Linking reading and writing with picture books: A literacy buddy approach in rural Taiwan

This study investigated how a literacy buddy approach may influence the English learning and creative writing of adolescent learners in a rural Taiwanese school. A group of seventh-grade and eighth-grade students took part in a winter camp, wherein they read and wrote picture books collaboratively. Based on the students’ feedback, this approach stimulated their English reading skills, motivation to read picture books, and creative thinking. Analysis of their creative stories further shows that this approach led them to produce coherent texts and obtain a concept of narrative writing. Moreover, the students integrated the plot structure and key phrases they had learned from the picture books into their own stories, which suggests that reading the picture books might have facilitated their creative writing. Overall, this study shows that using picture books facilitated the integration of reading and writing instruction in the target rural English classroom.