The Impact of Storytelling Technique on the Learning of Grammar in Iranian Teenage Language Learners

Nowadays teaching English through different tools or strategies is popular in many institutes. Teachers use different kinds of methods to teach grammar. The present study was designed to investigate the effectiveness of storytelling in improving the grammatical ability of Iranian teenage language learners. To achieve the objective, 34 female learners in the 13 to 16 age range who were studying at Voice of Iran Institute in Rasht were selected among 60 participants based on their performance on QPT. The aim of QPT was to homogenize the participants according to their proficiency level. The participants were then randomly assigned to two groups, an experimental group and a control group. Each group consisted of 17 participants. A pretest of grammar was administered to all the participants. The aim of the pretest was to determine the initial differences between the grammatical abilities of the participants in the two groups. Next, the experimental group received a 10-session treatment including the use of storytelling. Meanwhile, the control group received a conventional treatment that taught grammar deductively and without stories. After the treatments, a posttest was administrated to both groups. As a result, it was illustrated that, the experimental group that utilized the storytelling technique achieved a higher proficiency in grammar than did the control group. The findings showed that the use of storytelling in English classes makes Iranian teenage learners more motivated to learn grammar and makes the classroom atmosphere more absorbing and attractive.