The purpose of this study was to make a systematic analysis of research trends in storytelling in
the field of domestic early childhood education in an effort to provide some useful information on
storytelling research. 65 papers that were presented between 2003 and February of 2016 were
selected, which were theses, dissertations and domestic academic journals that are registered in the
KCI(Korean Citation Index). The selected papers were analyzed by year, research theme and research
method and to find out about which curriculum area and activity area storytelling was applied to,
how much it was effective and what media were utilized. The findings of the study were as follows:
There was a rapid increase in the number of the storytelling studies in the field of domestic early
childhood education in and after 2014, and the largest number of the studies that accounted for
71.7 percent examined effectiveness. As for research method, the biggest number of the studies that
represented 75.3 percent investigated preschoolers, and quantitative research(75.3%) was overly
prevalent. As a result of analyzing to which curriculum area storytelling was applied in the studies
of infants and preschoolers, that was applied the most in the areas of artistic experience,
communication and natural inquiry. The activity area to which storytelling was most widely applied
was the physical area(16.2%), followed by music(15.5%), art(12.8%), dramatic play(10.8%) and circle
time(10.1%). The effectiveness of storytelling was mainly analyzed in the cognitive(45.4%) and
affective(40.8%) domains. Given the findings of the study, future challenges and the right direction
for storytelling research in early childhood education were discussed.