Dina R. Yoshimi and Haidan Wang, Editors, 2007 Read paginated .pdf version
Read paginated .pdf version
Quantitative and qualitative analyses of students' views on the storytelling project
This paper describes a storytelling project carried out by 147 students in second semester Japanese classes and reports the results of the survey concerning the students' reactions to the storytelling project. Storytelling or telling of personal narratives has been recognized as a valuable pedagogical activity to enhance levels of proficiency by foreign language teachers and researchers (Jones, 2001; Ko, Schallert, & Walters, 2003; Liskin-Gasparro, 1996; Yoshimi, 2001). According to ACTFL Proficiency Guidelines - Speaking (Revised 1999), the ability to "narrate and describe in major time frames with good control of aspect" (Breiner-Sanders, Lowe, Miles, & Swender, 2000, p. 18) is one of the characteristics among advanced-level speakers. The participants of this storytelling project, though they were not advanced-level speakers, were successful in completing a task of writing and narrating a personal story after receiving explicit instruction on the structure of a story and the strategies for telling a good story. This presenter was interested in finding out how the students experienced this project and what they had to say about why they enjoyed the project and why they did not enjoy the project.
The data used in this study were collected from 147 students who were enrolled in second-semester Japanese classes over the past six semesters. The characteristics of the subjects are shown in Table 1.
Table 1. Subject characteristics (n=147)
After seven weeks of Japanese instruction using the textbook "Yookoso" by Yasu-Hiko Tohsaku (1999), three sessions (one hour a day) of storytelling instruction and practice were given. These storytelling instructional sessions were modeled on those presented by the coordinators (Dina R. Yoshimi and Tomoko Iwai) of the 2002 and 2003 workshops on Pragmatics in the JFL Classroom held at the University of Hawai‘i at Manoa in which this author participated. Some modifications were incorporated so that they fit the UT curriculum. The content of the instructional sessions are summarized in Appendix A.
Three to four days after the three one-hour sessions were done, the students turned in their first drafts. The instructor (this presenter) gave them feedback using a feedback sheet. Based upon the comments and suggestions given by the instructor, students rewrote and resubmitted their stories. The instructor read them and suggested final modifications and revisions. Students were asked to turn in the final versions (the third draft) on the day of the presentation of their stories, which was one week from the due date for the second draft. The storytelling project was completed within four weeks. During the four-week period, students were free to seek help from the instructor and a TA for the class for writing or for oral practices during office hours. Closer to the oral presentation day, some class time was allocated for oral practice.
The present survey asked the students to evaluate the effectiveness of the storytelling project with respect to improving various language skill areas. The survey contained twelve items, eleven of which were answered on a five point Likert scale ranging from one to five.
Results of the survey are summarized in Table 2 below. Capitalized words are the names of variables in the analyses.
Table 2. Items with counts of students selecting each alternative
In the first nine items, the highest counts were found in "agree", indicating that students perceived the storytelling project as having positive influence on their language learning. The combined percentages of agree and strongly agree for each variable are: PREP (83.7%), VIDEO (64.7%), SPEAK (87.1%), LISTEN (54.4%), WRITE (83.7%), READ (74.2%), VOC (95.9%), GR (92.5%), KANJI (60.5%). The top three highest combined percentages were found to be VOC, GR, and SPEAK. Of course, these students' perceptions of the effectiveness of the storytelling activity cannot be assumed to reflect the actual effectiveness of the storytelling project (i.e., the students' language improvements as measured by some kind of standardized methods). However, such positive perceptions, and such feelings of success can support the students' motivation to learn, which in turn, can lead to actual achievement in learning Japanese.
For the question regarding the overall effectiveness of the storytelling project in enhancing their Japanese level, the great majority of students (81 out of 147 = 55.1%) rated the STORYTELLING PROJECT as "effective" and 29 students (19.7%) rated it as "very effective". The combined percentage was 74.8%, that is to say, three quarters of the students believed that the storytelling project was effective overall. Although many of the students experienced anxiety during the oral presentation (58 students-39.5% said "anxious" and 40 students-27.2% said "very anxious"), this nervousness did not negatively influence the students' effectiveness ratings. The students were nervous, but they may have used this nervousness or tension as energy to do a good job in storytelling. As a result, they may have felt a sense of accomplishment resulting in higher ratings (4 "effective" or 5 "very effective") for the overall effectiveness of the storytelling project.
