The Effect of Storytelling Skill Acquisition on the Impromptu Speaking Attitudes and Anxiety Levels of 6 th Grade Students

People’s attitudes and anxiety towards impromptu speaking can negatively affect their performance and can create speaking anxiety in them. The aim of this study is to find out whether there is a significant relationship between the acquisition of storytelling skills and the impromptu speaking attitudes and speaking anxieties of 6th grade students. The nested pattern of the mixed method was used in the research. In the quantitative part of the research, a onegroup, pretest-posttest experimental model was employed. The quantitative data were collected by the ‘Speaking Skill Attitude Scale’. Paired samples t-test was used to determine whether the storytelling training given to the students had an effect on their speaking attitudes, and the Wilcoxon Signed Ranks test was used to determine whether it had an effect on their speaking anxiety. Qualitative data were also collected with student interview form and observation form. As the result of the research showed, the acquisition of storytelling was significantly associated with students’ impromptu speaking attitudes and anxiety levels. Therefore, it is important to provide students with the acquisition of storytelling to influence their attitudes and anxieties when delivering impromptu speeches.


INTRODUCTION
of knowledge, physical problems, mental construction deficiencies, behavioral disorders, not having a command of the rules of the language used, and inability to apply the grammar rules. The occurrence of these situations during speech causes the speaker to experience anxiety.
Impromptu speaking is the most common type of speech in daily life. People are in constant communication in daily life. For this reason, the most used type of speech is impromptu speech. In daily conversation, this can cause anxiety in people since there is no previous knowledge about the topic of conversation. Spielberger (1966, pp. 16-17) defined anxiety as "the subjective consciously perceived feelings of apprehension and tension, accompanied by or associated with activation or arousal of the autonomic nervous system." Dela Cruz (2019, p. 277) explains that people with speech anxiety often avoid anxiety-provoking social situations or situations that require performance; however, when anxiety-provoking social situations are unavoidable, they endure these situations with intense anxiety and distress. Dela Cruz also states that anticipatory anxiety often arises when individuals imagine a later presentation before the actual experience itself. The occurrence of anxiety in people and not being able to control it will prevent the conversation from progressing in an effective way. Therefore, anxiety needs to be controlled.

Objective of the Research and Research Questions
This research aimed to determine the relationship between storytelling skill acquisition and impromptu speaking attitudes and anxieties of 6 th grade students. For this purpose, answers to the following questions were sought: 1. Do students' attitudes towards impromptu speaking change after they acquire storytelling skills? 2. Do students' anxiety about impromptu speaking change after they acquire storytelling skills? 3. What are the students' views on the effect of storytelling skills acquisition on impromptu speaking attitude and anxiety? 4. In the treatment process of the study, − What has been observed regarding the social environment dimension? − What has been observed regarding the activity process dimension? − What has been observed regarding the verbal-non-verbal communication process dimension?

