USING PICTURE BOOKS TO ENHANCE MOTIVATION 


Arisa Kochiyama
Using Picture Books to Enhance Motivation and Language Learning of Remedial EFLLearners

USING PICTURE BOOKS TO ENHANCE MOTIVATION
AND LANGUAGE LEARNING OF REMEDIAL EFL LEARNERS

Arisa Kochiyama
Associate Professor/ Wayo Women’s University, JapanEmail: kochiyama@wayo.ac.jpAPA Citation: Kochiyama, A. (2015). Using picture books to enhance motivation and language learning ofremedial EFL learners. Indonesian EFL Journal, 1(1), 10-16Received: 04-3-2014 Accepted: 20-05-2014 Published: 01-01-2015

Abstract: According to studies done by the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Scienceand Technology, many secondary schools across the nation aren’t adequately preparing students toexcel at college. Universities are stepping in to fill the gap by offering remedial college courses insubjects such as Japanese and English. The purpose of the present study is to explore how an EFL classfor college freshmen can help the students develop the critical thinking skills as well as language skillssuch as pronunciation, vocabulary and grammar necessary to read at the college level.Picture books are often overlooked by adult ESL/EFL instructors as many of them feeluncomfortable reading books designed for children. However, if chosen with consideration for theinterests of the students and used in ways that are appropriate for adult learners, picture books canprovide valuable opportunities of language-rich experiences and interactions. In fact a number ofstudies in Western cultures have shown that picture books provide a wealth of possibilities forteaching English topics as well as various vocabulary sets such as family, food, clothes, and so on. Theycan also motivate learners to read more and learn more as the students are more likely to find readinga manageable challenge.Given these functions of picture books, the main objectives of the study are (1) to discuss themerits of using picture books in remedial English classes from the viewpoint of English languagelearning, (2) to investigate the effect of using picture books on the learners’ motivation and emotionaldevelopment, and (3) to give a report about the students’ reactions towards an adoption of a picturebook in an EFL class.
Keywords: intercultural communication, English as a second language, EFL classroom, language and
gender, children’s literature in EFL learning

INTRODUCTION
Remedial StudentsThe Education Rebuilding ImplementationCouncil, an expert panel under Prime MinisterShinzo Abe, has suggested that thegovernment lower the grade when primaryschool students start studying English fromthe fourth year and make it a regular subjectfor fourth, fifth and sixth graders. Since the2011 academic year, a “foreign languageactivity” has become a required course atprimary schools and now, fifth- andsixth-graders take English classes once a week,which has guaranteed 8 years of Englisheducation. Despite these national efforts tostrengthen the early English education, manystudents have difficulty in learning English asa school year rises. According to the surveyconducted on ninth-graders by Education,Culture, Sports, Science and Technology in

2009, 18.6% of the students feel they “havesomehow fallen behind” in their English class,and 9.6 % feel they “have completely fallenbehind” in their English class (Kiyota 2009). Inaddition, the results of the survey conductedby Benesse Education Research andDevelopment Center show that 60% of thejunior high school students feel “they are notgood at English” (Kiyota 2009). In fact, theacademic skill level of college students hasbecome a problem and many universities havealready adopted remedial classes for thoseunderprepared students to ensure a basicunderstanding of the subjects.
Learning Environment of Japanese EFL
StudentsOne of the biggest issues whichaccompanies learning English in the EFLenvironment is that learners have limited

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Indonesian EFL Journal, Vol. 1(1) January 2015ISSN 2252-7427exposure to English in daily life. Littleopportunity to use English makes it hard forlearners to find a reason to study the language;in other words, they are not motivated tostudy the target language (Otsuki and Takase2012). Additionally, with the grammar-translation method, the most commonapproach adopted at secondary schoolsacross Japan, learners are easy to losemotivation for studying English. In thismethod the emphasis is put on translatingEnglish text into Japanese word by word,rather than appreciating the content of thetext (Otsuki and Takase 2012). Moreover, themain goal of English education is for studentsto succeed in passing the entranceexamination to higher education, whichmainly consists of grammar-orientedquestions and comprehension questions ofshort difficult passages (Otsuki and Takase2012). Many of the underprepared collagestudents have failed in learning EFL in theirintroductory stage in junior high schools andhad English phobia for a long period of timeas a school year rises and grammar andvocabulary become more complicated anddifficult. The results of the survey conductedby Benesse Education Research andDevelopment Center show that 78.6% of thejunior high school students who fall behind intheir English class have found “studyingEnglish grammar too difficult” and 72.2%have found “studying English toostressful”(Kiyota 2009). It is evident that thesocial and education circumstancessurrounding English education in Japan havegenerated unmotivated and reluctantstudents.
Picture BooksIn recent years a number of researcherssuggest authentic children’s literature as analternative to the traditional bottom-upapproach to EFL. For example, Ghosn (2002)offers the following good reasons for usingauthentic children’s literature; first, children’sliterature provides a motivating context forlanguage learning since learners are naturallydrawn to stories; second, literature cancontribute to language learning as it presentsnatural language, language as its finest, andcan thus foster vocabulary development incontext; third, literature can function as a

