How to implement a picturebook in EFL Primary classrooms to develop children’s intercultural competence

The aim of this article is to meet the increasing need to develop the intercultural dimension of communicative competence through an authentic resource, in this case, picturebooks. An innovative pedagogical initiative was carried out with two primary-level classes (5th and 6th) in a bilingual school...

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Main Authors: María Mercedes Pérez Agustín, Ángel Luis Lahoz León
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Universidad de Zaragoza 2025-06-01
Series:Miscelánea: A Journal of English and American Studies
Subjects:
Online Access:https://papiro.unizar.es/ojs/index.php/misc/article/view/10148
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author María Mercedes Pérez Agustín
Ángel Luis Lahoz León
author_facet María Mercedes Pérez Agustín
Ángel Luis Lahoz León
author_sort María Mercedes Pérez Agustín
collection DOAJ
description The aim of this article is to meet the increasing need to develop the intercultural dimension of communicative competence through an authentic resource, in this case, picturebooks. An innovative pedagogical initiative was carried out with two primary-level classes (5th and 6th) in a bilingual school in central Madrid (Spain). The selected resource was the picturebook entitled Fry Bread: A Native American Family Story, about a present-day Native American family preparing a traditional post-colonial recipe. The resource was introduced through reading aloud as part of a project in which 44 students were asked to write a recipe in English for a dish that is special to them or their families, accompanying the text with an illustration. The contributions of students, which were compiled in a recipe book composed of 44 main courses and desserts, were analysed in accordance with the main topics of focus in the intervention, identifying who was the recipe-keeper in each family. It was determined that the most popular topic was family time, followed by tradition. In most cases, the mothers were the keepers of the recipes, and the illustrations reflected a highly collaborative family effort to prepare the dishes. To conclude, the recipes were analysed from the perspective of Byram’s (1997) Intercultural Communicative Competence model, revealing that the dimension of knowledge of self and other and discovery and interaction were the most prevalent in the recipe book. This suggests awareness-raising among children of the differences between countries and a willingness to familiarise themselves with other cultures.
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spelling doaj-art-8465fab643e74746b4e6a2f9e170e1f02025-08-20T03:21:47ZengUniversidad de ZaragozaMiscelánea: A Journal of English and American Studies1137-63682386-48342025-06-017110.26754/ojs_misc/mj.202510148 How to implement a picturebook in EFL Primary classrooms to develop children’s intercultural competence María Mercedes Pérez Agustín0Ángel Luis Lahoz León1Universidad Complutense de MadridColegio Claudio Moyano, MadridThe aim of this article is to meet the increasing need to develop the intercultural dimension of communicative competence through an authentic resource, in this case, picturebooks. An innovative pedagogical initiative was carried out with two primary-level classes (5th and 6th) in a bilingual school in central Madrid (Spain). The selected resource was the picturebook entitled Fry Bread: A Native American Family Story, about a present-day Native American family preparing a traditional post-colonial recipe. The resource was introduced through reading aloud as part of a project in which 44 students were asked to write a recipe in English for a dish that is special to them or their families, accompanying the text with an illustration. The contributions of students, which were compiled in a recipe book composed of 44 main courses and desserts, were analysed in accordance with the main topics of focus in the intervention, identifying who was the recipe-keeper in each family. It was determined that the most popular topic was family time, followed by tradition. In most cases, the mothers were the keepers of the recipes, and the illustrations reflected a highly collaborative family effort to prepare the dishes. To conclude, the recipes were analysed from the perspective of Byram’s (1997) Intercultural Communicative Competence model, revealing that the dimension of knowledge of self and other and discovery and interaction were the most prevalent in the recipe book. This suggests awareness-raising among children of the differences between countries and a willingness to familiarise themselves with other cultures. https://papiro.unizar.es/ojs/index.php/misc/article/view/10148Reading aloudpicturebooksEFLNative AmericanInterculturalityProject-Based Learning (PBL)
spellingShingle María Mercedes Pérez Agustín
Ángel Luis Lahoz León
How to implement a picturebook in EFL Primary classrooms to develop children’s intercultural competence
Miscelánea: A Journal of English and American Studies
Reading aloud
picturebooks
EFL
Native American
Interculturality
Project-Based Learning (PBL)
title How to implement a picturebook in EFL Primary classrooms to develop children’s intercultural competence
title_full How to implement a picturebook in EFL Primary classrooms to develop children’s intercultural competence
title_fullStr How to implement a picturebook in EFL Primary classrooms to develop children’s intercultural competence
title_full_unstemmed How to implement a picturebook in EFL Primary classrooms to develop children’s intercultural competence
title_short How to implement a picturebook in EFL Primary classrooms to develop children’s intercultural competence
title_sort how to implement a picturebook in efl primary classrooms to develop children s intercultural competence
topic Reading aloud
picturebooks
EFL
Native American
Interculturality
Project-Based Learning (PBL)
url https://papiro.unizar.es/ojs/index.php/misc/article/view/10148
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