DEVELOPING YOUNG LEARNERS’ ORAL SKILLS THROUGH STORYTELLING WITH LEGO®

Abstract

The current study shows how LEGO® was used as a learning tool in the foreign language classroom with young learners (7-10 years old) during an English Foreign Language (EFL) course in order to enhance fluency and develop students’ oral skills. The findings of this small-scale study support the idea that storytelling engages young learners in the process of foreign language learning and that LEGO® bricks could create contexts very favorable to language learning. Likewise, it indicates that students’ engagement in the storytelling task is determined by several factors, such as their interest in LEGO®, their level of assertiveness, their creativity and language level. As to the type of tasks, collaborative or individual, the current paper puts forward the idea that in the case of storytelling tasks, young learners perform better individually than in pairs or in small groups. This article approaches the language benefits of storytelling activities with young learners and displays a few pedagogical suggestions for the use of LEGO® as a language learning tool.