Children's Literature in Traditional Arab Classrooms for Teaching English as a Foreign Language


  •  Ruwaida Abu Rass    
  •  Susan Holzman    

Abstract

This research has shown that the use of authentic children’s literature is an effective and motivating ESL classroom strategy. However, this study investigated the use of children’s stories in EFL elementary classrooms where the teaching methods are very traditional and the resources are limited. This study was carried out in an elementary school in an Arab town in Israel. Approximately a hundred fifth and sixth grade pupils filled in a questionnaire expressing their attitudes towards being taught through stories. Teacher trainees taught the classes, wrote reflections, filled in questionnaires and were observed by the researchers. This information has been collected and served as the data for the study. Results suggest that the use of this strategy is very positive and should be carefully considered by EFL teachers, EFL trainees and teacher educators.

Keywords: children's stories, EFL teacher trainees, EFL pupils, traditional classrooms



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