• Elena del Pilar Jiménez Pérez, UMA, España

• Roberto Cuadros Muñoz, US, España

• Macarena Becerro Quero, UMA, España

Editores versión en inglés/ Editor English version

• Pedro García Guirao, WSB University, Polonia

• Inmaculada Santos Díaz, UMA, España

• Keishi Yasuda, U. Ryukoku, Japón

• Ruth Fine, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel

• Elizabeth Marcela Pettinaroli, Rhodes College, Estados

• Rubén Cristóbal Hornillos, Liceo XXII José Martí de

• Aldo Ocampo González, Centro de Estudios

• Victoria Rodrigo Marhuenda, Georgia State University,

• Antonio Gómez Yebra, UMA, España

• Pedro García, Guirao, WSB University, Polonia

• David Caldevilla Domínguez, U. Complutense de Madrid,

innovative resources in the classroom that motivate and awaken reading interest, as a preliminary step to a habit that will

be acquired in primary school, becomes the main task of teachers who value the importance of reading in the personal

and academic development of their pupils. The aim of this project was to help the comprehension of literary texts in order

to awaken interest and reading motivation by using light and manipulative materials, favoring the pleasure of reading. It

consisted of the narration of stories and the subsequent completion of activities through the use of old overhead projectors

employed as light tables. This study included 326 students aged 4 to 6 years (51.8% of whom were boys) enrolled in pre-

school education in schools in the Region of Murcia (Spain). A sociodemographic scale, the Mierisuo-Storm and Soinnien

obtained show that 99% of the students understood the argument of the text and were able to carry out the subsequent

here are many processes that require children’s

effort to acquire a learning skill, but perhaps

reading and writing are the most complicated ones,

guarantee, in part, the subsequent academic success, as

reading becomes a vehicular instrument for learning in all

In this sense, there is a connection between the way in

which it is taught and what is finally acquired, so that the

methods and resources become elements of motivation for

students who are already curious about learning (Delgado

Analyzing the different educational stages in which the

Spanish system is currently organized, early childhood

education is the one in which the foundations for a later

comprehension of texts, and awakening reading interest

through pleasure.

Considering that the main cause of school dropout in Spain

is the low competence in the areas of language and

mathematics (Ministry of Education and Vocational

Training, 2020), the reality reveals serious deficiencies in

because of this cause and, at the same time, because of the

effect of the lack of interest in reading. Hence the relevance

facilitating the advancement and progress in all areas of

human life; therefore, it is necessary for the development

academic, social, and personal. In this sense, motivation

becomes the engine that pushes all development and

learning in the different stages of life (Sellan, 2017);

therefore, finding learners unwilling to learn may be due to

the fact that they have other proposals outside the

classroom that undoubtedly motivate them more (Niño,

2012). Consequently, as Ajello (2003) points out, it is

resources and in their strategies, this willingness to learn

through goals that the children themselves set for

themselves.

If this training of the child is considered from the

beginning, in which the development of their

communicative competence plays a fundamental role, both

orally and in writing, the whole teaching-learning process

must guarantee, to a greater or lesser extent, their success

in the society that surrounds them. In this particular

mission, reading becomes the backbone on which all the

knowledge and learning will rest, allowing the person to

González Romero, 2019). Considering the child’s first

years of schooling and the effort required to acquire this

competence, it is critical to work on motivation that

awakens in the child an interest in the text, a relationship

between the phonic and graphic strip loaded with stories,

messages, and experiences, and experiences that awaken

decode and understand what that graph encloses (Carballo

favorable environment and awakening interest in the text,

facilitating its comprehension. Here comes into play one of

child: generating the need to read. If the schoolchild

understands the text and enjoys it, he/she will show an

interest in knowing the meaning of the graphic signs and in

achieving an independent reading that will allow them to

approach the literary experience in their leisure time, thus

creating the seeds of the long-awaited reading education

(Colomer, 2010).

Considering that reading brings humans closer to the

transcendental the work done in all educational stages

focused on developing reader training that will open the

doors to knowledge and reality itself to the child, making

early childhood education the initial stage, not for that

reason less important, in which to awaken in students an

interest in reading. For this goal, it is essential to employ

innovative resources in the classroom, focused on

comprehension and pleasure (Delgado et al., 2020).

In this process, teachers’ intervention in the classroom is

necessary by presenting materials that allow students to

experience, playfulness, and students’ interests. In this

sense, as Yubero and Larrañaga (2010), Neira (2011),

Melguizo (2019), and Willingham (2016) point out, it is

necessary to be aware of children’s interests and their

context in order to bring reading closer to their lives, since

the chosen topics should be included among their

preferences. Thus, the teacher must become a mediator

between literature and the students (Mendoza, 2008),

learning that will last throughout their lives will be based

(Brooks, 2014).

teaching work and resources that are effective in the

performance of the main objective in the early childhood

However, this reading interest cannot be sustained without

first awakening the pleasure, understood as enjoyment, and

satisfaction that one obtains when reading (Clark &

Rumbold, 2006). This turns the reading process into a game

that catapults the reader into a different reality that prepares

them to be able to interpret what surrounds them (Holden,

2004).

The search for the materialization of this playful character,

n this project, 326 Spanish schoolchildren aged 4 to 6

years old from four public schools in the Region of

Murcia participated; 51.8% were girls and 48% were

boys.

interviews with each of the 326 children. Finally, the

project was carried out, consisting of 20 storytelling

sessions, lasting 40 minutes that were developed over two

weeks and attended by students divided into groups of 15

to 20 individuals, thus facilitating their active participation.

University of Murcia and the Ministry of Education and

The Motivation to Read Profile (MRP) survey (Gambrell

et al.,1996), validated by Navarro et al. (2018), showed a

significant positive correlation between reading motivation

Table 1

Furthermore, the observational record showed that 99% of

the participants understood the text sufficiently to be able

to carry out the final manipulative activity; in addition, it is

important to note that 99% enjoyed the storytelling and the

subsequent workshops based on it, and 98% showed

that help the individual acquire new experiences and

in the individual a modification of his/her behavior,

the activities, largely due to the resources used and the way

medium, which awakened in them a way of experiencing

new life lessons (Delgado et al., 2020). The light became

a resource for focusing attention on the illustration (on

acetate) that supported the oral text, which was kept in

the experience of working with translucent materials of

different textures, and the freedom of the experience with

comprehension of the stories. Thus, 99% of the

participating students not only understood the main plot of

the story but were also able to identify details of the

narrative.

This experience highlights the relationship between

comprehension and pleasure in reading, since the same

percentage of students showed not only satisfaction with

what they heard but also an interest in new narratives and

evidences what authors such as Mendoza (2008) and

Brooks (2014) warn about children's learning, centered on

the experience and its playful character, a fact that was

taken into consideration when designing and choosing the

resource, where the child was the protagonist in the

execution of the workshop, respecting their autonomy and

freedom in the realization of the different activities of

understanding each story: the elaboration of sensory

aquariums, the design and realization of acetate pictures,

sensory bags, etc., all projected later with the overhead

projectors.

García-Bacete and Doménech (1997). It should also be

noted that, as pointed out by Colomer (2008) and the Royal

methodologies in the classroom makes teachers interested

in the application of projects such as the one described in

this study.

In this sense, although it is true that resources are essential

comprehension, since this is essential to achieve the

pleasure that is intended and that will guarantee the

ultimate goal of all reading and literary education: to

and discover new resources that offer them, in an original

and effective way, infinite possibilities to enjoy reading

(Delgado et al., 2020).

between comprehension and pleasure in