Broadening Children's Reading Scholarship through Fairy Tales: Authenticity in EFL Reading
Mohammad Khatib and Ghasem Aghajanzadeh, Iran
Mohammad Khatib is an Associate Professor of TEFL at Allameh Tabataba'i University. He began teaching at Allameh in 1981 and presently offers graduate and post-graduate courses in SLA Theories, Methodology, and Literature in EFL classes and English Literature. His main areas of interest include SLA Theories, language learning strategies, culture and the integration of language and literature. He has published a number of articles on TEFL in Iranian and international Journals of Applied Linguistics. He has translated a book of short stories from famous writers of the world and published a guidebook on Shakespeare's selected sonnets. E-mail: mkhatib27@yahoo.com
Ghasem Aghajanzadeh Kiasi, a faculty member at Islamic Azad University, Rasht, Iran, is currently a PhD candidate in TEFL at Science and Research Branch, Tehran, Iran. His research interests include teacher education, language syllabus design, teaching, and testing. E-mail: aghajanzadeh1970@yahoo.com
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Abstract
Introduction
Fairy tales: the definitions
Fairy tales: the reading skill
Fairy tales; authenticity and motivation
Fairy tales: the teacher
Discussion and conclusion
References
Language teachers often face problems in selecting suitable materials which can cover language skills and cultural values. This has made the teacher go for a textbook with monotonous activities determined by school or institution authorities. This situation creating a boring classroom leads to children’s discouragement in active participation. Fairy tales as a part of the children’s literature is a valuable source for teaching English as a foreign language and can provide the supplementary teaching materials for English language learners. Moreover, literary works like fairy-tales have the potential to be used in ELT as a source of authentic materials. Due to the authenticity and contextuality embedded in fairy tales, they have a great potential to influence positively the children’s interest in books and their motivation to read. This paper intends to discover the use of fairytales as alternative materials that can inspire useful insights to language teachers in promoting reading skills that may lead to practical aspects of using fairy tales in English language classrooms.
Literature offers delightful sources of materials in classrooms and is a very practical way to involve students in the learning process. Fairytales, as inseparable part of literature, have undoubtedly permeated almost all places in the world. This has caused a resilient familiarity between English language learners and the fairytales in such a way that a teacher only needs to show an image from Alice in Wonderland or write the word Cinderella on the board to put students from all over the world on the track of stories and related lessons. This familiarity has, in turn, created a palpable advantage for fairy tales in easing the progress of language skills particularly reading comprehension that many teachers around the world may have been taking advantage of.
Supporting the idea, Tiberghein (2007) notes that as children read literary materials they get into fairy tales and act out together with the characters. The sphere of secrecy, adventure, and sensation which makes fairy tales so exclusive and invaluable can transport the entire fairylike world to young learners. According to Venema (2013), fairy tales can open the old wisdom and knowledge of humankind which we often forget about. Furthermore, a careful look at the moralities of the stories that are usually implied in fairytales can expose very different and often surprising messages. Psychologically speaking, every story has moral message to the reader. One of the effective ways in giving moral to the children is using fairytale in their readings. Without question, most of children in this world like to hear fairy tales.
Both the factor of the familiarity of fairy tales and their ability to surprise the readers present opportunities to facilitate reading in the English classroom. Regarding the children’s interest in fairy tales, Ivanova (2007), in a survey to find out whether children liked to read fairy tales or whether they liked to learn English through modern fairy tales found out that 80 per cent of the children replied that they enjoyed reading fairy tales and they would like to learn the language through modern fairy tales. This may be because movies and children’s books offer further versions, often adapted so as to be more appetizing to modern values of the world today (Venema, 2013).
Many teachers believe that the basic truth of learning a language in EFL situation entails doing boring but necessary work. Others spend a lot of time trying to find more interesting ways to teach foreign language by searching materials on the Internet or looking for materials in the additional books (Baudains & Baudains 1990). However, teachers should do their best in order to motivate and support the learning environment in the classroom as much as possible. Thus, incorporating fairy tales as teaching and learning materials is one effective way to avoid boring classroom situation and to spice the class into a better and more facilitative learning situation.
Fairy tales the origins of which can be traced to folklore (Ashliman, 2006) is defined as a prose narration about the fortunes and misfortunes of a hero or heroine who experiences several adventures of a more or less supernatural kind and lives happily ever after (Cuddon, 1998). Similarly, Hallett & Karasek (2011) believe that a fairy tale is a story which involves folkloric features such as fairies, goblins, princes and princesses. The literary fairytale with which we are most familiar evolved from oral folktales to a written genre.
