A. Introduction
This research was conducted by Yuh-Mei Chen, an associate professor at National Chung Cheng University and the journal is available at www.asian-efl-journal.com December 2006, volume 8, issue 4.
The main purpose of this research is stated in its abstract. This paper first discusses the advantages of using literature in language learning, explains why children’s literature is suitable for EFL learners, and then illustrates a project which used children’s literature to engage EFL university students in reading and writing stories. The paper concludes with some suggestions for classroom practice in the EFL university classroom.
B. Content
In the beginning, Yuh Mei Chen explains the benefit of using literature. The use of literature has been acknowledged as conducive to academic, intellectual, cultural, and linguistic learning. Palardy (1997) states that through literature, student readers “will have the opportunity to develop insights and understandings of the cultures and people of the world; to develop their imagery and visualization abilities; and to gain new perspectives by testing their ideas with those found in books”. In addition to the linguistic benefit, literature especially opens the door for EFL learners to the target culture.
After explaining about the advantages of using literature, the writer gives explanation why children’s’ literature is suitable for EFL learners. The researcher states that children’s’ literature is suitable for EFL learners due to its simple language style, embedded cultural information, and comfortable length.
Adeyanju (1978) argues that the language of literature text should not be stylized, dialectal, or otherwise difficult. This does not mean simplifying the text by limiting the length of sentences or the number of words within the text. The input should not be so simple as to kill readers’ interest, nor so difficult as to hinder their understanding. The text should be challenging but not frustrating. It is agreed that readers do not have to comprehend everything they read; general comprehension occurs though they cannot grasp some difficult structures.
With regard to content, Adyanju (1978) recommends three criteria: cultural information, material accessible to students’ schemata, and strong story lines. The first
two are concerned with students’ affective involvement, and parallel. Good literature should involve the reader at three levels: personal, cultural, and universal. Priority must be placed on stories that enable students to relate their own experiences and feelings to the reading. Students’ interests and backgrounds may influence their responses to and comprehension of the stories. To be involving, the story line should be strong enough to carry the students onto the next page. If the plot is too flat, or does not satisfy the students’ expectations, the story is not good.
Length is another important element in choosing literature. Sage (1987) explains that shorter stories make the students’ reading task and the teacher’s coverage easier. Overly long stories often make the students impatient and unwilling to wait till the end to know what happens to the protagonist. Students’ anxiety may also increase consequently. In other words, the story should be short but long enough to stimulate students’ interests and feelings.
The third section of this journal is the illustrations of the researcher’s project which used children’s literature to engage EFL university students in reading and writing stories. This project was intended to use children’s literature to promote EFL university students’ narrative thinking and enhance their writing ability through a task of story reading and writing. It lasted for four weeks: the first week focused on reading stories, the second, drafting stories, the third, peer review and revising, and the fourth, conference and revising.
Participants of the project were two cohorts (n= 24, 19) of first-year English majors from a national university in southern Taiwan. Altogether there were 43 students, 33 females and 10 males. Cricket Magazine was used as the reading material and writing prompt for the course which contain universal theme, and use simple language, direct, and natural.
In her class reading stories consists in observing the essential elements and learning how stories are best told. It is to comment on the title and first line, explore voices woven in the plot, visualize characters through their remarks, identify the conflict, and notice the ending. Then she demonstrates her reading with the technique called “think aloud”. After her reading, she brings students’ attention to some story writing strategies by asking questions. She stresses especially on the elements of voice and dialogue because she assumes they compose the soul of a story.
In the EFL writing classroom, language is doubtlessly one of the major concerns. To help her students get immediate linguistic feedback in the first draft, she asks them to read out loud their drafts to their group members and give each other comments on language use and usage. My suggestions are provided in the second draft; extra assistance is sought through the Internet too.
The evaluation of the project was supported by three themes: stories selected for reading, process of writing stories, and liked and disliked activities.
C. Conclusion
I note several point as my conclusion of this journal. They are;
D. Comment
I can say that this is a good journal. It stands for some reasons. First, this journal is written systematically and has complete composition / content, also the author biography and references are provided. It means that this journal can be used for academic usage. The second reason, it provides data of the study to ensure the credibility of the analysis. This also will let the readers raise their own analysis on the data. So, the reader can examine the validity of the researcher’s analysis. The last reason, I assume that this is a good journal because this journal provides a study which gives a new finding important to the development of teaching activity.
This research was conducted by Yuh-Mei Chen, an associate professor at National Chung Cheng University and the journal is available at www.asian-efl-journal.com December 2006, volume 8, issue 4.
