were the absence of more than three sessions of children in storytelling activities, the occurrence of any physical and mental problems, simultaneous participation of children in any other related educational programs, and the willingness of parents, managers, or children to withdraw from the research. Children in the intervention group participated in storytelling activities for 8 weeks, three one–hour sessions per week (24 sessions in total). There was no intervention for the control group. The data were collected using the Phonological Awareness Test (Soleymani & Dastjerdi Kazemi, 2005). The data were analyzed using repeated measures analysis of variance and Bonferroni post hoc test at a significance level of 0.05 and through SPSS₂₂ statistical software.
Results: The results showed that the effect of time and the effect of group and the interaction of group and time on the dimensions of phonological awareness, including syllabic awareness, awareness of intrasyllabic units, and phonemic awareness were significant (p<0.05). Also, the results indicated a significant difference in the mean scores of the pretest in all dimensions of phonological awareness with the posttest and follow–up in the experimental group (p<0.001). However, the posttest scores were not significantly different from the follow–up stage in any of the three dimensions (p>0.05). This result means that the impact of the intervention of storytelling activities on children's phonological awareness is lasting.
Conclusion: Based on the research findings, storytelling activities increase preschool children's phonological awareness. Therefore, the purposeful integration of storytelling activities in the preschool curriculum, along with other benefits for children, can be beneficial in the development and strengthening of phonological awareness of preschool children.

Keywords: Storytelling, Phonological awareness, Preschool children

Full-Text [PDF 334 kb] (179 Downloads)

Type of Study: Original Research Article | Subject: Psychology

References

1. Bdeir M, Bahous R, Nabhani M. Improving reading readiness in kindergarten children through early phonological awareness interventions. 2022;50(3):348–60. [DOI]

2. Soleymani Z, Dastjerdi Kazemi M. Determining the validity and reliability of Phonological Awareness Test. Journal of Psychology. 2005;9(1):82–100. [Persian]

3. Hessling Prahl A, Jones R, Melanie Schuele C, Camarata S. Phonological awareness intervention using a standard treatment protocol for individuals with Down syndrome. Child Lang Teach Ther. 2022;38(1):22–42. [DOI]

4. Newbury J, Justice LM, Jiang HH, Schmitt MB. Cognitive, noncognitive, and home environment correlates of reading difficulties in primary-grade students with language impairment. J Speech Lang Hear Res. 2020;63(6):1933–46. [DOI]

5. Memisevic H, Dedic A, Biscevic I, Hadzic S, Pasalic A, Malec D. Identifying predictors of reading speed and reading comprehension in Bosnian. Appl Neuropsychol Child. 2022;11(3):297–306. [DOI]

6. Veríssimo L, Costa M, Miranda F, Pontes C, Castro I. The importance of phonological awareness in learning disabilities' prevention: perspectives of preschool and primary teachers. Front Educ. 2021;6:750328. [DOI]

7. Wanzek J, Al Otaiba S, McMaster KL. Intensive reading interventions for the elementary grades. First Edition. New York: Guilford Publications; 2019.

8. Fernández-Otoya FA, Raposo-Rivas M, Halabi-Echeverry AX. a qualitative systematic literature review on phonological awareness in preschoolers supported by information and communication technologies. Education Sciences. 2022;12(6):382. [DOI]

9. Ghasemtabar SN, Yousefi N, Hosseini M, Daneshmand B. Music training: an effective strategy for phonological development of preschoolers. Journal of Educational Psychology. 2020:16(57):1–19. [Persian] [Article]

10. Elmonayer RA. Promoting phonological awareness skills of Egyptian kindergarteners through dialogic reading. Early Child Development and Care. 2013;183(9):1229–41. [DOI]

11. Lefebvre P, Trudeau N, Sutton A. Enhancing vocabulary, print awareness and phonological awareness through shared storybook reading with low-income preschoolers. J Early Child Lit. 2011;11(4):453–79. [DOI]

12. Cheung H, Chen HC, Lai CY, Wong OC, Hills M. The development of phonological awareness: effects of spoken language experience and orthography. Cognition. 2001;81(3):227–41. [DOI]

13. Morris T, Leavey G. Promoting phonological awareness in nursery‐aged children through a sure start early listening programme. Int J Early Years Educ. 2006;14(2):155–68. [DOI]

14. Bietti LM, Tilston O, Bangerter A. Storytelling as adaptive collective sensemaking. Top Cogn Sci. 2019;11(4):710–32. [DOI]

15. Fox Eades JM. Classroom tales: Using storytelling to build emotional, social and academic skills across the primary curriculum. First edition. London: Jessica Kingsley Publishers; 2005.

16. Bartan M. The use of storytelling methods by teachers and their effects on children's understanding and attention span. Southeast Asia Early Childhood Journal. 2020;9(1):75–84. [DOI]

17. Yazıcı E, Bolay H. Story based activities enhance literacy skills in preschool children. Universal Journal of Educational Research. 2017;5(5):815–23. [DOI]

18. Bazargan S. Our pitch trainer's guide and what's in it. Tehran: School Pub; 2020. [Persian]

19. Polit DF, Beck CT, Owen SV. Is the CVI an acceptable indicator of content validity? Appraisal and recommendations. Research in Nursing & Health. 2007;30(4):459–67. [DOI]

20. Tabieh AAS, Al-Hileh MM, Afifa HMJA, Abuzagha HY. The effect of using digital storytelling on developing active listening and creative thinking skills. European Journal of Educational Research. 2021;10(1):13–21. [DOI]

21. Ayobami O, Adedigba O. Effect of phonological awareness strategy on pupils'learning outcome in reading in ado-ekiti local government area. Unilorin Journal of Lifelong Education. 2023;4:10–19.

22. Rezaei A, Mousanezhad Jeddi E. The contributions of attentional control components, phonological awareness, and working memory to reading ability. J Psycholinguist Res. 2020;49(1):31–40. [DOI]

23. Kostelnik MJ, Soderman AK, Rupiper M, Whiren AP. Developmentally appropriate curriculum: Best practices in early childhood education. 7th edition. London: Pearson; 2018.

24. Bodrova E. Make‐believe play versus academic skills: a Vygotskian approach to today's dilemma of early childhood education. European Early Childhood Education Research Journal. 2008;16(3):357–69. [DOI]

25. Isbell R, Sobol J, Lindauer L, Lowrance A. The effects of storytelling and story reading on the oral language complexity and story comprehension of young children. Early Childhood Education Journal. 2004;32(3):157–63. [DOI]

26. Roney RC. Storytelling in the classroom: some theoretical thoughts. Story Telling. 1996;9:7–9.

27. Knoop‐van Campen CAN, Segers E, Verhoeven L. How phonological awareness mediates the relation between working memory and word reading efficiency in children with dyslexia. Dyslexia. 2018;24(2):156–69. [DOI]

28. McGregor I, Holmes JG. How storytelling shapes memory and impressions of relationship events over time. J Pers Soc Psychol. 1999;76(3):403–19. [DOI]

29. Bialystok E. Factors in the growth of linguistic awareness. Child Dev. 1986;57(2):498. [DOI]

30. Bialystok E. Cognitive complexity and attentional control in the bilingual mind. Child Dev. 1999;70(3):636–44. [DOI]

31. Hipfner-Boucher K, Milburn T, Weitzman E, Greenberg J, Pelletier J, Girolametto L. Relationships between preschoolers' oral language and phonological awareness. First Language. 2014;34(2):178–97. [DOI]