PhD Topic (Working Title): What’s in a Blurb - A Linguistic Analysis of Gender Representation in Blurbs of Children’s Books

Fostering L2 Reading Motivation through the Use of Digital "Choose Your Own Adventure" Stories in the Primary EFL Classroom

The potential of storytelling, and to a lesser extent, the reading of stories for English language education at the primary level seems to be universally accepted. However, as recent studies (e.g. KIM-studies) show, reading stories and listening to them is not part of each child’s everyday life anymore. While the number of regular readers among primary school children remains stable, the number of non-readers has doubled since the turn of the century. Especially boys seem to struggle to find motivation to read with more than half of them never or only rarely reading a book.

To address this issue, this research project aims to adapt the “Choose your own adventure” (CYOA) story format for the use in the primary EFL classroom. In CYOA stories, students are actively involved in the development of the story as they take on the role of the main character and make choices on how the story should continue. It is assumed that this decision space could add motivational benefits to the general advantages of stories while also contributing to the development of reading competence, making CYOA a medium worth exploring in primary English language education.