The main purpose of this research is stated in its abstract. This paper first discusses the advantages of using literature in language learning, explains why children’s literature is suitable for EFL learners, and then illustrates a project which used children’s literature to engage EFL university students in reading and writing stories. The paper concludes with some suggestions for classroom practice in the EFL university classroom.
B. Content
In the beginning, Yuh Mei Chen explains the benefit of using literature. The use of literature has been acknowledged as conducive to academic, intellectual, cultural, and linguistic learning. Palardy (1997) states that through literature, student readers “will have the opportunity to develop insights and understandings of the cultures and people of the world; to develop their imagery and visualization abilities; and to gain new perspectives by testing their ideas with those found in books”. In addition to the linguistic benefit, literature especially opens the door for EFL learners to the target culture.
After explaining about the advantages of using literature, the writer gives explanation why children’s’ literature is suitable for EFL learners. The researcher states that children’s’ literature is suitable for EFL learners due to its simple language style, embedded cultural information, and comfortable length.
Adeyanju (1978) argues that the language of literature text should not be stylized, dialectal, or otherwise difficult. This does not mean simplifying the text by limiting the length of sentences or the number of words within the text. The input should not be so simple as to kill readers’ interest, nor so difficult as to hinder their understanding. The text should be challenging but not frustrating. It is agreed that readers do not have to comprehend everything they read; general comprehension occurs though they cannot grasp some difficult structures.
With regard to content, Adyanju (1978) recommends three criteria: cultural information, material accessible to students’ schemata, and strong story lines. The first
two are concerned with students’ affective involvement, and parallel. Good literature should involve the reader at three levels: personal, cultural, and universal. Priority must be placed on stories that enable students to relate their own experiences and feelings to the reading. Students’ interests and backgrounds may influence their responses to and comprehension of the stories. To be involving, the story line should be strong enough to carry the students onto the next page. If the plot is too flat, or does not satisfy the students’ expectations, the story is not good.
Length is another important element in choosing literature. Sage (1987) explains that shorter stories make the students’ reading task and the teacher’s coverage easier. Overly long stories often make the students impatient and unwilling to wait till the end to know what happens to the protagonist. Students’ anxiety may also increase consequently. In other words, the story should be short but long enough to stimulate students’ interests and feelings.
The third section of this journal is the illustrations of the researcher’s project which used children’s literature to engage EFL university students in reading and writing stories. This project was intended to use children’s literature to promote EFL university students’ narrative thinking and enhance their writing ability through a task of story reading and writing. It lasted for four weeks: the first week focused on reading stories, the second, drafting stories, the third, peer review and revising, and the fourth, conference and revising.
Participants of the project were two cohorts (n= 24, 19) of first-year English majors from a national university in southern Taiwan. Altogether there were 43 students, 33 females and 10 males. Cricket Magazine was used as the reading material and writing prompt for the course which contain universal theme, and use simple language, direct, and natural.
In her class reading stories consists in observing the essential elements and learning how stories are best told. It is to comment on the title and first line, explore voices woven in the plot, visualize characters through their remarks, identify the conflict, and notice the ending. Then she demonstrates her reading with the technique called “think aloud”. After her reading, she brings students’ attention to some story writing strategies by asking questions. She stresses especially on the elements of voice and dialogue because she assumes they compose the soul of a story.
In the EFL writing classroom, language is doubtlessly one of the major concerns. To help her students get immediate linguistic feedback in the first draft, she asks them to read out loud their drafts to their group members and give each other comments on language use and usage. My suggestions are provided in the second draft; extra assistance is sought through the Internet too.
The evaluation of the project was supported by three themes: stories selected for reading, process of writing stories, and liked and disliked activities.
C. Conclusion
I note several point as my conclusion of this journal. They are;
- The use of literature has been acknowledged as conducive to academic, intellectual, cultural, and linguistic learning.
- Children’s literature can be suitable material for literacy development due to its simple language style, embedded cultural information, and comfortable length.
- Time, support, and practice can provide scaffolds for unskilled or low self-esteemed writers.
D. Comment
I can say that this is a good journal. It stands for some reasons. First, this journal is written systematically and has complete composition / content, also the author biography and references are provided. It means that this journal can be used for academic usage. The second reason, it provides data of the study to ensure the credibility of the analysis. This also will let the readers raise their own analysis on the data. So, the reader can examine the validity of the researcher’s analysis. The last reason, I assume that this is a good journal because this journal provides a study which gives a new finding important to the development of teaching activity.
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