engleski

The Picturebook as a Starting Point: A Case Study of First-Grade Chameleons

The benefits of using authentic literary texts in EFLT have been widely acknowledged owing to many academics, including Ellis and Brewster (1991) and Mourão (2017) in a worldwide context, and Narančić Kovač (1999, 2019) with a specific focus on the Croatian educational context. However, not many teachers venture into using authentic picturebooks as an alternative to textbooks accompanied by various ready-made materials which can easily be used as the best learning material for the hypothetical perfect students, those in the nonexistent golden mean. The reasons for such behavior are probably practical but are not the focus of this research. The goal of this case study is to explore whether picturebooks can be used at the very beginning of the first grade in Croatian schools. At this stage, pupils have little or no previous experience of learning English in a structured learning environment and are at different levels of skills such as reading and writing in their mother tongue. What is more, they have to cope with the difficult social task of finding new friends in a new environment and fitting in with a new social group of their peers. For the purpose of this study, the picturebook Blue Chameleon by Emily Gravett will be used during the first month of school with a randomly chosen class of first-graders from a Croatian primary school. The possibility of the previous learning experience will be recorded. Field research will encompass at least three English lessons based on the selected picturebook. During the lessons, the teacher will be using a number of projects and activities created specifically for this picturebook. Instructional objectives will be set according to the curriculum and expanded according to the students’ personal and cognitive needs and interests. The lessons will be audio-taped and consequently transcribed and analyzed. The findings will be interpreted with regard to receptive (listening and reading) and productive (speaking and writing) language skills. Moreover, different literary competences and the level of pupils’ literary literacy will be examined.

authentic picturebooks ; Blue Chameleon ; EFL teaching ; first-graders ; literary literacy

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