Do Stories Promote Learning More Than Non-Stories?

This is my talk for the PanSIG 2015 Conference of the Japan Association for Language Teaching (JALT). May 16-17, Kobe City University of Foreign Studies.

Click on the image or here for a PDF of the talk.

Abstract: Two groups of university students read separate variations of one text. The Story Group (SG) read a variation embedded in story grammar, i.e., with a character who faced conflict and tried to resolve it. The Non-Story Group (NSG) read a variation with the same facts, but not embedded in story grammar.

After reading and a delay, SG and NSG Groups took identical quizzes about the text. The SG and NSG groups got statistically similar results on the quiz, but in one subset of the SG Group, learners performed better. The small sample and mixed results indicate a need for more research on this topic.

For some reason, my last name was omitted in the program, so I’m “Joseph Warren” instead of Joseph Warren Poulshock.