Additionally, fairytales are well known for their great imaginative power. The fairy tales as a sub-class of the folk tale are stories that illustrate our impulse toward a greater level of consciousness (Bagg, 1991). They are fun and interesting with magic, charms, disguise, and spells that appeal to the imagination of virtually all readers. With regard to the linguistic features of fairy tales, Haase (2008) offers a classification in which fairy tales are literary narratives including the episodic structure and constructed primarily on motifs; the genre is unabashedly fictional; the setting indefinite; the mode of reality in which the characters move is supernatural or fantastic; language is formulaic which includes repetitions and bare-bones characterizations.
Fairy tales and traditional folktales share common features which involve fairy creatures, magic, conventional settings in a distant kingdom, predominantly flat and stereotyped characters, an accepted magical element, and typically the requisite happy ending.
Without question, reading was the primary leisure time activity before the invention of computers and television, People could read hours and travel to faraway places in their minds. The stories offer the whole fantasy world that children can enter, enjoy, and learn language as they read. As Cameron (2001) argues, good stories provide a study of universal values and needs, capture students’ interest, and challenge them to explore new roads of meaning.
In English language teaching, teachers tend to develop reading as one of the main four language skills. Reading as a receptive skill can be promoted through introduction, infusion, and instruction of fairy tales. According to Harmer (2007), much language production work grows out of texts that students hear or see. Fairy tales have been with us more than long enough and offer an even great opportunity to surprise or shock readers. Furthermore, there is a great deal of evidence that extensive reading has a powerful impact on language learning. The more students read, the more they pick up items of vocabulary and grammar from the text, often without realizing it and this widening language knowledge seems to increase their overall linguistic confidence (Scrivener, 2005). In everyday life, people tend to use extensive reading. Cameron (2001) notes that this kind of reading is fluent, faster, often of longer texts for pleasure, entertainment and general understanding without paying so much attention to the details; fairy tales are the good example of these kinds of texts.
In order to propose and introduce a new language and help children and students to master different aspects of the language, narratives in classroom can be of great help. Narratives are a common genre in most cultures and languages and can be used to produce a link between the native language and the new language. The language in a fairy tale plays a particular role in the children’s understanding of the story. Both concrete words (mountains, rivers) and abstract words (more related to feelings and imagination, good vs. bad) enable children to comprehend. So, non-native English learners are able to understand the story and remember sentence patterns as well as new vocabulary.
As Baratz and De Paula (2012) argue, the language used in a fairytale may influence a child’s comprehension. It is important for teachers to know what type of language can be used with each different situation. By comparing the fairytales teachers will try to find a concrete difference between them. They add that in order to propose and introduce a new language and help children and students to master different aspects of the language, narratives in classroom can be of great help. Fairytales are predominantly narratives, and the plot is based essentially in abstract concepts and is driven into a faraway land and time that stimulates the reader’s imagination leading to fully enhanced comprehension of the readings. Narratives are a common genre in most cultures and languages and can be used to produce a link between the native language and the new language, if the case is foreign language teaching.
With regard to improving language, children can develop their linguistic knowledge through the use of simple and rhythmic language as well as repetitive and predictable structures and grammar (Taylor, 2000; Puspani, 2011). These common characteristics can be a clue for better reading comprehension of learners and improve their vocabulary repertoire as well as thinking skills (Taylor, 2000). Fairy tales can help children boost their predictive ability, so that they can ask themselves questions about what they have already read. Undoubtedly, these strategies help students improve reading skill and comprehension and persuade them to read actively. The predictability and repetition of language used in fairytales make it proper materials for students with lower level of language proficiency (Puspani, 2011) although some fairytales are long and use more complicated language, and can also be employed for teaching higher proficiency EFL learners.
Fairy tales provide entertainment and further topics for discussion. They are fun and short, rich in terms of language yet less syntactically complex than many other forms of literature. This feature of fairy tales as part of literature is a response to those who overstate the linguistic difficulty of literature. For example, Topping (1968, cited in Spack, 1985) who is against using literature in language learning, argues that literature should be excluded from the ESL curriculum because of its structural complexity, lack of conformity to standard grammatical rules, and remote cultural perspective. In contrast, what is known to us is that, according to Bagg, 1991), there is a great opportunity to make fairy tales as both complex and simple as possible depending on the class in which it is introduced. Bagg adds that fairy tales are also a great source of vocabulary, grammar structures, and syntax. Additionally, fairy tales are short enough to keep children interested long enough to get to the happy end.
