Student Storytellers’ Beliefs and Practices about English Storytelling to Young Learners

This study explores the student storytellers’ beliefs and actual practices regarding English storytelling to young learners. Classes were observed, and 22 student storytellers’ beliefs were compared with 21 in-service elementary or kindergarten teachers using a questionnaire, which includes an open-ended question. The findings showed that although there was little difference between the general beliefs of the student storytellers and those of in-service teachers in terms of the nature of English storytelling, storytelling methods and techniques, and self-efficacy as English storytellers, their perceptions as to the qualifications as a storyteller and their confidence were quite different. Additionally, the student storytellers implemented storytelling mostly by relying on Korean translation apart from their beliefs. The reasons for these discrepancies were discussed, followed by the implications and limitations of this study.