Abstract
While effects of picturebooks on reading were examined in higher grades (e.g., high school students) (Ajayi, 2009), little is known about the emerging English as Foreign Language (EFL) Kindergartens to 4th graders (i.e., K-4) students in China. Language institutes are critical phenomena for EFL K-4 education in China (Shi, 2019). Aiming to test the hypothesis that picturebooks have positive effects for reading, this study adopted within-subjects and between-subjects design to examine the effects of picturebooks on EFL reading comprehension of K-4 students in a language institute in China. Thirty-two participants were assigned into two groups to complete multiple choice and ordering tasks. The results showed that students reading with picturebooks outperformed in the two tasks than those who did not, especially on answering literal questions. With pedagogical implication as a goal, we suggest that EFL teachers need to (1) provide scaffoldings in class such as activating students’ prior knowledge, (2) make connections to students’ experience in the reading process. (3) select picturebooks considering the complex relationship between pictures and texts.
Highlights
English as Foreign Language (EFL) education is currently a compulsory requirement in all levels of education in China
While effects of picturebooks on reading were examined in higher grades (Ajayi, 2009), little is known about the emerging English as Foreign Language (EFL) Kindergartens to 4th graders (i.e., K-4) students in China
With pedagogical implication as a goal, we suggest that EFL teachers need to (1) provide scaffoldings in class such as activating students’ prior knowledge, (2) make connections to students’ experience in the reading process. (3) select picturebooks considering the complex relationship between pictures and texts
Summary
EFL education is currently a compulsory requirement in all levels of education in China. In China, there are more than 400 million EFL learners (Wei & Su, 2012). K-4 EFL education becomes a heated field in public K-12 education. This is because all Chinese public-school students are required to learn English from the third grade (Wei & Su, 2012). A majority of Chinese children in developed cities start learning English in kindergartens (Jin et al, 2017). The Chinese aspiring parents have already sent their children to online educational programs, local after-school training centers to start their EFL learning as early as possible
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