I am an undergrad at CSU Stanislaus working towards my degree and TESOL certification, and I was hoping I could find a few teachers here that would be willing to share their experiences and insights with me. I am writing a paper on the use of storytelling in language learning classrooms, and have made this questionnaire to try and get a sense of how teachers choose to use stories in their own lessons. This is mostly geared for those who teach young language learners, but if you teach older language learners then I am also interested in your response to see what the comparisons or differences might be. If you are interested in helping me, please respond to the questions below.
For the context of this questionnaire, stories will include using literature (such as children's books or short stories) or spoken stories told by the teacher and/or students.
1. What grades or age groups have you been a language instructor for?
2. How long have you been a language instructor?
3. How often do you use written stories in your classes for the purpose of language instruction? (Ex. children's books, short stories, novels)
a. Never
b. A few times each term
c. Once a month
d. Once a week
e. A few times each week
f. At least once a day
4. How often do you use spoken stories in your classroom for the purpose of language instruction?
a. Never
b. A few times each term
c. Once a month
d. Once a week
e. A few times each week
f. At least once a day
5. When you plan a lesson, how often will you use a written story for the purpose of introducing new vocabulary?
a. Never
b. Sometimes
c. Often
d. Always
6. When you plan a lesson, how often will you include a spoken story for the purpose of introducing new vocabulary?
a. Never
b. Sometimes
c. Often
d. Always
7. When you plan a lesson, how often will you use a written story for the purpose of introducing new grammar? (Ex. verb forms, adverbs, etc.)
a. Never
b. Sometimes
c. Often
d. Always
8. When you plan a lesson, how often will you use a spoken story for the purpose of introducing new grammar?
a. Never
b. Sometimes
c. Often
d. Always
9. How often do you use written stories for students to practice reading comprehension?
a. Never
b. Sometimes
c. Often
d. Always
10. How often do you use spoken stories for students to practice listening comprehension?
a. Never
b. Sometimes
c. Often
d. Always
11. When you tell a story in class (written or spoken) how engaged do your students become in the
activity?
a. not at all
b. less engaged
c. average
d. more engaged
12. Give an example of a lesson where you used a story (written or spoken) as the main activity or focus of the lesson.
13. When you tell a story in class (written or spoken), what do your students normally do? Do they sit quietly? Do they ask questions? Will they repeat phrases that they hear on their own? Do you have them interact with the story in some way?
14. From your observations, how much would you say your students enjoy the stories that are used for the class? What is the general mood in the classroom when you tell a story to your students?
15. When you plan a lesson, what kinds of topics are you more likely to use a story to teach the subject matter? (Ex. grammar, vocabulary, cultural topics)
16. In your experience, have there been any topics where storytelling was not effective in teaching the subject matter?
Thank you for participating, I look forward to reading your responses. :)
Storytelling in Language Learning Classrooms - Questionnaire
Moderator: Joe
Re: Storytelling in Language Learning Classrooms - Questionnaire
1. What grades or age groups have you been a language instructor for?
2. How long have you been a language instructor?
3. How often do you use written stories in your classes for the purpose of language instruction? (Ex. children's books, short stories, novels)
d. Once a week
4. How often do you use spoken stories in your classroom for the purpose of language instruction?
c. Once a month or more
5. When you plan a lesson, how often will you use a written story for the purpose of introducing new vocabulary?
b. Sometimes
c. Often
6. When you plan a lesson, how often will you include a spoken story for the purpose of introducing new vocabulary?
b. Sometimes
7. When you plan a lesson, how often will you use a written story for the purpose of introducing new grammar? (Ex. verb forms, adverbs, etc.)
b. Sometimes
8. When you plan a lesson, how often will you use a spoken story for the purpose of introducing new grammar?
b. Rarely (actually a bit more than that)
9. How often do you use written stories for students to practice reading comprehension?
c. Often
10. How often do you use spoken stories for students to practice listening comprehension?
b. Sometimes
c. Often
11. When you tell a story in class (written or spoken) how engaged do your students become in the
activity?
d. more engaged than average
12. Give an example of a lesson where you used a story (written or spoken) as the main activity or focus of the lesson.
3rd grade summer camp class in ROK: Using TPRS, I had our character (a stuffed toy with-
out a head) take a plane to another country to try to find a matching head. First, I introduced new vocabulary and one new structure (grammar). The children already had created the back-story in previous classes. I did circling and soliciting fleshing-out content, ending with the children re-telling and acting out the trip.
