Research Information System
AELTE 2022 Conference, Ankara, Turkey, 27 - 29 May 2022
The present study was a trend study which is a type of longitudinal research design. A total
of 100 juniors (year 3 students in an English language education program) participated in the
surveys and interviews at different time frames over three academic years from 2020 to 2022
at a private university’s English teacher education program in Turkey. This research design
allowed the investigators examine a sample from general population over a time to yield data
related to children’s literature integration to Teaching English to young learners (TEYL)
curriculum (Cameron, 2005; Ghosn, 2002; Kang-Shin, 2006). Pre-service English language
teachers were asked the following questions in an open-ended survey:
(1) What is the function of authentic storybooks in TEYL?
(2) Do you believe in story-based methodology? If so, what should it be like?
(3) Do you think story-based early English language instruction is applicable in Turkish
context with real classrooms and real young learners in Turkey?
Lastly, pre-service English language teachers were asked to pick an authentic storybook to
read to a group of young language learners. Then they are asked to explain the mechanisms
at work while they were choosing the right storybook for the young English learners in target.
The findings revealed majority of the pre-service English teachers believed in the functionality
of integrating authentic children’s literature. Coded survey and interview data further
revealed the orientations of teacher candidates differed. The study implications, from the
perspectives of pre-service English teachers, support TEYL programs offer children’s literature
as an integral component.
Key words: teaching English to young learners, story-based pedagogy, pre-service English
language teacher training