Traditional Storytelling Research Articles

Transforming Literacy and Social Skills through Storytelling in a Community-Based Setting

The research question of this study evaluates the impact that the storytelling tradition at Rumah Baca Rambutan has on children concerning literacy, emotions, social skills, and creativity. Through the qualitative case study, the study discovers that storytelling enhanced the children’s reading appreciation, language, and literacy learning as well as culture. Emotional literacy interconnection was also achieved through the use of storytelling since learners developed empathy and social relationships with characters. In addition, storytelling can develop creative thinking and imagination, through which children can act as main constructors of narratives what would support their cognitive flexibility and problem solving. Notably, the study enjoys the use of storytelling in the passing of cultural values of a certain group besides enhancing the sense of belonging in children. The study contributes to the knowledge that informal narrative intervention enhancing formal and community learning can promote literacy, well-being, and cultural identity when implemented in low and rural context, such as Indonesia. Implications of these outcomes for reform in education include the need to embrace cultural production approaches that are educationally relevant so as to facilitate consideration of children’s developmental experiences.

Matalili-Aga Gahua: Development of the Matalili Framework as a Holistic Model for the Well-being of the Niue People.

Culturally appropriate research frameworks are needed for investigating Pacific well-being. This study expands on existing Pacific methodologies and presents a well-being research framework by studying the Niue community. Traditional storytelling or talanoa methodology, referred to as tala in the Niue context, was used to explore and understand the lived experiences of well-being from Niue elders. The elders described traditional activities and objects that are required to sustain well-being, as well as relationships with family, community, and the environment. Three interconnected principles that influence the well-being of the Niue people emerged from the tala, namely, Vahā Loto-Agaaga Ofania (Spirit of Care), Fakafetuiaga (Inclusive Relationship), and Fakamalolo (Empowerment). Using a Niue lens, the key three principles were developed into the Matalili-Aga Gahua (Matalili Wellbeing Framework), based on a circular woven pattern that is distinctive to the Niue culture. The principles of the Matalili Wellbeing Framework are proposed as a guide in future Niue-centered research.

Utilization of Artificial Intelligence-Based Learning Videos: Enhancing Learning Interest in Early Childhood Moral Education

A common challenge in early childhood moral education is the low level of engagement and interest when using traditional storytelling methods. This study examines the implementation and utilization of artificial intelligence (AI)--based learning videos to enhance early childhood moral education at RA Hj. Sri Musiyarti, Semarang, Indonesia. With a qualitative case study approach, the research involved 20 children aged 4 to 5 years, with data collected through observations, semi-structured interviews with teachers, and documentation. The study focuses on the impact of AI-based videos on children's interest in moral learning, a shift from traditional storytelling methods to video-based learning. Findings reveal that AI-based learning videos significantly increase children's interest and engagement, promoting active participation in the classroom. The videos facilitated cognitive development and emotional engagement, making moral learning more enjoyable and effective. The reliability and validity of the findings were ensured through methodological triangulation and peer debriefing. The study concludes that AI-based learning videos are a powerful tool in fostering intellectual and emotional growth in early childhood, supporting innovative and exciting teaching approaches in moral education. The results suggest that AI technologies can enhance early childhood education, with future research needed to expand the scope of AI in education and to explore strategies for teacher training to ensure the effective implementation of AI technologies.

Fostering Students L2 Writing Skills and Intercultural Awareness Through Digital Storytelling In Elementary Education

