Using E-Books in the Early Primary English Classroom--Insights and Perspectives of Pre-Service English Teachers

Speaker: Ms LEE Ching Lam, Jessica

As part of a Teaching Development Grants Project entitled ‘Supporting Struggling Readers with Books They Can and Want to Read’ , 27 pre-service English teachers from the Education University of Hong Kong were recruited to explore the use of e-books in supporting learning to read in a summer reading programme implemented in two local primary schools. Through creating e-books and conducting trial lessons using the e-books created, the recruited preservice teachers were provided with opportunities to experience new ways to support primary pupils’ literacy development with teacher-generated e-books. Knowledge was actively constructed as they tried their hand at making e-books, elucidated on how their ebooks and accompanying lessons could potentially encourage good literacy teaching practices and reflected on what could be done to further improve their book design and teaching approaches. In this seminar, the recruited service teachers will showcase their ebooks and share what they have learned, particularly how the project increased their understanding of the unique affordances of e-books and their ability to consider the use of ebooks in English language teaching critically. Recommendations on how we can help our preservice teachers to harness the potential of teacher-made e-books as a tool to support learning to read will also be shared by the principal supervisor.