I've never thought about learning ballads any differently from learning other songs, really. Or all that much about how I learn any song. I suspect I'm another one who isn't all that clear on the definition of "ballad". I do know that I don't do storytelling and wouldn't really know how to (best) go about learning that (successfully).
So - I don't know, really. A goodly portion of 1, with a bit of 2 mixed in? Reallyreally not sure.