The overwhelming majority of students (n=115, 78.2%) preferred the storytelling activity to the conventional oral performance test (i.e., Q & A and role play) as a method of assessment. This result suggests that students are interested in sharing their personal experiences and stories with other people. This is consistent with the recent popularity of the National Public Radio oral history project, StoryCorps (a project to instruct and inspire people to record each others' stories in sound, http://www.storycorps.net/about/). This overall positive feeling toward the storytelling activity demonstrates people's need and affinity for telling and hearing personal stories.
Since many of the overall effectiveness ratings were 4 or 5, correlation coefficients between OVERALL and other variables were calculated to find out how they were associated with each other (see Table 3).
Table 3. Correlations between OVERALL and other variables.
The strongest relationship was found between OVERALL and SPEAK, r = .613, p < .000. Those who rated higher on SPEAK (i.e., the effectiveness of the storytelling project in improving speaking skill) were more likely to rate the overall effectiveness of the storytelling project higher. This finding is very interesting because, although this storytelling project involved not only oral performance but also the writing of a story, the correlation between OVERALL and WRITE (r = .276) is much weaker than that of OVERALL and SPEAK. Therefore, it is safe to say that students' evaluation of the storytelling project is closely related to their sense of achievement in telling a story rather than in writing a story.
Other significant correlations were found between OVERALL and 7 other variables (LISTEN, GRAMMAR, PREP, VOC, READ, WRITE, and VIDEO). There was no significant correlation found between OVERALL and ANXIOUS, nor between OVERALL and KANJI. Therefore, a student feeling anxious during the oral presentation of his/her story did not necessarily lower the rating of overall effectiveness.
However, there was a significant negative correlation found between Anxious and Speak (r = -.226, p < .006). The more students felt ANXIOUS, the lower their ratings of the effectiveness of storytelling in improving their SPEAKing were.
There were no gender differences found in the distributions of the OVERALL effectiveness ratings; male and female students produced similar patterns of ratings. However, there was an association found between gender and the level of anxiety. One-way ANOVA (F = 4.587, df = 1, p < .034) revealed that females experienced a higher level of anxiety (Mean = 4.07) than did males (Mean = 3.67). Psychology research shows that men generally have higher self-esteem than women (Wood, Wood, & Boyd, 2005). Moreover, women tend to evaluate their abilities more harshly than men (Beyer, 1990; Gabriel, Critelli, & Ed, 1994; and Slevin & Aday, 1993). Thus, it is safe to say that women may operate on fear of failure rather than hope for success. This kind of less optimistic view may result in higher anxiety, which was shown in this study.
In the second part of the survey, students described their storytelling experiences in writing. They were asked to list the reasons why they enjoyed the storytelling activity and the reasons why they did not enjoy the storytelling. Many students listed reasons for both enjoying and not enjoying, indicating that the students perceived both pros and cons of the storytelling project. Their opinions are very informative and revealing. There were 321 different statements regarding enjoying the storytelling. Those statements were grouped into eleven categories according to the content (see Appendix B for details).
The most frequently mentioned reason in the "Enjoyed" category was 'skill/knowledge improvement.' It was mentioned by 117 students. Of 117 students, 41 of them said something about improving speaking skills. The second most mentioned reason in this category is 'enjoyment', which was listed by 35 students. The third category is 'telling stories is fun' (n=33). The fourth category reflects students' positive views on the role of storytelling as a learning method (n=30). The fifth category is 'writing stories is fun' (n=20); students expressed their enjoyment of writing personal stories. The sixth category is 'comparison' (n=17). Seventeen students gave the statements comparing the storytelling project with the other oral exam format. The seventh category is 'different from other class activities' (n=13). Thirteen students remarked on the distinguishedness of the storytelling project from other learning activities. The eighth category is 'challenge' (n=11). The ninth category is 'real world experience' (n=9). The students commented on the relevance of storytelling to their everyday lives. The tenth category is 'creativity' (n=9). Other reasons (n=27) were put together in the 'Other' category because they did not fit into any one of the above 10 major categories. These reasons demonstrate that the students experienced progress in Japanese skills and had fun in the process.
