Ben,
It seems as if we always need ammunition to defend TPRS to the next group of skeptical parents, colleagues and administrators. The book Story Proof: The Science behind the Startling Power of Stories, by Kendall Haven is filled with information, ideas and ample ammunition for us storytellers.
We know by experience and by our own anecdotal results that stories are the natural way to use and learn language, but this book gives us some great research results that back it up. The author cites one particularly interesting study:
“She found that telling stories to primary grade students improved their vocabulary faster than did reading to them but that both oral activities significantly improved student reading comprehension. Just listening (original author’s emphasis) to stories improves reading comprehension!” (p. 90-91)
This is loaded for us. Listening to, being told, stories improves reading comprehension. I am going to chew on this for a while and try to think of some ramifications for us from this nugget. Any ideas?
Bryce