Studies show that children who frequently hear stories and practise storytelling develop stronger vocabulary, use more complex sentences, and have better reading comprehension.
Learn more about the research:
Crawford, Patricia, and Daniel Hade. “Inside the Picture, Outside the Frame: Semiotics and the Reading of Wordless Picture Books.” Journal of Research in Childhood Education 15, no. 1 (2000): 66-80.
Isbell, Rebecca, Joseph Sobol, Liane Lindauer, and April Lowrance (2004). “The Effects of Storytelling and Story Reading on the Oral Language Complexity and Story Comprehension of Young Children.” Early Childhood Education Journal 32, no. 3 (2004): 157-163.
Koehnecke, Dianne. “Increasing LIteracy Through Storytelling.” Reading Improvement 37, no. 4 (2000): 187.
Phillips, Louise. “The Role of Storytelling in Early Literacy Development” U.S. Department of Education Office of Educational Research and Improvement.