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LGA 3101 : Children’s Literature 

Selection criteria of texts for young learners

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How to select story books?Smallwood (1988:66) recommends that criteria

for the selection of  children’s literature for

language learners should include “age-

appropriate theme; simple language; limited

use of metaphor and unfamiliar experiences;use of rhyme; unambiguous plot; realistic but

simple dialogue; potential for reading aloud;

brevity; and good illustrations”.

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Smallwood adds these criteria some

more:

• Does the book help meet curriculum objectives

or enhance the thematic units being studied?

• Is the book’s content appropriate to the children’s

age and intellectual level?

• Does the book use language that is at or slightly

above the level of the learners?

• Does the book contain repeated, predictablelanguage patterns?

• Are there clear illustrations that help the story?

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Languagelevel &

potential

Visualfeatures

InterestCultural

content /suitability

Moral values Selection

criteria textsfor young

learners

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Language Level and Potential

•

The language level usually includes an analysis of the grammatical structures, the vocabulary andfollowed by the number of words.

• The length and complexity of the story. Simple,

short stories with repetitive language work bestfor young learners.

• The level of vocabulary. If students know less

than 75% - 80% of the vocabulary, they may loseconfidence in their ability to understand thestory.

http://iteslj.org/Techniques/Brown-ChildrensLit.html  

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• Children’s age and their intellectual level also

should be put in consideration. Books must be

developmentally and content appropriate foryoung learners, many of whom have had

limited exposure to books or to English.

• The level of grammatical difficulty shouldincrease in alignment with the students' level

of aural (hearing &listening) comprehension.http://www.ericdigests.org/2003-4/ece.html 

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• Repeated, predictable language patterns inbooks also should be considered. Such

patterns include rhyming and repetition of sounds, words, refrains, or entire sentences.

• Books selected can always represent thediverse languages and cultures of the children.Stories about their native language or abouttheir home culture can boost their self-esteem

and provides opportunities to enhance theirliteracy skills in both the native language andEnglish.

http://www.ericdigests.org/2003-4/ece.html 

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• It is essential that the pupils manage to read

simple and adapted English books to

encourage them to continue reading books inEnglish. Through the world of literature they

will not only gain more insight into English

culture, but reading will also contribute indeveloping their language skills in general.