A lot of texts found in the coursebooks are often created for pedagogical reasons and lack authenticity. In contrast, as Collie & Slater (1987) believe, the fairy tales spark children’s curiosity, increase interest and create wonder. In addition, they may elicit a powerful emotional response and personal involvement of students. This can only be achieved through authentic texts. It means that the texts teachers offer the students to read should be interesting for students and be at the right level of difficulty and authenticity. Fairytales used as simple but authentic texts in this process provide a liberal application of authentic texts in language learning. Little (1997) believe that exposure to, and familiarity with authentic texts also help instil confidence in the face of the TL. To certify the role of authenticity in L2 learning, McGarry (1995) can be quoted as saying that:
“Activities based around authentic texts [...] can play a key role in enhancing positive attitudes to learning, in promoting the development of a wide range of skills, and in enabling students to work independently of the teacher,…” (McGarry 1995, p. 3).
Similarly, Breen (1985) adds that the teaching-learning process should be authentic to its practical objectives. Teachers should be willing to welcome into the classroom any text which will serve the primary purpose of helping the learner to develop authentic interpretations. Teacher and learner are immersed in the potential authenticity of the classroom, according to Breen (1985), because it provides conditions in which learners can share the problems, achievements, and overall processes of learning.
Searching for authentic stories for the classroom, Venema (2013) asserts that fairytales may warrant a second look. Fairy tales retain the ability to entertain, enlighten and surprise. As genres with explicit or implicit messages, often undergoing revisions over time, there is also the opportunity for interpretation, for comparison and for discussion, even for rewriting.
The effect of motivation in the process of second language learning has already been proved. In the reading classes, teachers’ concern should be to increase children’s motivation towards reading in the foreign language lesson by making reading interesting (Cameron, 2001). Fairy tales as teaching materials are sources of motivation. Fairytales motivate students to learn more and pay more attention in class as the stories are enjoyable and inspire the readers’ imagination. Students get motivated when they get interested in the story and read it through to find out what is going on.
To achieve high motivation, culture should be inspired in classrooms because culturally based activities such as singing, dancing, role playing, doing research on countries and peoples appeal to learners and increase their curiosity about and interest in target countries. According to Obadasi et al. (2012), since fairy tales contain cultural traits, they can augment learners’ understanding of social norms, living customs, attitudes, beliefs as well as values of the target group of people Therefore, EFL students equipped with cultural knowledge can develop required skills for cross-cultural communication. Fairy tales can also raise children’s awareness of cultural diversity so that they can ultimately learn and understand how to deal with people from different cultures through tales (Hanlon, 1999).
Collie and Slater (1987) suggest that literature is suitable for language learning and should trigger the kind of individual involvement by stimulating the learners’ interest and provoking strong and positive reactions from them. It is very well known to everyone that providing the readings are meaningful and enjoyable, they will more likely have a lasting and beneficial effect upon the learners’ linguistic and cultural knowledge. It is also of prime importance that materials relevant to the life experiences, emotions or dreams of the learner be chosen. This highly motivate the children to actively participate in the learning process that would end up to their progression which is the ultimate objective of the course curriculum.
In order for teachers to encourage students to experience a story and a literary experience, Arthur (1968) recommends that they consider choosing an appropriate literary text, using various non-verbal accompaniments to the text such as illustrations, sound effects, and creating a pleasant environment in which the literature is received. What follows are recommendations Arthur (1968) asks teacher to follow in order to incorporate appropriate literary texts for into children’s learning materials:
- The choice of literary text
Teacher must begin by finding a text that can evoke a literary response in his students. To do this, the teacher must search for clues as to what stories will evoke this response in his particular group of students. He might, for example, observe what books his students read in their own language or what TV programs they watch.
- Nonverbal accompaniment to the text
The number of non-verbal clues to meaning that accompany the story should be maximized. The story should have plenty of pictures, even if the students are adults. For children, the story should be accompanied by various sound effects. Ideally, the story should be read aloud by the teacher since the teacher’s tone of voice provides another non-verbal aid to understanding.
- The reading environment
The environment in which the literature is to be read should be as relaxed and non-threatening as possible. If students are forced to sit down and listen to a story without any interest in the story, they are not likely to respond appropriately to the story.
- The story should explain itself. The teacher should minimize the amount of explanation that he gives to accompany the story.
- The teacher should avoid interrupting the story to explain what is happening or to define words.
- The reading of the story should not be followed immediately by a test on the reading because students who are aware of this impending test will be preparing for the test rather than enjoying the story.
To put it in a nutshell, if students are presented with stories and they are encouraged to experience those stories as literature, without the imposition of other goals, the resulting literary experience will be an effective language teaching experience and will provide a valuable supplement to pattern practice, substitution drills, and other language learning devices.