LITERATURE REVIEW
Listening, speaking, reading and writing are the four basic language skill. Speaking and listening are the skills that students acquire before entering school. Speaking skill, which is the subject of this study, should be supported and developed by conducting different activities at school. Ur (2009, as cited in Amanda & Doral, 2019, p. 79) considers speaking as the most important skill among the four basic language skills. Speaking is very important for communication in daily life. Speaking is the verbal expression of an individual's feelings and thoughts (Ünalan, 2001, p. 111;Kavcar et al., 1998, p. 57). Speaking can be defined as the expression of feelings, thoughts, designs and wishes by using vocal organs by learning the sounds and phrases learned from mother, family, and friends after long repetitions (Sever, 1995, p. 21). Speech types are divided into two groups, including prepared speech vs. casual/impromptu speech. Casual speech is the most used speech among people. In the course of daily life, we are in contact with many people that we know or do not know. Impromptu speech is delivered without any preparation (Hutabarat & Bahri, 2015, p. 196). Impromptu speeches are a type of speech given to meet the various needs of daily life, to express wishes, and to convey feelings and thoughts at different times during the day (Şahin & Varışoğlu, 2013, p. 126). During impromptu speech, the speaker may go through many different experiences. Some of the stages of impromptu speaking include the following: 1. Question-answer 2. Chat 3. Celebrations 4. Apologizing 5. Thanking 6. Telephone conversation 7. Meeting and introducing 8. Discussion It will be useful for children to conduct activities to improve their speaking skills. Yılmaz (2007, pp. 86-96) recommends storytelling, drama, verbal reports, discussion, dramatization, and persuasive speaking activities to improve speaking skills. In this study, storytelling was used as one of the activities suggested to improve speaking skills. Stories evoke excitement and pleasure by describing a number of interesting and imaginary events that are or are thought to be alive (Nuhoğlu et al., 2015, p. 77). The story is an essential component in many cultures around the world. Folk tales told over many generations are the proof of the enduring nature of the story. A story can create a common bond that unites people (Caulfield, 2000, p. 21). Including storytelling in education can be beneficial in connecting students with their past.
Kieran Egan (1987( , as cited in Caulfield, 2000) considered the techniques of the story as conducive to the formation of imagination and explored an alternative approach to the curriculum by teaching as storytelling. Stories are very useful in developing young learners' literacy, social, and emotional skills by manipulating the language (Sanders, (1995( , as cited in Caulfield, 2000.

METHOD
In this research, it is aimed to determine the acquisition of storytelling skills on the anxiety levels and attitudes of 6 th grade students towards impromptu speaking. Mixed methods with nested pattern were used to meet this objective. In mixed methods design, researchers investigate the possible relationship between the findings obtained from quantitative and qualitative data (Creswell, 2014, p. 43). The reason for using this research method was that multiple processes were involved in the present research. The qualitative data obtained during and at the end of the research were associated with the quantitative results of the treatment. In the quantitative part of the research, a one-group, pretest-posttest experimental model was employed. In the study, attention was paid to conduct an in-depth study with a single group. In this design, the comparison between the pretest and post-test results indicated whether any improvement had taken place (Köksal, 2017).

Participants
The population of this research is the 6 th grade students of a secondary school in Turkey in the 2020 and 2021 academic year. The researchers gave information about the research by meeting with the school administration. Interviews were also conducted with 6 th grade students at the school. Necessary permissions were obtained from the institution and the parents of the students to conduct the research. We scanned for the content related to impromptu speaking and storytelling in the Turkish language curriculum and found that the content is frequent in the 6 th grade (Türkçe Dersi Öğretim Programı, 2018, pp. 40-43). In addition, stories and fairy tales are included in the 6 th grade text types. Therefore, the study group of our research consists of 6 th grade students. We selected 15 students purposively. Typical case sampling of the purposive sampling method was chosen to see the effect of the research, not to generalize the current results.
In the process of collecting the quantitative data, the 'Speaking Skill Attitude Scale' (Appendix A) by Ünal and Özer (2017) was used after obtaining the required permissions. This scale consists of 27 items, 20 of which are related to attitude and 7 of which are related to anxiety. Ünal and Özer (2017) have tested the validity and reliability of their scale and reported that the scale could effectively measure the attitudes and anxiety of secondary school students related to speaking skills. In our study, we invited five experts in the area to validate the scale. Subsequently, after selecting 10 students, we also piloted the scale and the intervention from 1 to 28 February 2021. According to the results of the pilot, we were confident that the scale was suitable for research.
In the qualitative data collection process, we employed the 'Student Interview Form' (Appendix B) and 'Impromptu Speech Practice Observation Form' (Appendix C) for eliciting data on the effect of storytelling skills acquisition on the study group's impromptu speech attitude and anxiety. The questions in the interview form were prepared as a result of our interviews with three field experts. In the qualitative research process, data were obtained as a result of semi-structured interviews with students at the beginning and end of the intervention. We designed the observation form with the support of five field experts. Interview and observation forms were tested in the pilot intervention. After the pilot study, the necessary modifications were made in the forms before they were used in the research.

