Storytelling and Early Learners Educational Development: An Experiment

Africa is very rich in oral literature which keeps evolving and outliving several decades of human existence. Storytelling is one of the oral literature's oldest art forms. Its main essence is that of a person role playing and interacting with others in an assumed role. This study explored the challenges, contributions, and the solutions inherent in using storytelling in enhancing learning and educational activities within an early childhood learning environment. To achieve the above, the observation method was adopted in the field work based on an experiment carried out at the primary school of Adeniran Ogunsanya College of Education, Otto/Ijanikin, Lagos. Open and close ended question were employed to solicit responses from the sixteen (16) randomly selected pupils for the experiment. The study was aimed at exploring the art form of storytelling, its ability at construct role taking empathy and self-concept. It also examined how storytelling enhances the social, emotional and educational development of learners in relation to their cognitive growth. Finally, recommendations were made based on the outcome of the experiment.

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