Storytelling is a quintessential part of early childhood education that not only teaches children vital skills but also expands their imagination and creativity. By sharing stories, teachers support their students’ listening skills, help them become enthusiastic about learning, and create a real sense of community in the classroom (Friday, 2014). Research has also found that oral storytelling exposes children to new vocabulary and improves their narrative skills (Melzi et al., 2022). With so many benefits to storytelling, it’s important for teachers to learn the skills needed to keep students engaged and entertained, while also supporting children’s vocabulary and comprehension skills. One way this can be achieved is through the storyteller’s use of expressive body language, gestures, and voice.
Body language and hand gestures can be particularly helpful tools for children learning new vocabulary words and gaining more advanced comprehension skills. For example, when storytellers mimic the actions of a character in a story, children can use context clues to figure out the meaning of new words (Lwin, 2016). Similarly, iconic gestures, which depict actions described by the storyteller, and deictic gestures, which are hand movements that can demonstrate distances between objects, improve children’s recall skills by increasing their understanding of story material (Macoun & Sweller, 2016). Additionally, beat gestures, which the storyteller may use by pointing their finger or hand rhythmically as they speak (McNeil, 1992), helps to improve children’s memory and narrative retelling skills (Vilà-Giménez et al., 2015). Finally, maintaining eye contact with students and using expressive hand movements make storytelling sessions more interesting for children, and this engagement can decrease restlessness and fidgeting, and improve their focus (Lenhart et al., 2020).
Using an expressive voice with changing pitch and volume is also a method that teachers can use to keep children engaged and improve their comprehension and vocabulary skills. Similar to the use of gestures, voice modulations, such as changes in pitch, volume, and word emphasis, can give children the context clues they need to figure out the meaning of a new vocabulary word (Lwin, 2016). Pausing after certain words or speaking in a louder voice can also indicate to children that they should pay attention to a particular word because it’s going to be important in the story (Lwin, 2016). Additionally, changing pitch from low to high, soft to loud, or speaking quickly and then drawing syllables out can keep a story interesting for children (Lwin, 2016; Mensa Foundation, n.d.). Furthermore, there are also several practical uses for expressive voice when sharing a story with children. Teachers can use different character voices to help children differentiate between who is speaking and, therefore, follow the plot of a story much easier (Mensa Foundation, n.d.). Finally, when speaking in a character’s voice, teachers can change their voice and pitch to portray the character's emotions such as fear, excitement, or anger (Victoria State Government, 2019). These techniques can be especially helpful during oral storytelling sessions when there aren’t illustrations to assist children’s comprehension of the plot or the character’s emotions.
Using expressive body language, gestures, and voice helps children during storytelling sessions in a variety of ways. These techniques can improve children’s comprehension skills, which in turn makes it easier for them to learn and retain new vocabulary words (Lenhart et al., 2020). Expressiveness can also increase children’s attentiveness, help them to follow along with the story’s plot, and empathize with characters by gaining a better understanding of their emotions. When teachers plan to share stories with their students, especially oral stories during which teachers cannot reference a book’s illustrations, including expressive body language and voice can be an easy way to boost the benefits of storytime for children.
Caroline Roarty is a junior in the applied psychology program at New York University
References
Friday, M. J. (2014, July 11). Why storytelling in the classroom matters. Edutopia.
https://www.edutopia.org/blog/storytelling-in-the-classroom-matters-matthew-friday
Lenhart, J., Lenhard, W., Vaahtoranta, E., Suggate, S. (2020). More than words: Narrator engagement during storytelling increases children’s work learning, story comprehension, and on-task behavior. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 51(2), 338-251. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecresq.2019.12.009
Lwin, S. M. (2016). It’s story time!: Exploring the potential of multimodality in oral storytelling to support children’s vocabulary learning. Literacy, 50(2), 72-82.
https://doi.org/10.1111/lit.12075
Macoun, A., Sweller, N. (2016). Listening and watching: The effects of observing gesture on preschoolers’ narrative comprehension. Cognitive Development, 40, 68-81. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cogdev.2016.08.005
Mensa Foundation. (n.d.). The art of storytelling. Mensa for Kids.
https://www.mensaforkids.org/teach/lesson-plans/the-art-of-storytelling/
McNeill, D. (1992). Hand and mind: What gestures reveal about thought. Illinois: University of Chicago Press.
Melzi, G., Schick, A. R., & Wuest, C. (2022). Stories beyond books: Teacher
storytelling supports children’s literacy skills. Early Education and Development, 1-21. https://doi.org/10.1080/10409289.2021.2024749
Victoria State Government. (2019, November 25). Storytelling. Education and Training. https://www.education.vic.gov.au/childhood/professionals/learning/ecliteracy/interactingwithothers/Pages/storytelling.aspx#top
Vilà-Giménez, I., Igualada, A., & Prieto, P. (2019). Observing storytellers who use rhythmic beat gestures improves children’s narrative discourse performance. Developmental Psychology, 55(2), 250-262. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/dev0000604
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