Making connections through realia and storytelling for vocabulary learning with EFL preschoolers

Abstract

This exploratory qualitative study explores how the use of realia and storytelling facilitates EFL children to make experiential and cognitive connections between real-life objects and words. The research was carried out in a private female school in Bogotá, Colombia with 12 A1 level preschool learners. This study is framed upon grounded theory and mixed-method approaches (statistical analysis) to analyze data. Data was gathered through different instruments such as a pre- and post-test, a focus group, recorded conversations, a teachers’ journal, and students’ artifacts. Findings revealed that the strategy of making cognitive and experiential connections and the use of realia along with storytelling not only engaged students in learning, increased the number of words they produced and helped them make connections between objects and words to learn new vocabulary but also allowed them to use oral language spontaneously.