Why work with children’s literature in an ESL-classroom?

Sammanfattning: AbstractThe purpose of this paper is to find out why children’s literature could be used in an ESLclassroom. We know that children’s literature should be included in an ESL-classroom,according to the national curriculum for English in Sweden, but experience tells me thatactual usage of children’s literature in the teaching of the English language for students inthe early school years is limited. To find out why children’s literature could be used to teachI have taken part of current studies about and around the subject. The studies were foundusing either ERC or ERICs search engines. Furthermore, the studies used in this paper arecompared to one another to see possible similar outcomes. The studies show that ESLstudents show a variety of development in skills such as reading, writing, comprehension byworking with children’s literature. The results also show a potential increase in motivation tolearn the language.Key terms: Children’s literature, ESL, English learning, Vocabulary