Tell me a fact and I’ll learn. Tell me the truth and I’ll believe. But tell me a story and it will live in my heart forever.

– Indian Proverb

Acquisition-Driven Instruction (ADI) is an approach to modern language teaching that focuses on acquiring language rather than learning language. Language acquisition is a subconscious process – think, how a native language is acquired- while learning in a conscious process – think, memorization of vocabulary lists and grammar rules of the language being studied.

In order to create an environment that supports language acquisition, it is vital to provide students with a substantial amount of input that is comprehensible and compelling. In other words, the teacher needs to intentionally integrate listening and reading activities that students find understandable and engaging into each lesson. The specific activities vary depending on the proficiency level and age of the students. However, the teaching methodology is the same.

What is the best way to provide captivating comprehensible input for all proficiency levels? Storytelling.

Corpus studies have demonstrated that stories purely written for sheer enjoyment are the best
materials for language and literacy acquisition for acquirers of all levels.

-Sy-ying Lee [1]

As humans, we are drawn to stories and are wired to remember them. Stories engage and entertain us. They also help us better understand ourselves and others.

Since stories have great impact on children as they find them challenging, funny, motivating as well as entertaining, they can help them build positive outcomes in regard with second language as well.

-Muhammed Ali Isik [2]

Storytelling is not limited to physical and digital storybooks. Storytelling includes oral stories (both scripted and spontaneous), poems, articles, music, movies, and television shows. These storytelling resources provide a limitless amount of teaching material.

As world language educators, our job is to teach language as well as inspire and empower our students. By incorporating storytelling into daily lessons we can accomplish this and more. We will build a sense of community in our classroom. We will create interactive and memorable learning experiences for our students. Best of all, our students will be acquiring language while having fun! It doesn’t get much better than that.

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