‘Storyline’: a task-based approach for the young learner classroom

The Storyline approach is little known in language teaching contexts although it has much in common with task-based education. Learners play the parts of characters in an unfolding narrative, collaborating on tasks in small groups, a method which combines the use of language skills with practical work. A word often used by participants in a Storyline topic is `fun′. This article reports on a study in which I attempted to identify the features that particularly appealed to a class of Swedish 11–13 year olds, and how working in this way impacted on their learning of English. The data show that learners were strongly motivated by particular tasks and that the experience of taking part in a Storyline brought specific language benefits.