This paper presents a study conducted in a Greek Elementary school and explores the impact of Digital Storytelling (DST) on developing children’s second language (L2) writing skills and their intercultural awareness. The development of digital technologies has enabled the use of different multimedia tools to reconfigure traditional storytelling. The researchers’ aim was to reinforce a learner-centered approach to the teaching of writing by provoking influence in innovation of pedagogical practices that personalize learning. L2 learners of diverse cultural backgrounds attending the fifth grade (n=21) of a Greek state elementary school, were involved in composing, sharing and reflecting upon stories from their own cultural backgrounds. The researchers built an interculturally-oriented language framework for better addressing young learners’ literacies, ensuring they work in a stimulating environment, spending time online and engaging with digital applications. Qualitative and quantitative mix methods were used to estimate the feasibility of the intervention, including a pre- and post-test, teachers’ journals and focus group discussions with the L2 learners. Variables of the study were fifth graders in the context of an elementary school in Greece (independent variable) and their writing skills in Greek as a second language (dependent variable). Data processing, by means of a pre- and post-test, revealed that the DST approach provided students with opportunities to acquire improved communicative competence through writing creatively. Journal data indicated that DST application in a game-based context enhanced task engagement, encouraging young learners to use interactive media in a digital environment. Young learners’ intercultural competence development was also shown to be supported through the DST approach. In the focus group discussions, participants stated their interest and satisfaction in the approach and the methods applied. All in all, the results imply that the approach implemented has the potential to be used as a meaningful technology integration approach as far as language teaching and learning is concerned. The findings additionally explore pedagogical implications for future teaching practices in order to enhance and extend the approach and methods employed.

Shaping User Experience in Virtual Reality: A study with special reference to Natyashastra

This article presents a study regarding how Natyashastra’s fundamental principles of storytelling, emotional resonance, and cultural context structure the creation and reception of Virtual Reality (VR) content. Through an attentive examination of a specific VR activity featured in the Prime Minister Museum in Delhi—a helicopter ride showcasing India’s modern infrastructure—the paper explains how Natyashastra’s influence infuses the narrative structure, emotional engagement strategies, and symbolic representations within the VR experience. By exploring the interaction between ancient cultural frameworks and cutting-edge technology, this research underlines the significance of integrating cultural heritage and traditional storytelling techniques into VR design to enhance user experience, emotional connection, and cultural resonance. Through this article, the importance of incorporating cultural frameworks like Natyashastra into VR design to improve user engagement and enrich the virtual experience has been highlighted.

She-Search: The Fertile Ground of Black Indigenous Methods (BIM) in Qualitative Inquiry

Educational research methodologies are often situated in the onto-epistemologies of patriarchal whiteness. Lacking critical emotionality, these designs repress human instinct for the fallacy of scientific objectivity. The life-giving methods and methodologies employed by many Black women educational researchers oppose these positivist designs. In this context guided by our collective “she-searches,” we conceptualize Black indigenous methods (BIMs). Engaging in the Black feminist tradition of storytelling, we recount our application of Black indigenous interview method by “she-telling” our lived raced and gendered experiences with our communities. Thus, we unearth the fertile ground of BIM and offer insight into our methodological sense-making for researchers.

The Use of Injury and Fatality Narratives to Convey Agricultural Safety and Health Messages and to Develop Effective Resources Through Collaborative, Multi-Disciplinary Approaches (Tell a Story, Save a Life)

ABSTRACT Objective Storytelling engages audiences, passes down traditions and history, educates, and helps people understand and interpret their environment. Many of those who work in agriculture have been part of the storytelling tradition since childhood. Research has demonstrated the emotional impact of personal stories and how prevention information is conveyed effectively “farmer to farmer” through this method of communication. Methods Since 2016, the Telling the Story Project has provided a space for those directly or indirectly involved in an agricultural incident to share their story and unique perspectives on how similar incidents can be avoided. Results This collaborative project, developed between the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) Agriculture Safety Centers, has resulted in 11 stories on a dedicated website, safety and health resources, and educational guides. The stories and educational guidelines have been marketed extensively through traditional and social media sources, employed in safety training, and embraced by educators in agricultural programs. The website has provided a national and international reach with more than 35,000 visits. Conclusion Qualitative thematic analysis of the stories provided data on the circumstances leading up to each incident, valuable information on how the storytellers interpreted the aftermath, and a novel perspective on how safety professionals can create messaging that will resonate with the farming community.

