Storytelling: Enhancing Language Acquisition in Young Children

張貼日期：Apr 07, 2013 4:21:9 AM

Rui Chang Ya-jing Song

Advisor: Dr. Hsian-li Chou

Abstract

This essay mainly talks about what “storytelling” is and in which aspects it enhance young children’s language ability. In the very beginning of our essay, by quoting Albert Einstein’s view of storytelling, we raise our thesis statement, “Actually, storytelling, as well as mealtime conversation, has been proved to play a critical role in language acquisition in young children.” In the first part of the main body, we set the age range of “children” and the definition of “storytelling”, as well as the historical and contemporary perspectives of storytelling. In the second part, a significant amount of research indicates that certain storytelling materials and storytelling methods can make great influence on children’s language acquisition. In the third part of the main body, we discuss how young children’s language acquisition develops in MLU (mean length of utterance), writing skills and vocabulary respectively. In the summary, we echo that storytelling can enhance language acquisition in young children.