Effect of Interactive Reading on Storytelling Skills

Abstract

This study aims to examine the effect of interactive reading activities on storytelling skills. A quasi-experimental design with pre-test post-test control group was used in the research. The research was carried out with 49 third-grade students in a public school in Şanlıurfa. The data of the study were obtained by means of a voice recorder during the process of reading aloud a picture book, which has the characteristics of a silent book, by the students in the experimental and control group via storytelling method. The implementation process of the research lasted for 12 weeks and a total of 18 children's picture books were used within the scope of interactive reading studies. According to the results obtained in line with the analysis of the data, there was no significant difference between the experimental and control groups in terms such as the number of words, word diversity and sentence meaning unit in the pre-test narrations structured by the students with the storytelling method, while there was a significant difference in the post-test storytelling scores in favour of the students within the experimental group. In line with the results obtained at the end of the research and the literature, it was concluded that interactive reading studies contributed to the development of expressive language skills in children and increased their vocabulary.