First ETAL (Edinburgh TESOL & Applied Linguistics) talk of the semester. For our new society members, remember that this is a research group within the Moray House School of Education partnered with the Language & Education Society. This event is free and open to all.
Our speaker will be Licia Masoni, who teaches on the Primary Education course at the University of Bologna with a special focus on oral narrative and children's literature in ESL/EFL contexts.
Wednesday, October 2nd 2019, 5:30-7:00 pm
1.19, Paterson’s Land, Moray House School of Education, University of Edinburgh
Licia Masoni, University of Bologna
Authentic children's literature as a source of language for primary EFL leaners and trainee teachers
Authentic picturebooks constitute a motivating and emotionally conducive means to acquire natural English in context and develop intercultural competence for (very) young learners (Masoni 2018, 2019). The highly formulaic language of picturebooks promotes mechanisms of implicit learning which children rely on to a great extent in the process of acquiring a second or foreign language (Snow 1983, Muñoz 2006, Wray 2008). Books use language in ways that are both linguistically enriching for learners and pedagogically informed: they accompany and sustain children in their learning process.
Primary EFL teachers worldwide are making growing use of picturebooks in the classroom.Yet, children’s literature represents much more than a valid teaching tool: it is first and foremost a powerful source of learning for teachers themselves (Ding 2007). Indeed, research has proved that exposure to children’s literature has positive effects in the adult EFL classroom, and various scholars have been advocating for the need to boost formulaic learning among adults (Wray 2008). Exposure to children’s literature grants prospective teachers access to formulaic language and most of all English as used by, with and around children, as well as a knowledge of the culture and imagination of childhood embedded in the target language.
I argue that these and other factors can have important effects on trainee teachers’ ability to experience a sense of authenticity when learning and teaching the FL, as well as on their future ability to communicate with children in meaningful ways.