Utilizing storytelling strategies as tools in enriching students listening comprehension skills

Most of the Grade 7 students have poor listening comprehension skills as they are still in the process of shifting from elementary to junior high school. Therefore, this study aimed to explore the use of storytelling strategies, particularly teacher-led storytelling and digital storytelling, to enrich the students' listening comprehension skills. The findings of this study could be valuable to the school, as they can implement the appropriate strategy to improve and develop their students' listening comprehension in the classroom. Additionally, the study may serve as a basis to propose interventions or alternative methods to enhance the students' listening comprehension skills.
A quantitative research method was employed to gather and analyze the data. The researchers used convenience sampling to select 30 Grade 7 students residing in Pila and Santa Cruz, Laguna. Three stories were used in both teacher-led storytelling and digital storytelling, followed by a 10-item multiple choice quiz. The data collected were statistically analyzed using frequency, percentage, and independent sample t-test. The findings revealed that the most effective storytelling strategy for enriching the students' listening comprehension is digital storytelling. This strategy's animation and music accompaniment made the students enjoy and listen attentively to the story. However, the researchers also discovered some downsides to implementing teacher-led storytelling, including noise in the surroundings, interruptions, and voice quality issues.
Based on the findings, the researchers offer several recommendations. First, to improve students' listening comprehension through teacher-led storytelling, teachers need to work on their voice quality, pronunciation, and intonation. The Department of Education should also provide guidelines and standards to help teachers enhance their storytelling abilities for better student understanding. Strengthening teachers' voice skills should be prioritized among the suggested tasks. For digital storytelling, the creators should consider improving the animation, color, and visuals to ensure students fully understand the story. Better animation, color, and visuals will help students remember the content of the story effectively. Based on the results, the researchers highly recommend the use of digital storytelling as an effective strategy to enrich students' listening comprehension skills.