Autobiographical Storytelling in English Language Arts Instruction: Fostering Literacy and Social Emotional Development in the Elementary English Language Learner Classroom

Autobiographical Storytelling in English Language Arts Instruction: Fostering Literacy and Social Emotional Development in the Elementary English Language Learner Classroom Elysia Lin, with Prof. Mary Boyes, VCU Honors College Given the changing cultural and linguistic profile of the United States classroom, culturally relevant teaching strategies that address individual learning needs and establish meaningful learning contexts have become increasingly important for student success. The integration of autobiographical student narratives into traditional English language instruction via storytelling represents a promising area of educational research. The present study sought to investigate the extent to which storytelling facilitates inclusivity, fosters positive social-emotional development, enhances engagement, and contributes to gains in academic performance of elementary-aged English language learner (ELL) students. In a comprehensive literature review, this study explored storytelling in relation to classroom demographic profiles, literacy development, dynamics of interpersonal relationships, and mechanisms of student engagement and motivation. Storytelling in promoting language achievement and social-emotional development was evaluated through the lens of Gardner’s social educational model of second language acquisition. Research found that fewer opportunities for open dialogue within diverse classrooms contribute to negative cultural stereotypes. Storytelling supports the social-emotional development of students by broadening cultural attitudes and affirming both peer-to-peer and student-teacher relationships. Storytelling, compared to traditional instruction, better incorporates multimodal literacy skills into language. Additionally, storytelling increases student engagement by creating a meaningful learning context, which in turn heightens motivation and mediates positive academic outcomes. Four guidelines for storytelling-based language instruction in diverse classrooms emerged: (1) acknowledgement and acceptance of diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds, (2) legitimization of student experience and student voice, (3) implementation of scaffolding techniques by teacher-storytellers, and (4) support of active student roles in learning.https://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/uresposters/1376/thumbnail.jp