Picture-book stories in the Hungarian classroom (First lessons from an experiment)

Abstract

The paper presents the first results of a longitudinal research project. As of the fall semester of the academic year 2023–2024, we have introduced story-based language teaching as an experiment among beginner learners of
Hungarian at the Faculty of Humanities, University of Pécs. We implemented story-based modules in our A1-level
courses (which mostly include full-time scholarship holders), which we integrated into our standard communicative
syllabus. At the end of each major topic (such as introduction, food and drinks, in the city, daily routine etc.),
we used in-class reading of picture-books specifically designed for students who had just started learning Hungarian, to supplement the traditional course materials. After describing the theoretical (pedagogical, psychological)
and methodological background of story-based language learning, the paper presents the findings of a first round
of questionnaires on students' experiences, opinions and attitudes towards this approach, after the first semester.
The initial results show that despite possible age-related preconceptions, university students find the use of picture-
book stories in the Hungarian class beneficial for several reasons, mainly because of their vocabulary learning
potential and due to the fun they bring into the classroom and into the learning process. Differences in the learners’
responses suggest that various characteristics of the stories (mostly their length, storyline, characters, lexis, and
relatedness to the standard course material) and the learners’ individual differences (especially their earlier experiences with stories), as well as the activities linked to the stories (shared reading, interactive reading, vocabulary
exercises) play a major role in how students reflect on the experience.