change agent; good literature deals with someaspects of the human condition, and can thuscontribute to the emotional development ofthe learners and foster positive interpersonaland intercultural attitudes. Similarly Ellis andBrewster (2002) suggest that using children’sliterature can help develop positive attitudetowards the foreign language, culture andlanguage learning; using stories allows theteachers to introduce or revise newvocabulary and sentence structures byexposing the children to language in varied,memorable and familiar contexts, which willenrich their thinking and gradually enter theirown speech. They also emphasize theimportance of reading aloud by pointing outthat listening to stories helps learners becomeaware of the rhythm, intonation andpronunciation of language.Given the above findings, the purpose of thestudy is to investigate the merits of usingpicture books in remedial English classes interms of enhancing learners’ languagelearning, motivation to learn English andimprove their emotional development.
METHODTo address the questions regarding themerits of using picture books in a classroom,the following investigations will be made: (1)A picture book titled The Paper Bag Princesswill be investigated in terms of theintroduction of particular grammaticalfeatures and vocabulary. (2) A pilot study willbe conducted to investigate the effect of usingpicture books on the learners’ motivation andemotional development. And (3) the students’reactions towards an adoption of the picturebook in an EFL class will be analyzed.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Selecting an Appropriate Picture Book:
Input Hypothesis and Picture BooksIt has been widely accepted in the EFLteaching context that input plays moreimportant role than output. According toKrashan’s (1981) Input Hypothesis, anessential factor for language acquisition isinput that is comprehensible but that alsocontains language structures beyond thelearner’s current proficiency level. In addition,he claims that the input hypothesis has been

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Arisa Kochiyama
Using Picture Books to Enhance Motivation and Language Learning of Remedial EFL Learnerssuccessfully applied in the area of reading.Muranoi (2006) discusses four points tofacilitate learners’ second language learning:(a) Comprehensible input; second languagelearners acquire the language by hearing andunderstanding messages that are slightlyabove their current target language level. (b)Relevance; texts should contain languageforms and cultures relevant to learners tomatch the learners’ interest. (c) Authenticity;input should be culturally and linguisticallyauthentic, which provides the natural use ofcertain essential grammatical feature incommunication. (d) Aural-written input;written and aural input should be wellcombined.Keeping in mind the length and the level ofdifficulty as well as the students’ interest inthe context, a picture book titled The Paper
Back Princess is used in the present study. Thebook has been selected because (1) it iswritten in simplified beginning-level English,which is parallels the language competence ofa local junior high school graduate, (2) it tellsinteresting, sophisticated and critical storythat learners of all ages can enjoy, (3) itcontains colorful illustrations, which can begreat motivators for struggling or reluctantreaders, (4) it is available at many bookstoresand public libraries, and (5) it can be used asalternative reading. In fact, The Paper Bag
Princess written by a Canadian author RobertMunsch is a children’s book whose storyreverses the prince and princess stereotypeand has won critical acclaim from feminists.Although children’s literature such as picturebooks, chapter books and fairy tales iscommonly used in the reading practices inESL/EFL classrooms, many researchers pointout that gender bias is still prevalent incontemporary children’s and young adultliterature (Kuo 2005). As a result, teachersneed to be sensitive to their materials or theywill easily fall in to a passive acceptance ofeverything literature presents to us (Fox1993). Reading The Paper Bag Princess islikely to empower students with criticalthinking and alternative reading whileimproving their literacy.In terms of the level of difficulty of The
Paper Bag Princess, the learners need 150words to read the text. Since Japanese junior

high school students have learned 900English words, junior high school graduatescan understand the overall meanings of thetext using the twenty percent of theknowledge of English vocabulary. In terms ofthe grammatical features, the text includes themajority of grammatical items that aresuggested for junior high school students tobe learned, which are stated in the guidelinemade by the Japanese Ministry of Education,Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. Thetenses used in the text include present tense,present progressive, past tense, pastprogressive, and present perfect. Sentencestructures used in the text include affirmativesentences, negative sentences, interrogativesentences, imperative sentences andcomparison. To-infinitives and passive voicesare used as well. Examples of eachgrammatical items appeared in the text are asfollows:
PresentI am a very busy dragon.Present ProgressiveYou smell like ashes, your hair is all tangled and you arewearing a dirty old paper bag.PastElizabeth was a beautiful princess.She lived in a castle and had expensive princess clothes.Past ProgressiveShe was going to marry a prince named Ronald.Present PerfectWell, a princess! I love to eat princesses, but I havealready eaten a whole castle today.Negative (Past)They didn’t get married after all.InterrogativeIs it true that you are the smartest and fiercest dragon inthe whole world?Imperative“Wait,” shouted Elizabeth.ComparisonIs it true that you are the smartest and fiercest dragon inthe whole world?She shouted as loud as she could, “Hey, dragon!”To-infinitiveWhen he got back he was too tired to talk, and he laydown and went straight to sleep..