13. When you tell a story in class (written or spoken), what do your students normally do? Do they sit quietly? Do they ask questions? Will they repeat phrases that they hear on their own? Do you have them interact with the story in some way?
This varies depending on level, age and class size. Usually, if it is not a TPRS lesson, the students do the reading or telling. One common activity is tag stories. After completing a tag story, I have the class read the sentences round robin. On occasion, I will erase a word per sentence and have the class read en masse , filling in the missing word. This continues until all of the story is gone from the board, with the class reciting their story totally from memory. The following lesson, I sometimes start off by re-doing the story (especially if there were good and useful constructions), with the class usually able to re-construct the story almost perfectly.
14. From your observations, how much would you say your students enjoy the stories that are used for the class? What is the general mood in the classroom when you tell a story to your students?
They are turned on – sometimes overly so. However, I have had two stories that were duds with some students.
15. When you plan a lesson, what kinds of topics are you more likely to use a story to teach the subject matter? (Ex. grammar, vocabulary, cultural topics)
I generally teach either vocabulary or grammar, especially when I use Stories for Flyers and Stories for Movers. For low-level young learners, I use a set of twelve booklets about Dora the Explorer and a couple of my own stories on StoryJumper.com ( Ted and Fred and Sam and Pat). On the other hand with C1 students, I use Literature Circles, in which the stories are mostly read as home-work. In class, we cover grammar, culture, and vocabulary, but I like to focus on writers’ techniques (intertextuality, figures of speech, genre, etc.).
16. In your experience, have there been any topics where storytelling was not effective in teaching the subject matter?
Other than the distaste of some students for particular stories, no.
Note: Students recall some stories years later.
2. How long have you been a language instructor?
3. How often do you use written stories in your classes for the purpose of language instruction? (Ex. children's books, short stories, novels)
d. Once a week
4. How often do you use spoken stories in your classroom for the purpose of language instruction?
c. Once a month or more
5. When you plan a lesson, how often will you use a written story for the purpose of introducing new vocabulary?
b. Sometimes
c. Often
6. When you plan a lesson, how often will you include a spoken story for the purpose of introducing new vocabulary?
b. Sometimes
7. When you plan a lesson, how often will you use a written story for the purpose of introducing new grammar? (Ex. verb forms, adverbs, etc.)
b. Sometimes
8. When you plan a lesson, how often will you use a spoken story for the purpose of introducing new grammar?
b. Rarely (actually a bit more than that)
9. How often do you use written stories for students to practice reading comprehension?
c. Often
10. How often do you use spoken stories for students to practice listening comprehension?
b. Sometimes
c. Often
11. When you tell a story in class (written or spoken) how engaged do your students become in the
activity?
d. more engaged than average
12. Give an example of a lesson where you used a story (written or spoken) as the main activity or focus of the lesson.
3rd grade summer camp class in ROK: Using TPRS, I had our character (a stuffed toy with-
out a head) take a plane to another country to try to find a matching head. First, I introduced new vocabulary and one new structure (grammar). The children already had created the back-story in previous classes. I did circling and soliciting fleshing-out content, ending with the children re-telling and acting out the trip.
13. When you tell a story in class (written or spoken), what do your students normally do? Do they sit quietly? Do they ask questions? Will they repeat phrases that they hear on their own? Do you have them interact with the story in some way?
This varies depending on level, age and class size. Usually, if it is not a TPRS lesson, the students do the reading or telling. One common activity is tag stories. After completing a tag story, I have the class read the sentences round robin. On occasion, I will erase a word per sentence and have the class read en masse , filling in the missing word. This continues until all of the story is gone from the board, with the class reciting their story totally from memory. The following lesson, I sometimes start off by re-doing the story (especially if there were good and useful constructions), with the class usually able to re-construct the story almost perfectly.