Being, exploring, and playing outdoors: Young children philosophize through Sámi pedagogical imagination and storytelling

This article discusses the pedagogical role of the imagination and forms of life in Sámi early childhood education. Following Nergård’s development of Wittgenstein’s notion “form of life” as an imaginative, pedagogical, and anthropological concept, the article will explore how Sámi children both use and transform forms of life in Sámi early childhood centers. The article explores scenes from a day spent outdoors with early childhood educators and children. The aim is to show how young Sámi children philosophize and articulate their world, and how listening to the children can be a decolonizing practice that challenges colonial assumptions in pedagogy, philosophy and society. The empirical data was collected through a pilot project and the subsequent project Sámi Children as Thought Herders. The data material contains photos, short films, sound records, and notes collected through ethnographic fieldwork conceived as Critical Utopian Action Research, which takes into account the social learning of all participants, here specifically the children, the educators and the researchers. Thus, these are spaces for a joint critique that resists colonially structured practices. The main findings are that, during outdoor activities, educators and children imaginatively perform, play and encounter outdoor spaces and aspects of Sámi forms of life. This is explored on the basis of scenes where young children imaginatively engaged with the forest environment. The educators’ storytelling and the storytelling tradition continued into the children’s own storytelling. The children created stories about a Stállo who lives in a rusty oil barrel they found in the forest, making traditional stories and forms of life come alive and transforming them. In reflecting upon these scenes, we argue for the pedagogical, performative, and philosophical importance of engaging with the ways that children’s imaginative play interacts with place.

Unlocking the benefits of montessori-based reading activities in nursing home: A multiple baseline study on groups of individuals with severe dementia.

Group activities are commonly offered to residents of nursing homes, and increasingly with a person-centred care approach. The aim of this study is to compare the impacts of a Montessori-based reading activity with a more traditional reading activity. A multiple baseline design was used, with 3 groups of 5 older adults with moderate to severe dementia. All sessions were videorecorded and analysed by independent judges, blinded to our hypotheses and conditions. Impacts of the type of activity (storytelling or Montessori-based reading) on verbal interactions, engagement level, affect and behavioural aspects were estimated with both visual analyses and statistical analyses using the between-case standardised mean differences method. Significant differences were found in favour of the Montessori-based activities with regard to the number of verbal interactions, constructive and passive engagement and positive affect expressed, with moderate to large effect size (from 0.46 to 1.66). The Montessori-based reading group activity really seems to be preferable to a more traditional storytelling activity, with multiple benefits for residents. Depending on the preserved abilities and interests of the participants, it can also be aimed at people with severe dementia.

Japanese talking pictures: magic lanterns, silent cinema and kamishibai in the context of etoki storytelling tradition

The paper examines the relations between three different visual media with inherent oral narration which have coexisted in Japan at the beginning of the 20th century – magic lanterns, silent cinema and kamishibai (paper theater). The figures of the oral narrators present in these three media, most notably represented by the benshi, are intertwined with each other and derive from a much older, transmedial storytelling practice, which in Japan became known as etoki. The author explores different roles and modalities of these three media, highlighting their performative aspects and examining the relations of power between all of their agents, including their socio-political background. They are also treated as representatives of a performative visual spectacle. Although the paper focuses on the local context of Japan, the media under discussion come across as significant for the evolution of both the local and international media landscape, fitting the methodology of media archaeology.

Between Sādhū and Darwesh: Storytelling and Social Reform in S. uġhrā Humāyūñ Mirzā’s Mohinī (1929)

Ṣuġhrā Humāyūñ Mirzā (1884–1958) was a reformer, journalist, writer and traveller from the erstwhile princely state of Haidarābād, Dakkan. She wrote prolifically and used her fiction and non-fiction as a vehicle for her reformist ideas and objectives. However, scholarly focus on Ṣuġhrā Begum’s reformist work alone risks dismissal of her literary creativity and innovation. This paper aims to address this gap through an analysis of the narrative and stylistic features of Ṣuġhrā Begum’s Urdū novel, Mohinī (1929). I suggest a reading of this text on its own terms, i.e. one that emerges from the text and the motivations of its author, rather than through measurements with standard—usually Western—yardsticks or other assumptions about Ṣuġhrā Begum’s ostensibly singular priorities. Instead, I argue that Mohinī should be read in the context of the development of the Urdū novel, which was taking shape through the encounter between Western modes of representation made prominent through colonialism and existing Indian storytelling traditions, such as the qiṣṣāh. In the process, this paper expands the scholarship on this writer by offering a study of the creative features of her fiction and calls for the imagination of South Asian and wider Persianate print realisms that are not bound by rationalist epistemologies and encapsulate broader systems of knowledge.

