This study investigated the effect of using predictable stories as reading materials on the oral and emergent literacy development of EFL beginners in a kindergarten setting. A childcentered and literaturebased curriculum integrating whole language philosophy was developed for a group of kindergarten students at a typical public school in Taipei. Daily instruction was given by the researcher for one school year. Five students aged 6 to 7 were chosen based on a consideration of their family background and ability levels. Using the mode of ethnographic research, the study involved multiple data sources obtained trom observation during daily instruction and parental interviews in order to examine children's oral performance
and emergent literacy development. Data collection was obtained by the use of videotape, audiotape, teaching logs, students' portfolios, and miscue analysis. The findings of the study showed that predictable storybooks enable EFL children to develop some aspects of reading behaviors such as book awareness, the direction of print and print awareness. The parents' attitudes toward emergent literacy observed in the study are correlated with the children's L2 reading behaviors. The story instruction provides a great source to expand the children's oral language use in the reallife situation. The findings provide EFL teachers and curriculum planners with new information about how EFL children develop their second language
reading and how they expand their overall L2 proficiency when immersing in predictable stories at the beginning level.
Relation:
Selected Papers from the the Ninth International Symposium on English Teaching=第九屆中華民國英語文教學國際研討會論文集, pp.264-273