Procedure
The study was carried out between 01 March 2021 and 04 June 2021 following the procedure presented in this section.

Administration of pretest
To find out the students' impromptu speaking attitudes and anxiety levels, we administered the 'Speaking Skill Attitude Scale' (Appendix A) and 'Student Interview Form' (Appendix B) to the students before the intervention. We briefed the students on the intervention process. In order to determine the students' storytelling readiness level, the students were given a storytelling activity. In order to determine the readiness level of the students' impromptu speaking, impromptu speaking activities prepared by the researchers were applied and video recorded. We invited three experts to observe the video recordings of impromptu speech and complete the observation forms.

Intervention
The pilot intervention process lasted 4 weeks while the actual intervention process took 12 weeks. In the process of intervention, students were given instructions on storytelling. During the intervention, the students learned how to make connections with stories, how to study stories, how to use story map technique and storyboards (story charts), and how to tell stories. The students conducted storytelling activities regularly. Table 1 summarizes the actual intervention process. For eight weeks, the students were told stories and then impromptu speaking activities were performed. Types of impromptu speaking are question-answer, conversation, congratulation, apologizing, thanking, telephone conversation, meeting-introduction and discussion. The researchers prepared the activities appropriate for impromptu speaking types by using the determined stories and the students practiced telling the stories. After the storytelling was completed, the students were taken to different classes to do impromptu speaking activities. The researchers read the prepared activities to the students and made them do impromptu speaking activities. The students were given questions and answers, chatting, congratulating, apologizing, thanking, telephone conversation, meeting and introducing, and discussion activities, respectively.

Administration of Post-test
After the intervention, in order to determine the students' impromptu speaking attitudes and anxiety levels, the 'Speaking Skill Attitude Scale' was administered again to the students. SPSS 18 program was used to conduct the quantitative analyses. The answers given by the students to the 'Speaking Skill Attitude Scale' were interpreted by applying the Wilcoxon signed rank test and paired samples t-test. At the end of the intervention, 'Student Interview Form' was applied again. The researchers filled the observation forms. Descriptive and content analysis of qualitative data analysis techniques were used. Three field experts reviewed the video recordings and filled out the observation forms. These records were analyzed by content analysis technique.

Analysis of Quantitative Data
Before analyzing the data, we tested their normality of distribution and found that the data from the attitude scale to these results, it can be said that the organized storytelling training has a significant effect on reducing students' speaking anxiety (Z = -3.206, p<.05).

Students' Views on the Effect of Storytelling Intervention on their Impromptu Speaking Attitude and Anxiety
The third research question sought to reveal the participants' views on the effect of the intervention on their impromptu speaking attitude and anxiety. The results of qualitative analysis of the data are presented in this section. "What are your thoughts on the storytelling training you will receive? Please explain." The data obtained from this question are shown in Table 4. Under the title of 'Thoughts on Storytelling Intervention', students' thoughts were gathered in 6 categories. When students' opinions were examined, it was seen that 86.66% of the students found the storytelling training entertaining. Very few students, only two, expressed negative opinions about the storytelling intervention program because they had difficulty in telling stories.
"What are your thoughts on impromptu speaking activities you will take? Please explain." The data obtained from this question are shown in Table 5.  were normally distributed. Therefore, paired samples t-test was applied to determine whether the storytelling intervention given to the students had an effect on their speaking attitudes. The t-test for related samples is used to test whether the difference between the means of two related samples are significantly different (Büyüköztürk, 2010, p. 67).
The data from the anxiety scale items did not show normal distribution. Therefore, among the nonparametric tests, Wilcoxon signed rank test was applied to determine whether the storytelling intervention given to the students had an effect on their speaking anxiety. This technique, also called Wilcoxon matched-pairs test, is used to test the significance of the difference between the scores of two related sets of measures. This test also takes into account the quantity as well as the direction of the difference scores of the two related sets of measures (Büyüköztürk, 2010, p. 162).

