Research papers

Children’s Literature in Transcarpathian Schools for Teaching English as a Foreign Language

Published:
June 27, 2022
Authors
View
Keywords
License

Copyright (c) 2022 by the authors

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

How To Cite
Selected Style: APA
Nagy-Kolozsvári, E., & Gordon Győri, J. (2022). Children’s Literature in Transcarpathian Schools for Teaching English as a Foreign Language. Central European Journal of Educational Research, 4(1), 108-120. https://doi.org/10.37441/cejer/2022/4/1/10233
Received 2021-10-19
Accepted 2022-04-21
Published 2022-06-27
Abstract

Since the origins of formal foreign language teaching, literature has always played an important role. Currently, modern language teaching trends suggest starting foreign language learning as early as possible; thus, the use of children’s literature in foreign language teaching is undergoing a revolution. This situation encouraged us to examine the use of children’s literature and the attitude of foreign language teachers to it. This article focuses on primary and secondary school English language teachers in a western county of Ukraine (N = 118). The results of the qualitative research revealed that the teachers’ general attitude to the use of children’s literature is positive; they are aware of their advantages but still avoid using these materials. Most teachers do not apply children’s literature in their foreign language teaching because the school curriculum is too congested and fast-paced, they do not have access to appropriate authentic children’s literature, or they were not taught how to utilize authentic children’s literature during their university years. Results suggest that teachers should be encouraged to use children’s literature, though there is no universal solution. The first suggestion is for schools themselves to support teachers, but it would be a significant step forward if this approach were also to be taken in in-service training.