Investigating Problems that Matter for Young People: Reauthoring Possibilities for Social-Emotional Learning in English Language Education.

This article reports on a qualitative case study with families of young English as an additional language (EAL) children in year 3-4 classrooms in metropolitan Melbourne, Australia. In the context of this inquiry, developmental bibliotherapy, which uses books to "heal the mind," was operationalized as a social-emotional learning (SEL) tool, using a transactional reader response approach. In this SEL approach, children made life-to-text and text-to-life connections that focused on three topic areas: body image, resilience, and self-esteem through the reading encounter. Findings shed light on the pedagogical implications of developmental bibliotherapy as an SEL tool and an eudaimonic factor in young EAL children's life worlds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]