Read-aloud Activity: Using Children's Books in the English Language Classroom

10.29778/NTUCH.201112.0006

Wen-Yun Liu

Read-aloud ； Language teaching activity ； Language teaching ； Children's literature

臺東大學人文學報

1卷2期（2011 / 12 / 01）

179 - 203

英文

In order to search for more effective ways to teach English, various language teaching activities and techniques in recent years have been introduced to English teachers at elementary and secondary levels in Taiwan. Reading aloud has long been rooted in the field of ELT in the English countries and has been practiced by language teachers for decades as a useful activity for language teaching. The activity also matches to the concept emphasized by Krashen (1988) that language learning requires meaningful interactions. The paper reviews the present literature on applying read-aloud activity in the English language classroom. The content focuses on: 1. discussing the benefits of teaching and learning English through reading aloud, 2. examining the appropriateness of adopting English children's literature as learning materials in a foreign language class and 3. describing the process of implementing such an activity in English language curriculum. Literature reviewed in this paper all showed that reading aloud activity indeed can create a supportive English language learning scenario for English language learners and help them develop their language skills in English. In addition, learning English through reading aloud may be a promising way to keep students motivated in English learning while at the same time to have them really work on and with their English.