Fairy tales, with their short simple stories and standard format, are ideal forms to inspire prediction, storytelling or some creative revisionism (Venema, 2013). He adds that before telling a fairy tale or getting students to read it, teachers might consider presenting the students with a picture from which they can pre-tell the story. Those teachers without access to such editions can always search online for pictures, and will typically find themselves with a wealth of images to choose from.
Thanks to Internet which is now one of the chief sources of information, fairy tales are easily accessible. This indicates that in addition to using book stores and libraries, teachers can also find a collection of fairy tales on a variety of websites. However, there might be the risk that children may find different versions of the same fairy tales that can lead to the confusion of the children. Hallett and Karasek (2011) suggest that wherever different versions of fairytales are found, there is the opportunity to ask students to compare and contrast, and perhaps choose their favorite version.
As mentioned earlier, fairy tales have been around more than long enough and in abundance that offer a great opportunity to surprise or shock readers. Thus, teachers are free to choose the stories to suit their students’ needs. In addition, since fairy tales are short, the language tends to be literary and dated, some gentle rewriting can make them much more accessible to lower-level readers. However, according to Venema (2013), some of this familiarity may be based on modern versions and on a cultural filtering that can leave out lesser known, and occasionally less digestible stories.
Young learners see reading as an entertainment. They typically prefer stories about animals, legends, folk tales, and fairy tales (Verhoeven & Snow, 2008). By studying literature, students can learn that written texts are meant to be read, reflected on, and responded to. By interpreting texts and considering alternative interpretations, students come to understand in a fundamental way how meaning can be created through reading. As Spack (1985) argues, the benefits of studying literature clearly make it appropriate reading matter for students.
There are a number of perspectives from the relevant literature about the significance of literature within EFL/ESL classes (Preston, 1982). As mentioned earlier, fairy tales as an inseparable part of literature have a great potential to be used as a valuable source in English lessons. According to Cameron (2001), children’s stories contain uses of language that are considered typical of poetic and literary texts. Many of these devices offer opportunities for foreign language learning. If adopted appropriately, these stories are suitable for all ages and levels. Fairy tales have global values and are enjoyable but meaningful. They stress human experience, feelings, and values. Spack (1985) argues that in literature, the focus is on the process of making meaning. These processes share the act of constructing meaning from words, text, prior knowledge, and feelings. Furthermore, Widdowson (1975, cited in Preston, 1982) supports the provision of scaffolding in students' approach to a genuine experience of literature, but disagrees with the kind of passive, single channel academic spoon-feeding that diverts students from direct, active participation in identifying how language is used in literary discourse.
Fairy tales as part of folklore can be found everywhere in the world in various forms (Greenia, 2007). In the meantime, as Hanlon (1999) asserts fairy tales have universal values and plots which add familiarity to students. Although each culture has its particular fairy tales, it is fascinating to recognize that there are some resemblances among certain fairy tales in different societies. Therefore, students can compare and contrast those cultures, events, or characteristics in these stories. Thus, all cultures have various kinds of fairy tales that provide a vast range of sources for teaching material.
The goal of an English course which incorporates the study of literature should not be to teach a body of knowledge or of rules but gradually to elaborate the linguistic and intellectual repertoire of students. And, by reading normal or normative patterns of writing, students do not learn that readings are primarily vehicles for communication (Spack, 1985). Through reading literature, here fairy tales, children share in the celebration and festivity of language engendered through the study of literature and literary works. This will surely lead to enhanced motivation in children. Motivation is a key component in learning a language. Utilizing motivational tools contributes, to a large extent, to student progression in the specific skill they are after. Using fairy tale in reading class is one of the alternatives to increase children’s motivation in reading text because almost all students are familiar with fairy tales. In short, this deals with using fairy tale (interesting and familiar text) in teaching reading to the students. It is hoped that it can improve the students’ reading comprehension in narrative text.
With the help of fairy tales it is possible to develop reading skills; the teacher can set assignment which includes pre-reading and while-reading activities along with comprehension tasks connected with the particular fairy tale. In addition, there is no doubt that contextuality, authenticity, and text familiarity, as inherent characteristics of fairy tales, will lead to the mastery of various possible structures and ways of connecting ideas, which will help students master the formation and function of sentences. Moreover, through reading fairy tales, children who have already known about the characteristic of the actors and plot of the story in the fairy tale, can easily comprehend the text by guessing the meaning of the words in the text. If they can comprehend the text, they will enjoy the reading activities and can improve their ability in reading comprehension.
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