Picturebooks Go Digital – The Potential of Story Apps for the Primary EFL Classroom
Storytelling and reading picturebooks are widespread activities in the primary EFL classroom. Generally, it is the teacher who reads most of the texts to the students: independent reading is less common in primary school classrooms. Many primary teachers are concerned that independent reading would...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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CLELEjournal
2017-05-01
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| Series: | CLELEjournal |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://clelejournal.org/article-1-picturebooks-go-digital/ |
| Summary: | Storytelling and reading picturebooks are widespread activities in the primary EFL classroom. Generally, it is the teacher who reads most of the texts to the students: independent reading is less common in primary school classrooms. Many primary teachers are concerned that independent reading would be too difficult for their students and would lead to incorrect pronunciation. However, studies investigating the use of written language and extensive reading in the primary EFL classroom show that this teacher-centred approach to reading picturebooks does not fully exploit the language learning potential they offer. Story apps offer new opportunities for reading in a foreign language: their multi-modal nature facilitates the reading process. They offer innovative spaces for reader-text interaction that can help the reader understand the story, learn vocabulary and develop reading strategies. Based on the results of an action-research project, this paper explores the benefits of story apps for the primary EFL classroom and presents criteria for the selection of appropriate story apps for extensive reading settings. |
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| ISSN: | 2195-5212 2195-5212 |