THE EFFECTIVENESS OF STORYTELLING PRACTICE ON THAI GRADE 6 STUDENTS’ USE OF THE PRESENT AND THE PAST SIMPLE TENSES
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Abstract
The purposes of this research were (1) to examine whether using storytelling activity to practice the use of the present simple tense and the past simple tense would be more effective than using the conventional method where students practiced the target tenses using conventional grammar exercises, and (2) to survey students’ opinions on the use of storytelling as a language practice. The participants were 40 grade 6 Thai students from two primary schools in Surin, Thailand. The participants were divided into two groups: 1) the storytelling group taught through explicit grammar teaching and practiced with storytelling and 2) the conventional group taught through explicit grammar teaching and practiced with grammar exercises. The research instruments consisted of a pre-test, a post-test, and an opinion questionnaire about the use of storytelling as a language practice. The pre-test and post-test were the verb transformation test with a total of 35 items. Statistical results show that either method could help learners use the present and the past simple tenses significantly more correctly (p < 0.001), and there was no significant difference between the two methods in improving the learning of the two target tenses (p > 0.05). In addition, the results of the questionnaire analysis revealed that overall student opinion about using storytelling as a language practice was positive. Students enjoyed the lessons and had more confidence in telling stories in English. Suggestions for teaching and future studies are provided.
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References
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