When Picture Books Meet Dramas:
A Study of Incorporating Localized
English Materials into Children’s
English Learning
Group 4
劉燕如 1094402008 劉俊志 1094402056
林怡君 1094402019 蔡佩妤 1094402074 簡芳琦 1094402020
指導教授 駱藝瑄 博士
Background of the study
Era of globalization
Statement of Problem
Research has not showed how language teachers have
used these two teaching pedagogies into one English
program.
Little was known about the effect of instruction if the
localized English materials were incorporated with
these two instruction methods (picture book teaching
and drama teaching).
Purposes/Motivation
To examine the appropriateness of incorporating
localized English materials into traditional Chinese
festivals
To investigate the effect on language proficiencies
when the materials were presented to children through
a different sequence of instruction (picture book
teaching vs. drama teaching)
Research Questions_1
1. How did the integration of localized materials
with traditional festivals presented through
drama teaching and book picture teaching affect
participants’ English learning interests?
2. How did the integration of localized materials
with traditional festivals presented through
drama teaching and book picture teaching affect
children’s overall learning?
Research Questions_2
3. What effect did a different sequence of
instruction (drama teaching vs. picture book
teaching) have on participants’ language
proficiencies?
4. What did we learn from the project?
Literature Review
TESOL theories and Practices 教學理論與實務
(Bishop & Hickman, 1992； Li, 2006；Tsai, 2004；Zeng, 2000 )
Picture books & Picture book teaching 繪本與繪本教學
(Wu, 2002；Ralf, 2001；Sipe, 2006；Liao, 2008)
Dramas & Drama teaching 戲劇與戲劇教學
(Jheng, 2000, 2005；Ye, 2006；Wu, 2002；Chen, 2007 )
Two peaks of English learning 英語雙峰現象
(De Young, 1987；Li, 2006；Lin, 2004； Wu, 2004；Liao, 1997)
Localization and Globalization 在地化與全球化
(Wu & Lin, 2007；Juang, 2002；Liou, 2004；Huang, 2006)
For more information, please refer to our report, pp.4~16
Methodology
Participants
A total of forty five-year-old kindergarteners
Instruments
Classroom observation
Interviews
Monthly tests
Questionnaires
Sequence of Instruction
This study lasted about 8 months: March to November 2008
8 months 5 topics 5 topics
Class A Drama Picture Book
Class B Picture Book Drama
Topics of Localized Materials
Mother’s Day Dragon Boat Festival Father’s Day
Chinese Lover’s Day Moon Festival
Results of the Study
1. How did the integration of localized
materials with traditional festivals presented
through drama teaching and book picture
teaching affect their English learning
interests?
What instruction method ( picture book
teaching vs. drama teaching) did participants
prefer?
Class A
both
20%
60%
20%
like like Class B
picture like
dramas both
books picture
10% books
30%
60%
like
dramas
What were participants’ views on the
instruction? How did they like our instruction?
Class A
don't
know
20%
dislike 10% like
70%
Class B
like
100
dislike
don't
know
Class A received Drama Teaching first
Class B received Picture Book Teaching first
Did participants share what they
learned with their parents at home?
Class A
Yes
No
Class B
50% 50%
yes
no
50% 50%
Class A received Drama Teaching first
Class B received Picture Book Teaching first
Evidence from Classroom Observations
Participants showed their great interests in picture books.
Each time, as soon as we entered the class, the participants saw us holding a picture
book. Right away, they said,
“It is time for story telling…” Students showed their excitement. (Classroom
observation)
“What story are you going to tell us today?” said students enthusiastically.
(Classroom observation)
They also showed their interests in drama teaching by saying…
“What an interesting play you had today!” (Classroom observation)
“Could I touch the puppets? Wow, they can move….” (Classroom observation)
Research Question 2
2. How did the integration of localized materials
with traditional festivals presented through drama
teaching and book picture teaching affect
children’s overall learning?
Materials were connected to their daily lives.
Logical reasoning was increased.
Creativity and imagination were enhanced.
Stimulation for language learning and production
was provided.
Research Question 3
3. What effect did a different sequence of
instruction (drama teaching vs. picture book
teaching) have on students’ listening and
speaking proficiencies?
Pretest on participants’ listening and
speaking proficiencies
Standard Statistically
Pretest N Average
Division
F
Significant
Listening of Class A 16 39.75 9.000
0.157 0.695
Listening of Class B 13 39.54 7.535
Speaking of Class A 16 18.88 12.940
1.462 0.237
Speaking of Class B 13 19.85 9.677
**p≦0.05
Participants’ English Learning after Class
Yes Yes (cram No
N (cram school) & (cram
school) Parents school)
Class A 16 8 5 3
Class B 13 6 4 3
Class A Class B
19% Yes 23% Yes
46% Yes&Parents
50% Yes&Parents
No
31% No 31%
Monthly Listening Tests
Standard Statistically
Listening test N Mean
Deviation
F
Significant
Class A 17 31.47 20.369
Mother’s Day 0.183 0.672
Class B 15 40.67 18.980
Class A 16 48.13 23.726
Dragon Boat Festival 4.216 0.049**
Class B 17 53.24 14.678
Class A 17 34.41 20.147
Father’s Day 0.871 0.358
Class B 16 43.44 15.887
Class A 18 45.00 18.471
Moon Festival 6.214 0.018**
Class B 16 54.06 11.434
Class A 18 38.33 9.852
Final Test 2.621 0.115
Class B 16 46.25 6.191
**p≦0.05
Class A received Drama Teaching first
Class B received Picture Book Teaching first
Monthly Speaking Tests
Standard Statistically
Speaking Test N Mean
Deviation
F
Significant
Class A 17 10.29 15.759
Mother’s Day 0.096 0.759
Class B 15 21.00 16.712
Class A 16 26.25 24.187
Dragon Boat Festival 0.226 0.638
Class B 17 35.59 18.947
Class A 17 13.53 13.666
Father’s Day 0.018 0.894
Class B 16 19.69 13.225
Class A 18 28.61 16.342
Moon Festival 2.893 0.099
Class B 16 30.31 11.614
Class A 18 29.78 14.743
Final Test 3.134 0.086
Class B 16 28.50 8.869
**p≦0.05
Class A received Drama Teaching first
Class B received Picture Book Teaching first
Effect on Language Proficiencies
Students' listening test
60
M 55
50 Class A
e 45
a 40 Class B
35
n 30
25
Pre-test Test1 Test2 Test3 Test4 Final
test
Students' speaking test
40
M 35
30 Class A
e
25
a
20 Class B
n
15
10
Pre-test Test1 Test2 Test3 Test4 Final
test
Research Question 4
4. What did we learn from the
project?
Video
Discussion
1. Materials
-Integration of localized materials with traditional festivals
2. Instruction
-Picture book teaching
-Drama teaching
3. Sequence of Instruction
-Picture book teaching, better in listening proficiency
-Drama teaching, better in creativity and imagination
4. Use in daily lives
-Connect to the global society in the future
Conclusion
Students’ learning interests and motivations are
increased.
Different sequence of instruction has different effect
on language proficiency.
Community partnership between university students
and local educational institutions can benefit both
parties.
Suggestions
Designing picture books can be time
consuming. It is suggested to cooperate
with other teachers at nearby schools to
develop materials.
Students can develop their own picture
books or create their own dramas based on
different topics.
It is suggested to publish the picture books
in order to be used by other schools.
Acknowledgements
Our deepest appreciation goes to the
National Science Council (感謝國科會對
本專題研究計畫的補助)
Many thanks to Mr. Martin Murray for
proof-reading the picture books for us
Thank you for your listening