Effect of Intervention on students' Attitudes Towards Impromptu Speaking
The first research question investigated the change to the students' attitudes towards impromptu speaking after they experienced the intervention. Paired samples t-test results regarding whether the speaking skill attitudes of the students show a significant difference before and after the intervention are given in Table 2.
The results of the analysis show that there is a significant difference between the pretest and post-test scores of the students participating in the study. Considering the mean scores, it is seen that this observed difference is in favor of the post-test score. According to these results, it can be said that the storytelling intervention has a significant effect on improving students' speaking skills attitudes (t 14 = -10.621, p<.05).

Effect of Intervention on Students' Impromptu Speaking Anxiety
The second research question focused on the change to the students' impromptu speaking anxiety after the intervention. The Wilcoxon signed rank test results regarding whether the speaking skill anxiety pretest and post-test scores of the students differ significant are given in Table 3.
The results of the analysis show that there is a significant difference between the pretest and post-test mean ranks of the students participating in the study. Considering the mean rank and sums of the difference scores, it is seen that this observed difference is in favor of the post-test data. According Under the title of 'Reflections on Impromptu Speaking Activities', students' thoughts were gathered in 6 categories. When student opinions were examined, it was observed that 93.33% of the students stated that impromptu speaking activities contribute to effective use of breathing and effective use of body language. Again only three students expressed a negative opinion, saying that impromptu speaking activities were unnecessary.
"What are your thoughts on the effect of the training you will receive on the impromptu speaking attitude? Please explain." The data obtained from this question are shown in Table 6.
Under the title of 'Thoughts on the Effect of Intervention on Impromptu Speech Attitude', students' thoughts were gathered in 6 categories. As we examined the students' opinions, we noticed that all the students, except only one, stated that they were happy and enjoyed delivering impromptu speeches. Only two students stated that they do not like to make impromptu speeches.
"What are your thoughts on the effect of the training you will receive on impromptu speaking anxiety? Please explain." The data obtained from this question are shown in Table 7.
Under the title of 'Thoughts on the Effect of Intervention on Impromptu Speech Anxiety', students' thoughts were gathered in 6 categories. When student opinions were examined, 40% of the students stated that they shied away from speaking. As in the case of the previous questions, only two students stated that they bored the listeners because they spoke too fast and too long. They stated that these situations made them anxious.

Social Environment, Activity Process, and Verbal-nonverbal Communication Process Dimensions
The mean scores of the behaviors related to the 'Social environment' dimension that the study group showed during the intervention are given in Table 8.
According to Table 8, it was determined that the arithmetic mean of the study group regarding the social environment dimension increased. The arithmetic mean results of the behaviors related to the 'Activity Process' dimension that the study group students showed during the intervention are given in Table 9.
According to Table 9, it is seen that the arithmetic mean of the study group regarding the sub-criterion of actively participating in impromptu speaking activity in the activity process dimension increases as the intervention continues. As the weeks progressed, it was observed that the active participation of the study group increased. The last two items are negative items. As the study progresses, the decrease in the arithmetic mean of these items includes a positive result. Therefore, it is normal for the overall average of the intervention to decrease.
The arithmetic mean results of the behaviors related to the 'Verbal/Nonverbal Communication Process' dimension that the study group students showed during the intervention are given in Table 10.
According to Table 10, it was observed that the arithmetic mean of the study group regarding the verbal-non-verbal communication process dimension was low at the beginning of the intervention, but the mean score of this dimension increased as the intervention progressed.

