Picturebooks in the Primary EFL Classroom: Authentic Literature for an Authentic Response

Abstract

This article begins by discussing the term ‘picturebook’, followed by a definition which centres on the picture-word dynamic, the social and cultural implications of using picturebooks and an explanation of picturebook peritext. This is followed by a section that discusses response and its relevance to teachers who want to (re)consider picturebooks in an EFL classroom. A category of responses is then suggested as a way to support EFL teachers to understand their learners’ responses to picturebooks and help them recognize the relevance of response to the storytelling experience. The final section describes two picturebooks with concrete examples of the different ways picturebooks enable and promote authentic responses through both the pictures and the words.

Keywords

• pre-primary
• primary
• foreign language
• picturebooks
• reader response
• authentic responses