Journal Article

Selecting Picture Books for EL beginners in Panama

Hauth, Clara, Lado, Ana

2022

Overview

Teachers spend a lot of time finding ‘just right’ picture books for their students. However, much of what is known about a book's difficulty level was developed with native English speakers. More needs to be developed with the distinctive characteristics of English Learners (ELs). This study reports on the selection of picture books to teach in an intensive week-long intervention with Spanish-speaking ELs in a low SES community in Panama. It applies the concept of tellability rather than readability. Tellability considers who is speaking about what to whom and in what circumstances. Novice teachers who were not fluent in Spanish learned to successfully select and instruct using carefully selected books for teaching English in science-themed lessons. These teachers considered features of books that matched the ELs’ oral and written English abilities as well as matched specific language teaching strategies for EL beginners.

• Publisher: Wiley,Blackwell Publishing Ltd
• Subject: 1‐Early childhood / 2‐Childhood / 3‐Early adolescence / 7‐Special needs / Beginning Teachers / Comprehension / Difficulty Level / Educational Strategies / English / English (Second Language) / English as a second language learning / English language / English Learners / Foreign Countries / Instructional strategies; methods and materials / Intensive treatment / Language instruction / Language learners / Methodological perspectives / Motivation/engagement / Oral Language / Picture Books / Readability / Reading Material Selection / Science Education / Second Language Instruction / Second Language Learning / Socioeconomic status / Spanish language / Spoken language / Story Telling / Struggling learners / Teacher education; professional development / Teachers / Teaching / TEACHING AND LEARNING GUIDE / Teaching Methods / Theoretical perspectives / Written Language