The study employed a quasi-experimental, pre-test/post-test comparison
group design. The independent variables for the study were
treatment types (see Table 1). The dependent variables were pre-test and
post-test scores of the General English Proficiency Test (GEPT). The participants
were from five freshman English classes assigned to the experimental
groups and the control group. By flipping a coin, Group A was chosen
as the control group, while the other four classes were randomly assigned
to the four different treatment groups. Four classes constituted the experimental
groups in which the participants were exposed to the children’s
literature and DVD films. A Watch-Read-Watch-Read (W-R-W-R) cycle (or,
in two of the experimental groups, a R-W-R-W cycle) suggested by Hibbing
and Rankin-Erickson (2003) was used in the experimental groups.
The experiment was conducted from November 2009 through January
2010 for two hours per week. Then the GEPT post-tests were administered
and their outcomes were compared with those of the pre-tests. The
statistical analyses were conducted using the SPSS 12.0. The .05 level of
confidence was used.