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Indonesian EFL Journal, Vol. 1(1) January 2015ISSN 2252-7427Passive VoiceCome back when you are dressed like a real princess.In the text, a variety of vocabulary, idioms, andexpressions repeat themselves, which enableslearners to read similar or same words andgrammatical structures over and over withoutnoticing it and develop both grammatical andcommunicative competence. Rivers (1968)points out the effectiveness of pattern drills onforeign language learning discussing thathabits are strengthened by reinforcement andanalogy provides a better foundation forforeign language learning than analysis.Repetition
(1) A. The dragon stuck his nose out of the door andsaid, “Well, a princess! I love to eat princesses,but I have already eaten a whole castle today. Iam a very busy dragon. Come back tomorrow.”B. The dragon stuck his nose out of the door andsaid, “Go away. I love to eat princesses, but I havealready eaten a whole castle today. I am a verybusy dragon. Come back tomorrow.”(2) A. “Is it true,” said Elizabeth, “that you can burn upten forests with your fiery breath?”B. Elizabeth said, “Dragon, is it true that you can flyaround the world in just ten seconds?”Examples A and B in Sentences (1) whichappear in a page apart illustrate the repetitionof the same phrases and sentences. ExamplesA and B in Sentence (2) appear in two pagesapart. The same sentence structures are usedin this examples but not the same vocabulary.It should be noticed, however, that a word“ten” is used repeatedly in the sentences,which helps learners to acquire the wordnaturally. According to Gannon (1987) whohas investigated the merits of picture books inEnglish education, repetition is one of themost familiar features of children’s literature.Repetition not only adds rhythm and themysterious charm of ritual to the simplestverbal formulas but clarifies the structure ofnarrative for young readers and helps them toremember what they have read.Given the above findings, it is likely that The
Paper Bag Princess may serve as analternative to EFL textbooks and have theeffect on remedial learners’ EFL learning fromthe viewpoint of Input Hypothesis.

Emotional Development: Pilot StudySince the 1960’s, language educators inthe United States have made it a priority toincorporate the study of culture into theirclassroom curricula. Through the study ofother languages, learners gain a knowledgeand understanding of culture that uses thelanguage. In fact, learners cannot truly masterthe language until they have also masteredthe cultural contexts in which the languageoccurs (Peterson and Coltrane 2003). Brooks(1964) proposes five meanings of culture tobe combined in language teaching: growth,refinement, fine arts, patterns of living, and atotal way of life. The fourth meaning refers tothe role of the individual in life situations ofevery kind and his conformity to the rules andmodels for attitude and conduct in them.According to Brooks, this meaning is the mostimmediately useful in instruction. Literarytexts are often replete with culturalinformation and evoke memorable reactionsfor readers. Texts that are carefully selectedfor a given group of students and with specificgoals in mind can be very helpful in allowingstudents to acquire insight into a culture(Peterson and Coltrane 2003). One studycompared the level and quality of recollectionwhen two different groups of students learnedabout Cote D’Ivoire (Scott and Huntington2000). One group studied a fact sheet and asecond studied a poem about colonialism inCote D’Ivoire. The researchers found that thegroup that read the poem showed a capacityto empathize with the personal history of theCote D’Ivoire people. Thus, culture must befully incorporated as a vital component oflanguage learning. Second language teachersshould identify key cultural items in everyaspect of the language that they teach.Given these findings, a pilot study wasconducted to investigate the effect of using apicture book on the learners’ motivation andemotional development. The subjects of thestudy consist of 28 Japanese high beginningEFL learners with Japanese as their firstlanguage. They are either sophomores orjuniors majoring English Communication in aprivate women’s university located in thecenter of Japan. Reading tasks of reading aloud,translation, and students’ written feedbackand semi-structured interviews developed by
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Arisa Kochiyama
Using Picture Books to Enhance Motivation and Language Learning of Remedial EFL LearnersBC Teacher’s Federation were provided forthree consecutive 90 minute classes. Thepurpose of the reading tasks is to allowstudents not only to learn the target languagebut also to think critically about how men andwomen are portrayed and compare theseportrayals to their own lives. It is hoped thatthe discussion of such a controversial issuelead by the discussion questions can stimulatestudents to foster critical thinking and literacyand empower them with a futureunderstanding of gender notions in their lives(Kuo 2005). Kuo (2005) claims the importanceof teacher’s role by pointing out that teachersneed to be extremely aware of the fact thatdominant reading practices will make studentsaccustomed to mainstream texts and as aresult students will passively identifythemselves with the characters in the stories.Kuo suggests that teachers should equipstudents with a certain stance that deliberatelychallenges the text and help students uncoverthe gender inequalities present in the text, indoing so, it is useful for teachers to adoptresistant or oppositional reading practicesrather than dominant and conventionalreading practices. According to the BCTeacher’s Federation, a familiar starting pointfor students would be to read traditional fairytales and identify the elements that make itdifferent from a non-fiction story by askingopen-ended questions as in the following:
1) How are princesses usually portrayed at the start ofa story?2) Is she waiting around for something or someone tocome to her rescue or make her happy? If so,whom?3) Towards the end of a story what makes Cinderellaand Snow White happy? Why do you think thatmight be?After reading a variety of traditional andmodernized fairy tales and analyzingcomponents of each style of fairy tale,teachers can ask students:4) In you world, who is a more realistic character?Why do you think that? Who does each princessremind you of in real life?5) Can a prince or princess be single and live happilyever after? Why or why not? Do you know anyonewho is single and happy?As for the possible extensions, BC

