Enhancing Literacy Experiences for EFL Students: The Value of Storybook Reading Intervention

Abstract

The main purpose of the study was to investigate the possible impact of the storybook reading intervention on Taiwanese EFL students' English reading achievement and to explore if the storybook reading intervention had an impact on the students' interest in learning English. Teaching experiments were conducted during one academic semester with seventy-six junior high school students. In order to elicit data for this study, the researcher incorporated a mixed methods design. After the storybook reading intervention, Taiwanese EFL junior high school students' English reading achievement improved. The storybook reading intervention also increased students' interest in learning English. However, factors such as the variance in the students' exposure to the target language, learning style, teaching method, and personality may have affected the results. Based on the students' English proficiency level, teachers used storybooks to make English learning more effective and interesting. The results from this study can be used for developing English teaching criteria for storybook selections for EFL young adults, for motivating language learners, and for integrating storybooks in the EFL classroom. Moreover, it is hoped that this study can also inspire researchers in pursuing this area for further study.