Young twins’ journey via digital storytelling towards multi-literacy development

Digital Storytelling (DST) employs digital technology to enhance traditional storytelling by incorporating digital elements such as graphics, audio, video, and music. This study, grounded in sociocultural theory (SCT) and constructivism, investigated how DST contributes to and facilitates multi-literacy development and language skills among young students by leveraging cutting-edge technology. To achieve this, a narrative inquiry approach was utilised to provide insight into the lived experiences and emotions of 13-year-old twin participants. The observations, semi-structured interviews, and think-aloud protocols were used to collect data as the participants narrated their digital stories (DSs). Using thematic analysis, this study employed an inductive bottom-up coding strategy to comprehend the phenomenon by reducing and reconstructing the data into codes and categories. The findings revealed that DST can contribute to linguistic or non-linguistic skills, including multiple literacies, English language proficiency, diverse learning strategies, and social skills. In addition to demonstrating the instructional benefits of using DST, certain limitations were also identified. The implications of this study for instructors, researchers, and young students are discussed.

Exploring the potential of digital storytelling in a widening participation context

ABSTRACT Background Digital storytelling combines traditional storytelling with digital technologies. Although recognised as a powerful creative method across many domains, its application in the context of widening participation remains underexplored. Purpose This study from Australia sought to investigate teachers’ perceptions of the benefits and limitations of using digital storytelling in a widening participation programme. Methods Five partner schools engaged in a programme that involved creating a digital narrative about students’ post-school futures. A total of 36 teachers delivering the 10-week programme to students of 13–14 years of age participated in focus groups, with 12 completing post-delivery surveys. Data were analysed qualitatively. Findings The analysis suggested that, according to the teacher participants, digital narrative can be an effective tool for maximising student engagement in widening participation activities. However, emphasis was placed on the impact of the digital divide, which disproportionately affects students from low socioeconomic backgrounds in under-resourced school environments. Conclusions The study highlights the potential of using digital storytelling in a widening participation context. It also underscores how support for developing teacher and student digital literacies, as well as reliable access to technology and infrastructure, needs to be in place if the digital narrative is to be strongly embedded into future widening participation outreach activities.

Sky Woman, Trickster, Windigo: Reflections of Traditional Storytelling in Contemporary Canadian Indigenous Novel

This work examines the way contemporary Indigenous writers of Canada work with the tradition of oral storytelling in their writing. It studies the role and importance of storytelling for Indigenous cultures and consequently for literature and then analyzes several novels by contemporary Indigenous writers. The analysis is centred around three characters significant and recurrent in Indigenous storytelling – Sky Woman, the trickster, and the windigo — and it observes the meanings created by their employment in the narrative, it studies the way oral storytelling shapes the narrative style, and the way Indigenous referential frameworks are manifested in this process. The work argues that the three examined characters do not only teach the principles of relationality — they embody them, and that oral storytelling and its reflections in written texts should not be taken as a special feature of Indigenous literature, but rather as a core element of it, which influences not only the themes, but also the structure of the text and the entire referential framework the text manifests.

Instruments of resilience: cultural tourism in Palestinian resistance

ABSTRACT Tourism in Palestine functions as a potent instrument of political resistance, serving to counter the dominant narratives imposed by the Israeli occupation and to reinforce Palestinian claims to self-determination and sovereignty. Through deliberate engagement with cultural and historical sites, we contend that tourists become active participants in a form of resistance that celebrates and preserves Palestinian identity. We maintain that each act of cultural consumption – be it visiting a historical landmark, participating in traditional storytelling, or purchasing local handicrafts – serves not just as an economic transaction but as a political gesture that asserts Palestinian narratives and resists cultural erasure. We further argue that the global spread of Palestinian cultural tourism, facilitated by the diaspora, functions as a strategic form of international advocacy that situates the Palestinian struggle within a broader context of global awareness and solidarity. Palestinian tourism is a vital channel through which the political reality of Palestinian life is communicated and understood, forming an essential component of the broader campaign for Palestinian rights and recognition on the world stage.

