engleski

"Black and White" with Croatian Young Learners

Picturebooks are often viewed as easy reading material, but their word-picture relationship can prove that is not always the case. The current digital age where multitasking is considered normal has impacted the way children think, see and learn. Both Radical Change theory and considering picturebooks as postmodern developed in the 1990s (Dresang, 2008), and both approaches use similar terminology in describing common features of contemporary (postmodern) children’s literature. This thesis was focused on the use of postmodern picturebooks, with a special emphasis on David Macaulay’s "Black and White", in order to examine Croatian EFL young learners’ responses to it. In preparation for the thesis, a study was conducted in two parts. The first, conducted using an online questionnaire, was aimed at identifying the attitudes of teachers and student teachers on the use of picturebooks in teaching English to young learners. The results imply that participants would use picturebooks, but not very often and mostly for the purpose of expanding lesson aims related to specific grammar or vocabulary or reading and pronunciation. Almost none of the participants show an intent to use postmodern picturebooks, as they are not familiar with them. The second step of the investigation involved young learners: a small-group read-aloud and discussion of Macaulay’s "Black and White" proved both beneficial for developing children’s thinking and fun for the participants because they used language in a spontaneous and playful manner. It can be concluded that young English language learners readily engage in the reading process of postmodern picturebooks and understand them well. However, it is up to the teacher to decide how much time and effort will be assigned to such activities in class.

David Macaulay’s

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