14. From your observations, how much would you say your students enjoy the stories that are used for the class? What is the general mood in the classroom when you tell a story to your students?
They are turned on – sometimes overly so. However, I have had two stories that were duds with some students.
15. When you plan a lesson, what kinds of topics are you more likely to use a story to teach the subject matter? (Ex. grammar, vocabulary, cultural topics)
I generally teach either vocabulary or grammar, especially when I use Stories for Flyers and Stories for Movers. For low-level young learners, I use a set of twelve booklets about Dora the Explorer and a couple of my own stories on StoryJumper.com ( Ted and Fred and Sam and Pat). On the other hand with C1 students, I use Literature Circles, in which the stories are mostly read as home-work. In class, we cover grammar, culture, and vocabulary, but I like to focus on writers’ techniques (intertextuality, figures of speech, genre, etc.).
16. In your experience, have there been any topics where storytelling was not effective in teaching the subject matter?
Other than the distaste of some students for particular stories, no.
Note: Students recall some stories years later.
Re: Storytelling in Language Learning Classrooms - Questionnaire
Thank you very much for your reply oneota :)
I just looked at the website you mentioned and it definitely looks like a useful tool for my future classrooms.
I just looked at the website you mentioned and it definitely looks like a useful tool for my future classrooms.
-
mashadiana
- Member
- Posts: 2
- Joined: 06 Mar 2024, 08:55
- Status: New Teacher
Re: Storytelling in Language Learning Classrooms - Questionnaire
I have been a language instructor for elementary school grades.
I have been teaching languages for about 3 years now.
I use written stories in my classes for language instruction:
f. At least once a day
I use spoken stories in my classroom for language instruction:
e. A few times each week
When planning a lesson, I use a written story to introduce new vocabulary:
d. Always
When planning a lesson, I include a spoken story to introduce new vocabulary:
b. Sometimes
I use a written story to introduce new grammar:
c. Often
I use a spoken story to introduce new grammar:
b. Sometimes
I use written stories for students to practice reading comprehension:
d. Always
I use spoken stories for students to practice listening comprehension:
c. Often
When telling a story in class, my students become:
d. More engaged
An example of a lesson where I used a story as the main activity was when we read a children's book and acted out different scenes.
When I tell a story, my students usually sit quietly, ask questions, and sometimes repeat phrases they hear. I also encourage them to interact with the story by drawing or reenacting it.
My students seem to enjoy the stories used in class, and the general mood is usually one of excitement and curiosity.
I am more likely to use stories to teach cultural topics and vocabulary.
In my experience, storytelling was not as effective when teaching complex grammatical concepts that required more direct explanation and practice.
I hope these responses help with your research! Let me know if you need any more information.
I have been teaching languages for about 3 years now.
I use written stories in my classes for language instruction:
f. At least once a day
I use spoken stories in my classroom for language instruction:
e. A few times each week
When planning a lesson, I use a written story to introduce new vocabulary:
d. Always
When planning a lesson, I include a spoken story to introduce new vocabulary:
b. Sometimes
I use a written story to introduce new grammar:
c. Often
I use a spoken story to introduce new grammar:
b. Sometimes
I use written stories for students to practice reading comprehension:
d. Always
I use spoken stories for students to practice listening comprehension:
c. Often
When telling a story in class, my students become:
d. More engaged
An example of a lesson where I used a story as the main activity was when we read a children's book and acted out different scenes.
When I tell a story, my students usually sit quietly, ask questions, and sometimes repeat phrases they hear. I also encourage them to interact with the story by drawing or reenacting it.
My students seem to enjoy the stories used in class, and the general mood is usually one of excitement and curiosity.
I am more likely to use stories to teach cultural topics and vocabulary.
In my experience, storytelling was not as effective when teaching complex grammatical concepts that required more direct explanation and practice.
I hope these responses help with your research! Let me know if you need any more information.