There were 167 different statements expressing why the students did NOT enjoy the storytelling project. They were classified into eight categories (see Appendix C for details). The most frequently mentioned reason in this category was 'memorization' (n=38). The second category is 'nervousness' (n=31). The third category is 'difficulty of the assignment' (n=26). The fourth category is 'limited vocabulary/grammar' (n=20). The fifth category is 'not enough time' (n=12). The sixth category is 'difficulty in coming up with a good story' (n=7). The seventh category is 'unclear instruction/uncertainty of requirements' (n=6). The eighth category is 'Others' (n=27). It contains reasons that do not belong to any of the above categories. These statements indicate that the students experienced a certain degree of frustration due to their own skill deficiencies and due to the fact that they had to rely on memorization of long texts.
This paper analyzed the data obtained from students of second semester Japanese who had participated in a new storytelling project. The students described the storytelling project as a positive experience. An important element of their positive experiences was the fact that they found storytelling enjoyable. In addition, they perceived storytelling as contributing to the improvement of their language skills. This kind of overall positive way in which students perceived storytelling is likely to promote their motivation and persistence in learning Japanese.
Ryan and Deci (2000) proposed that students become engaged and interested in, and thus enjoy the activities that appeal to their needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness. The more autonomy, competence, and relatedness students experience, the higher their motivation becomes. This presenter believes that the storytelling project includes these three components. Students were able to make decisions in all aspects of creating a personal story (autonomy). They had total freedom in selecting a topic, describing the setting and characters involved, and developing the plot. Students had the opportunity to experience the challenge of integrating what they have learned so far into a coherent, meaningful personal story (competence). They monitored what they have learned and used that learning as much as possible. In addition, students could internalize the values of the storytelling project presented by the instructor (relatedness). Those values include 1) the value of reflecting upon their own lives and applying their experiences to the task of telling a personal narrative, 2) the value of sharing a story with fellow students who will respect the storyteller's effort and creativity; and 3) the value of using the language in more personal ways.
It would be yet another challenge for the students to acquire a level of speaking skill that would enable them not to rely on memorization too much but to be flexible (in the use of the language) in telling a story and interacting with the listener. The students themselves said that they did not like the task of memorizing their stories. They know that it is not natural to tell a story from memorization. As they advance to a higher level of Japanese and increase their practice in interacting in a range of social settings, they will gradually gain the skill necessary to be an effective communicator and storyteller.
The survey results provided this presenter with encouragement to keep the storytelling project in the first year curriculum with some modifications. The storytelling project provides the students with opportunities to experience creative challenge, develop and make full use of their competence, and see the personal relevance of a language learning activity, which are all essential in promoting high achievement. Even though they do not possess the ability to fully express their thoughts and feelings, first year students can tell a story.
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The storytelling instruction sessions consisted of:
The reason why I enjoyed: Total number of reasons generated = 321
I. Skill/Knowledge Improvement (117)
II. Enjoyment (35)
"interesting and fun (exciting)" (25)
III. Telling stories is fun. (33)
"nice/fun to tell/share my personal (my own) story/experience" (18)
IV. Method of learning (30)
"chance to apply all prior knowledge" (16)
V. Writing stories is fun. (20)
"personal stories are more fun than guided writing" (8)
VI. Comparison (17)
"better then normal oral exam" (3)
VII. Different from other class activities (13)
"varied from other regular projects" (6)
VIII. Challenge (11)
IX. Real World Experience (9)
"applied Japanese to my life" (3)
X. Creativity (9)
"allowed to be creative" (8)
XI. Other (27)
"I enjoyed practicing with my classmates" (2)
The reason why I did not enjoy: Total number of reasons generated = 167
I. Memorization (38)
II. Nervousness (31)
III. Difficulty of the assignment (26)
"too much time and effort" (4)
IV. Limited Vocabulary/Grammar (20)
"use and memorize a lot of new vocabulary/grammar" (6)
V. Not enough time (12)
"limited time for memorization/preparation" (8)
VI. Coming up with a good story (7)
"come up with a good story" (6)
VII. Unclear instruction/Uncertainty of requirements (6)
"instruction was a little unclear"
VIII. Others (27)
"the teacher's conversational element made me easily lose track of where I was in the story" (5)