Tradition of storytelling during corn collection at Orlalan Village

Tradition of storytelling during corn collection at Orlalan Village

Analysis of Innovative Methods of Interactive Film and Television Art in Traditional Story Narration

This article aims to explore how interactive film and television art can influence traditional storytelling through innovative methods. By analyzing the characteristics of interactive film and television art, comparing it with traditional narrative, and specific innovative practice cases, this article reveals the potential of interactive film and television art in enhancing audience participation, expanding narrative structure, and enhancing emotional resonance.

From Traditional to Digital: Children’s Learning of Traditional Chinese Culture Through Festival-Related Storytelling

Multimedia technology is a potentially efficient supplementary storytelling strategy. However, the effectiveness of multimedia storytelling for teaching about traditional festivals is unknown. We compared the effects of traditional storytelling (TST) and multimedia digital storytelling (MDST) on learning achievements, attitudes, and preferences towards studying traditional Chinese festivals. A quasiexperimental intervention (8-week lessons about two festivals) was conducted with experimental and control groups of 58 third graders from Guangdong Province, China. We found MDST increased children’s learning outcomes and preferences towards learning about Chinese festivals. The MDST group showed larger gains in academic performance than the TST group–although they showed similar positive effects, they were more pronounced in the MDST group. Overall, MDST has substantial potential learning benefits, and multimedia digital technology can effectively stimulate students’ interest in learning about Chinese traditions and culture. The implications of using MDST for traditional culture and festival education and future research recommendations are discussed.

Preserving Traditional Ghanaian Folklore through Storytelling

This study examines the role of storytelling in preserving traditional Ghanaian folklore, considering its significance in cultural continuity and identity formation. Ghana boasts a rich tapestry of oral traditions, comprising myths, legends, proverbs, and folktales that have been passed down through generations. However, in the face of modernization and globalization, these indigenous narratives face the risk of being marginalized or forgotten. Through qualitative analysis and literature review, this paper explores how storytelling serves as a vital mechanism for the transmission and preservation of Ghanaian folklore. It investigates the cultural, social, and educational implications of storytelling practices within Ghanaian communities, highlighting their capacity to instill values, foster intergenerational bonds, and reinforce cultural pride. Moreover, the study investigates contemporary initiatives aimed at revitalizing traditional storytelling methods, such as community storytelling events, educational programs, and digital media platforms. By recognizing the intrinsic value of storytelling in safeguarding Ghana's cultural heritage, this research underscores the importance of ongoing efforts to ensure the continued vitality and relevance of Ghanaian folklore in the modern era.

Culture Production and Consumption in Post-COVID Era: A Meta-Analysis of OTT Industry in India

Web series and video on demand services destabilised and efficiently replaced popular entertainment in the past one year, due to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic. The subsequent lockdown not only impacted the traditional creative industries, such as TV and films, but it has also catalysed the way narratives are produced and consumed over the internet. Narratives on the web have been posing challenges to traditional storytelling since the past decade, but the changes in the Indian market have been slow until this year. The industry has also been studied extensively from the perspective of various disciplines, film studies, marketing, psychology, and communication being a few of them. These studies have elaborated upon the evolution of the industry, its popularity, challenges and roadblocks specifically in relation to the Indian market. The study in concern tries to trace the evolution of the industry in comparison to the predictions. It tries to verify if the predictions and scope have been met by trajectory and what quantum of growth can be credited to the COVID pandemic lockdown period. This research starts with gathering studies conducted on the industry, specifically in the Indian market, since its existence. With the help of a qualitative meta-analysis, this paper tries to analyse the trends and trajectories predicted vis-a-vis the actual growth in numbers over the years, specifically in the post-COVID era. Researchers aim to suggest a model on the production–consumption patterns and the functioning of the industry.