초등학생의 영어 그림책 그림읽기를 통한 시각문식력의 발현과 영어학습

The emergence of visual literacy and learning English through elementary students’ picture-reading of English picture books

This qualitative study aimed to find out how children demonstrate visual literacy through reading pictures in English picture books and connect it with English learning. The research questions were first, how lower-grade elementary school students reveal visual literacy through picture-reading in English picture books. Second, what changes they show in English ability and affective aspects of learning English through the picture-reading. The participants were 10 second-grade students who attended an English picture book reading program at a metropolitan city library. Data were collected through video recordings of the class, interviews with the students and their parents, students' activity sheets, reflective notes of the class, and teacher's teaching journals. Content analysis was done through coding and categorization of the data. Data analysis revealed that reading pictures guided students to demonstrate critical visual literacy as they made a rich interpretation of the story through analyzing various pictorial and visual elements. They also created story narratives on the text that they read. In terms of English learning, students acquired English vocabulary while actively making connections between the pictures and the vocabulary. Lastly, students gained positive attitudes, confidence, and interest in learning English. This study has an implication for English education.