The texts contained in the Fun Way series relate
to the students' needs and interests
Strongly
disagree
11%
Disagree
48%
Agree
19%
Uncertain
22%
Figure 4. The respondents’ attitude concerning the texts contained in the ‘Fun Way’ series .
The texts contained in the Fun Was series
present students with samples of language as it
is used in real life
Strongly
disagree
5%
Agree
30%
Disagree
41%
Uncertain
24%
Figure 5. The respondents’ attitude concerning the language presented in texts
The fact that the reading texts contained in the ‘Fun Way’ series are not
appropriate for presenting students with samples of authentic language is discussed in
Vlahos (2002) who characterizes them as ‘oversimplified’, while Anastasiadou (2003)
claims that they are specially-written in order to present new items of grammar and
vocabulary. However, as Johns and Davis (1983: 1) emphasise, such an exploitation
of texts as linguistic objects (TALO) rather than as vehicles of information (TAVI)
does not help students appreciate the communicative function of written language. A
negative attitude is also expressed among respondents concerning the effectiveness of
the visuals used in the ‘Fun Way’ series, as it is shown in figure 6 below (see
appendix IV, p. 114, table 22). Such a claim is also supported in Pantelidou (2002)
who describes the cartoon characters appearing in the particular series as totally
unrealistic, something like ‘…shadows of real people’. What should be said at this
point is that, although the use of cartoon characters might be enjoyable to children
(considering that they are of a good artistic quality), it does not facilitate
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