Narrative as Pedagogy: Exploring the Role of Storytelling in Cambodian English Language Education

This study investigates the use of storytelling as a teaching practice within the Cambodian English Language Teaching context, examining its application, value, and impact on student engagement and language development. Situated within an interpretivist paradigm, the study focused on 13 secondary school English teachers from both urban and rural areas of Cambodia, as well as student data from focus groups and written reflections. Data collection consisted of semi-structured interviews, classroom observations, and document analysis; data were analyzed thematically. Teachers used a variety of narrative forms, including folklore, personal stories, and made-up stories, mainly to facilitate the development of students’ listening and speaking skills. Participants described storytelling as motivational, culturally appropriate, and emotionally engaging, and described the practice as effective for vocabulary development fluency and retention. Student motivation to participate increased, along with storytelling confidence, demonstrating a positive cognitive and affective impact on students. Some of the challenges teachers faced included a lack of training, a rigid curriculum, and difficulty finding culturally appropriate English teaching materials. Storytelling supports Cambodia’s oral traditions, the objectives of the communicative approach, and many teachers’ stories, yet the practice is often limited by systemic issues. Narrative pedagogy should be incorporated into the training curriculum for teachers, culturally relevant teaching aids should be created, and longitudinal and cross-sectional studies should be conducted to examine the impact of the systemic challenges to storytelling pedagogy.