Role of Storytelling in Language Development Among Preschool Children in Benue State

This study examines the role of storytelling as a pedagogical tool in fostering language development among preschool children in Benue State, North Central Nigeria. Language acquisition during the preschool years is foundational to literacy, social communication, and later academic achievement. In many communities across Benue State, indigenous oral storytelling traditions remain vibrant, creating an opportunity to integrate culturally familiar narrative practices into formal early childhood education. Using an experimental design, the study assigned 200 children aged 4 to 5 years to either a storytelling intervention group or a standard instruction control group across four Early Childhood Care and Development centres. Language development was assessed pre- and post-intervention using the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test. After eight weeks of structured storytelling sessions, children in the intervention group demonstrated significantly greater gains in vocabulary, sentence construction, and narrative comprehension compared to controls. The study further found that bilingual storytelling, combining Tiv language and English, produced stronger vocabulary acquisition outcomes than English-only sessions. These findings have direct implications for early childhood curriculum developers in North Central Nigeria who seek to integrate indigenous knowledge systems into formal education. The research recommends that teacher training programmes in Benue State incorporate storytelling methodology as a core language development strategy. Keywords: storytelling, language development, preschool children, Benue State, vocabulary acquisition.