The Role of Folktales for Early Childhood Development and Education: The Case of Awi Zone Injibara Town
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Date
2021-09
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AAU
Abstract
This thesis is about the role of folktales in children’s development and education. Its main target
is how pre-primary teachers use folktales in the classroom. So, talking to this general objective,
the research sets three specific research questions. First, for what purposes do teachers use
folktales in the classroom? Second, how do preschool teachers tell folktales to children in the
classrooms? The third objective is how preschoolers react to these folktales. Finally, the study
suggests the implications of the study for future researchers. In this research, a social
construction approach is used as a theoretical framework. As a methodology, this study uses
qualitative approach and employed case study as a design. In addition, to get better ideas for the
topics under discussion, textual analysis of the tales, interview, focus group discussion and
observation were made. All the data gathering instruments targeted to get better ideas related to
the research questions. The study uses interviews, observation, focus group discussions, and
document analysis. The primary target population is preschool teachers; however, parents of kids
and school administrators are also included. Finally, the study has got the following findings.
Those pre-primary teachers tell stories for kids in artificial contexts using reading. Second, the
teachers use the folktales for four-measure purposes. These are for language teaching, for
teaching moral values, for teaching creativity, and for developing children’s cognitive skills. Kids
also enjoy folktales and become highly interactive when they listen to folktales. The study
concluded that folktales beyond amusement and entertainment helped kids to acquire learning
outcomes. Teachers can also teach different subject matters as long as they know how to choose
appropriate folktales. For the future, Awi folktales should be studied from the perspectives of kids
and their parents and the community as well. Other researchers should also study ways that the
interactions, and meaning negotiations between teachers and kids. They can also study how do
kids narrate their own stories for their peers. Overall, different individuals such as family
members, teachers, friends, radio, television, and pictures, and so on narrate folktales. So, future
researchers should critically study these techniques. As a recommendation, Awi folktales are
facing endanger and therefore they should be collected, archived, retrieved, and used properly