Flotsam : a motivating resource to enhance writing among Spanish students

Abstract

The use of picture books in education has been thought to be specially for young children. Progressively, they are also been used in secondary education. Can a wordless picture book also be useful for teaching writing skills and creative writing in English to Spanish students and increase their motivation? The present study analyses the effectiveness of employing the wordless picture book Flotsam by David Wiesner to enhance writing skills and creative writing, using a questionnaire administered to a class of 24 students of 3rd of ESO of a secondary school. According to the questionnaires Flotsam was recommended by all the participants. In addition 87.7% admitted to be interested in reading picture books after having read Flotsam which is clearly linked with their motivation towards picture books. According to the activities, all the students admitted that the instruction they had received and the activities they did would be useful for them in future writings. They agreed to have learnt vocabulary, new expressions and connectors which they found helpful for their compositions. Although, they did not have difficulties with the activities a great number of students agreed that writing the story of Flotsam was the most difficult activity. However, 82.6% found that the previous activities helped them to fulfil this task and made it easier for them to write the story from the beginning to the end since it was the final activity. This means that the order and procedure of the activities were effective. Based on these results, we conclude that Flotsam can be a useful resource to enhance writing skills and creative writing. In addition it motivate students’ learning. The participants described enjoying the experience of reading Flotsam at high school, and suggested to do more activities with picture books.