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Picture books are supportive especially
for younger learners, as the pictures can enhance the students' understanding
of the English texts, deal with a large plurality of topics and can
therefore be functional for many purposes in the EFL classroom, as for
example cross-curricular or intercultural learning. As, however, most
picture books have not been especially created for learners of English,
some of them might not exactly meet the students’ needs. But how
can teachers – with the huge variety of picture books which we
can find on the market today – find the right book for their students
and their purposes? This presentation shall report on research into
aspects such as authenticity, pictures and visual literacy, which need
to be considered when choosing picture books for the EFL classroom.
It mainly concentrates on the needs of German students in the primary
school during their first two years of learning English, but the presented
criteria can certainly also be adapted for young learners of English
in other countries. The research will refer to examples of picture books
by authors such as John Burningham, Julia Donaldson and Raymond Briggs.
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Insa Katharina Albrecht • postgraduate student at Hildesheim University • research in the fields of picture books and development of a catalogue of criteria for selecting picture books for the primary EFL classroom • teaching experience in internships in primary schools in Germany as well as in England |