Teacher’s Federation suggests the followingstrategies:6) Have students take a traditional fairy tale and worktogether in small groups to write a new ending forit. Ask them to create one where the princess andprince live in a more realistic and independentmanner.(BC Teacher’s Federation)Questions 1) to 3) help students to be awareof stereotyped representations embedded inthe traditional fairy tales such as Snow White,
Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, and so on.Questions 4) to 6) help students to rethinkabout gender notions of the characters in The
Paper Bag Princess and foster critical thinkingand literacy. The students’ answers are shownas follows:1)Poor 22Beautiful, Pretty 21Bullied, Life-threatened、Facing hardship 10Kind, Gentle 8Unhappy 8Doing housework／cleaning 4Cheerful 1Quiet 1Single-minded 12)Being saved by the prince 25Being happy 14Being rich 5Nothing particular 33)Getting married with a prince 25Being saved by a prince 19Being rich／Living in plenty 11Being without a villain 84)Elizabeth 26Traditional princesses 2Reasons for ElizabethShe didn’t get married after all 9She is a person of action 6She is strong／brave 6She is not pretty 4She looks at the prince’s personality 25)Yes 22ReasonsI know those are single and happy 15Marriage does not always lead to happiness 12

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Indonesian EFL Journal, Vol. 1(1) January 2015ISSN 2252-7427Different plot is more interesting 2NO 6ReasonsMarriage is the happy ending 3Happy marriage is a dream 3The above report shows that the alternative readingconducted in the classes was successful in helpingstudents become aware of gender bias prevalent intraditional fairy tales and approach the text frommultiple perspectives and with alternative attitudes.

MotivationIn order to investigate the effects of the useof picture books on the learners’ motivationfor learning English, the students’ reactionstowards reading The Paper Bag Princess in theclasses have been analyzed with 4 questions(see Graphs 3.3.1~2.2.4.). The scale is stronglyagree = 1, agree = 2, neither agree nor disagree= 3, disagree = 4, strongly disagree = 5.

The pie charts above show the positivereactions of the students towards reading The
Paper Bag Princess in their EFL classes as77% of the students enjoyed the classes and75% of them have become more interested inthe target culture than before. As for thedifficulty of the text, 66% of the studentsthink the text has matched the students’proficiency level. In addition, 56% of thestudents think that the continuous reading ofpicture books in the future will enhance theirEnglish proficiency. Thus the above resultsshow that reading children’s picture book hasmotivated the EFL learners to study the targetlanguage.

CONCLUSIONThe present study have investigated themerits of using picture books in remedialEnglish classes in terms of enhancinglearners’ language learning, motivating tolearn the language and improving theiremotional development. The results of thestudy have suggested that the text should becarefully selected in terms of the level ofdifficulty such as vocabulary and grammaruse and the story should be interestingenough for adult learners. The carefullyselected literature may serve as a viablealternative to EFL textbooks in readingclasses because they give studentsopportunities to learn not only language skillsbut also to be sensitive to different cultures.
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Arisa Kochiyama
Using Picture Books to Enhance Motivation and Language Learning of Remedial EFL LearnersQuality literature and activities can also helplearners gain insight into human behavior,and it can stimulate students to foster criticalthinking and literacy and empower them witha future understanding of gender notions intheir lives (Kuo 2005).In order to better understand the effect ofusing picture books on learners’ emotionaldevelopment, further analysis on thestudents’ report about The Paper Bag Princessis required. With increased importanceplaced on remedial classes in universities, itwould seem beneficial for additional researchto be conducted in quantitative study as wellas qualitative one to determine the effects ofpicture books presented in class.
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