Readiness of Novice Early Childhood Education Student Teachers in Employing Dialogic Big Book Storytelling Method (DBBSM) for Enhancing Children’s Oral Language Development: Basis for a Proposed Intervention Program
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Abstract
Background and Aim: Language in early childhood education is a key part of children's literacy, communication, and thinking. The Dialogic Big Book Storytelling Method (DBBSM) has been identified as an effective method of supporting young learners' oral language development, but there has been little research to explore novice Bachelor of Early Childhood Education (BECEd) student teachers' preparedness for using it in community-based learning settings. The study measured the readiness of BECEd student teachers from Tubod College to apply DBBSM in cultivating the oral language skills of kindergarten children and provided the ground for an intervention program.
Materials and Methods: The group of participants in the study consisted of 40 BECEd student teacher-trainees who were obtained by total enumeration sampling. The study used a quantitative descriptive research design with 30 BECEd student teacher-trainees obtained by total enumeration sampling. A researcher-developed and expert-validated questionnaire composed of four parts: socio-demographic, pedagogical readiness, pedagogical competencies, and perceived impact of DBBSM on children's oral language development was used to collect data. The data were analyzed by frequency, percentage, weighted mean, and standard deviation.
Results: Based on the findings, the respondents were generally found to be ready in the areas of content knowledge, instructional planning, pedagogical skills, and professional preparedness in implementing DBBSM. The strengths that the student teachers exhibited were: facilitating learner participation, incorporating oral language objectives, using illustrations from storybooks, and reflective practice. But there were areas in which voice modulation and the formulation of guide questions needed to be improved. The respondents also had a positive perception of the high effectiveness of DBBSM in fostering vocabulary learning, speaking fluency, and understanding of language, expressive language, and interactive communication of kindergarten students, which shows the potential of DBBSM in strengthening the ability of children to develop their oral language in kindergarten.
Conclusion: The results indicate that the socio-economic and resource-related challenges are not barriers to the readiness of novice BECEd student teachers in implementing Dialogic Big Book Storytelling. DBBSM was thought to be a good pedagogical method for developing oral language skills for kindergarten students. The following targeted training is recommended to enhance the effectiveness of implementation and teacher readiness for community extension programs: questioning skills, voice modulation, and instructional scaffolding skills.
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