Page 64 - Diversity in Action

Martina Irsara, Valentina Gobbett Bamber, and Barbara Caprara

the wider world. The value and role of picturebooks in ELT for YLs is discussed
in the next section.

Reflection Point
1. How do you interpret GCED and what do you see as its key aims?
2. How can teachers of English promote critical thinking and global citizen-
ship skills in children?

Picturebooks in ELT with YLs in Multilingual Settings
Definitions and Value of Picturebooks
Astory-basedapproach haslongbeen adoptedinELT, asitprovidesavari-
ety of sensory and contextual opportunities to support language develop-
ment, with oral storytelling and picturebooks playing complementary roles
in teaching YLs. As regards the latter, the term adopted here is the compound
picturebook, denoting a multimodal and experiential synergy comprising
language, illustrations, and the book’s design, as in the widely used defini-
tion: ‘A picturebook is text, illustrations, total design; an item of manufacture
and a commercial product; a social, cultural, historic document; and fore-
most, an experience [...]. As an art form it hinges on the interdependence of
pictures and words, on the simultaneous display of two facing pages, and on
thedrama of theturning page’(Bader, 1976,p.1). Here,the ‘drama of theturn-
ing page’ alludes to how carers and teachers can bring picturebooks to life
in thrilling read-alouds with pre-literate children and YLs, and to how, later,
learners can enjoy picturebooks autonomously congruently with Montessori
principles.
In multilingual contexts, teachers aiming to raise their YLs’ awareness
of global themes can adopt appropriate picturebooks to create teacher-
mediated experiences of encounters with numerous cultures, global themes,
and diversity in their local contexts.

Selection and Evaluation Criteria
Selecting appropriate picturebooks impacts learners’ engagement, compre-
hension, and language development. For teachers engaged in GCED with
YLs in multilingual contexts the selection process can be informed by crite-
ria which broadly focus on: teachers’ personal aesthetic responses; an ap-
praisal of the picturebook as an aesthetic artefact that can promote personal
and collective growth and agency; the fit between picturebook and learners’
characteristics and needs; and any emergent linguistic affordances (Ghosn,
2013).In evaluatingpicturebookswith GCEDthemes,theaimisto balancelin-

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