Chalk talks: case study on using storytelling for literacy learning

Reading is an active process in which the reader shifts between the information, elaborates meaning and strategies, checks his/her interpretation and uses the social context to focus on his/her response. In order for students to be successful at reading, they need opportunities to interact socially with their teachers, one another and the text. Language plays a critical role in children’s learning by helping them organize their understandings. This study investigated Chalk Talks, a form of storytelling, as a viable option for providing students with opportunities to enhance their reading skills through language and social interactions.
The research participants were minority students from a Title One School. The kindergarten and first grade students participated voluntarily after school in the Chalk Talk activities. A combination of two research designs- action research and case study were implemented. Because I was a primary teacher at the time, I employed aspects of action research to explore the phenomenon of using Chalk Talks with primary students and case study to deeply investigate the two questions: 1.What happens when one teacher uses Chalk Talks with four primary students? 2.What are the perceptions of the four participants involved in the Chalk Talks? As a participant observer, information was collected through observations, interviews, questionnaires, and artifacts. The findings revealed that by using Chalk Talks with primary students: -Social environments were formed. -The students had interactions with the session materials. -The students were identified in relation to the test materials. The results were most extensive during the students’ reactions with the session materials. Their active involvements with the Chalk Talks assisted them in developing their oral language, organizing data, becoming more consciously aware of information, and sharing and creating their own stories. In the end, the students had positive comments about participating with Chalk Talk stories.