Discussion
This research was written to examine the effect of storytelling skill acquisition on the impromptu speaking attitudes and speaking anxiety of 6 th grade students. According to the obtained data from the scale, it has been observed that students' attitudes towards impromptu speaking were generally positive. Students generally gave low scores to the item «I think I express myself better by speaking» at the beginning of the training. At the end of the training, there was a positive change in their attitudes towards this item. Students began to think that they were able to better express themselves by speaking. «It makes me happy to talk» item showed a positive increase at the end of the training. At the beginning of the intervention process, students gave a negative opinion on the item «I like to do exercises to improve my speaking skills». However, towards the end of the training, a positive development was observed in this item. However, it was observed that their anxiety about impromptu speaking was negative. After the pretest scores were obtained, it was seen that the students were extremely anxious in the beginning of the intervention on storytelling skill. At the end of the fourweek storytelling intervention, impromptu speaking activities were performed by the students. These activities enabled the students to reduce their anxiety while making impromptu speeches. The item "I think I will make mistakes while speaking" is the item that every student is worried about. At the end of the training, students› opinions stated that this anxiety decreased. The item "I feel fear and excitement when speaking in a crowded environment" is a situation that prevents students from making an impromptu speech. At the beginning of the intervention, this situation was determined by student opinions and researchers' observation. However,    towards the end of the intervention, it was seen that this anxiety decreased in the students. Physiological, sociological and psychological symptoms indicating that the students were anxious at the beginning of the intervention decreased towards the end of the intervention. Student opinions also supported this situation.
Storytelling is one of the activities that improves speaking skills. In this research, it was observed that the acquisition of storytelling improves attitudes towards speaking skills. It has been observed that when impromptu speaking skills improve, students' attitudes towards impromptu speaking increase. In addition, it was observed that their anxiety about impromptu speaking decreased. The opinions taken from the students at the beginning and end of the research also support this idea.
When the literature is examined, it is seen that studies are generally conducted on attitudes and anxiety towards speaking a foreign language. Therefore, it would be useful to conduct a research on attitudes towards and anxiety of impromptu speaking. In addition, studies with independent variables of impromptu speaking, attitude and anxiety are limited in the literature. Ünsal (2019, p. v) has prepared speaking activities about the role-taking model. He applied these prepared activities to the students. At the end of this research, Ünsal observed those students' attitudes towards speaking increased. In addition, students' anxiety about speaking decreased. At the end of this research, Ünsal recommended the use of role-playing model speaking activities to improve speaking skills. Yangil and Ünal (2019, pp. 321-322) also reported that their intervention program created with the persuasion technique had a positive effect on speaking skills in their article.

CONCLUSION
In this study, a significant relationship was found between acquisition of storytelling and impromptu speaking attitude and speaking anxiety. In the literature, no study has been found showing the relationship between storytelling acquisitions and impromptu speaking attitude and speaking anxiety.
However, various studies on impromptu speaking have been included in the literature. In some of these studies, impromptu speaking activities were examined and impromptu speaking was emphasized. There are studies on speaking attitude and speaking anxiety in the literature. Various activities were organized to reduce speaking anxiety and the effects of these activities on attitudes towards speaking and speaking anxiety were examined. It is seen that in the literature, there is no study on the effect of storytelling skill on the impromptu speaking attitude and speaking anxiety. In this study, the student learned how to use features such as speaking, posture, tone of voice, emphasis, and intonation during storytelling training. The students who went through the storytelling intervention program showed the positive effects of the study in their speeches while doing impromptu speaking activities. In order for students to be able to express themselves better, they must learn to overcome their speaking anxiety. For this reason, it is thought that it will be beneficial to experience storytelling intervention since it positively and significantly affects students' impromptu speaking attitudes and reduces their impromptu speaking anxiety. 10 They experienced anxiety about making impromptu speeches.

4 3 2 1
Verbal/ Nonverbal Communication Process 11. The students used expressions stating that they enjoyed the activities.
5 4 3 2 1 12. The gestures and facial expressions of the students showed that they enjoyed the activity.