The Role of Picture Books in Raising Children's Understanding of English Literature and Life Science Concepts: Selected Stories by Eric Carle

Abstract

Abstract The current study is a theoretical study that aims to underline the role of picture books as a serious genre of children's literature in raising children's understanding of English literature and life concepts; especially for non-English speakers. Unfortunately, most Iraqi people have developed a social phobia of learning English since childhood. This phobia is resulted from the heavy traditional reading and writing assignments as well as hard exams. Therefore, this study suggests incorporating more interesting literary material like picture books that would bring pleasure and help in raising children's love and cognition of English Language. More significantly, it calls to replace the old curriculum with a more vital one where children can interact with all their senses; visual, auditory, and kinesthetic (VAK). To make this possible, two of Eric Carle's books The Very Hungry Caterpillar and The Tiny Seed have been carefully selected according to the American and English elementary school teachers' standards for children aged 3-6 years old. Each story element was submitted to a literary analysis, including pictures, life concepts, and language that enhance children's understanding of literature. Based on Piaget's view about the importance of involving sensorimotor actions in learning to help in children's cognition development, some VAK lesson plans and activities were designed using the concept development model and Synectics strategy. The study has concluded that incorporating picture books into the school curriculum and sensorimotor activities like coloring, cutting paper, games, sounds, and music would help in raising children's understanding of English literature and life science more interactively.