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Kalpana M. Iyengar Dr. Martinez/May 1st, 2012 Reading File 2 Sipe, L., & Brightman, A. (2009). Young Children’s Interpretations of Page Breaks in Contemporary Picture Storybooks. //Journal of Literacy Research 41//(68), p. 68-103. This qualitative analysis study examines the importance of page turns in second graders critical thinking skills. The study helps teachers and researchers understand the difference between page breaks in a novel and picture book genre. The page breaks in a picture book is thoughtfully designed by authors, illustrators,, editors, and designers and it has a “complex semiotic significance”. Theorists such as Bader, Iser, Bartow, Barthes guide the premise of this study. Barber’s recognition of the drama in page turns, Bader’s representation of excitement, anticipation, and confusion, and Iser’s indeterminacies that readers have to fill in while reading picture book are mind boggling to someone new to analyzing page turns. Several picture book sare used as examples to explain the above characteristics that the theorists recognized about page turns. For example, Where are the Wild Things are? Was used to help children understand Max’s mood signaled through page turn. The five ways that writers of picture books use as observed by Christopher Maselli provides a lot of interesting insights in to how children process the page turns while reading. Page turns creates a sense of movement, introduces surprise, helps focus on different characters, introduces new art, and creates an urge in readers to continue reading. Christelow and Jensen both affirm the surprise factor while children turn the page(s). According to Kiefer, Lewis, Nikalojeva, & Scott, Nedelman, and Stewig, although the picture book production team observes that page turn as are beneficial to children, books on picture books just mentions about page turn and there is no research related findings. Also, the topic of page turns is related to read aloud in the process of literary understanding in children. This research is based on how children construct mean socially as compared to finding meaning in the text. The second premise of this research is based on how children can arrive at several interpretations based on one text. Bakhtin’s “centripetal” versus “centrifugal” meaning making explains this aspect well. The third call is that teacher exerts limited control over the text so children can come up with multiple interpretations on his or her own. Teacher involvement will thwart the children’s capacity to understand and interpret the text on their own. The authors of this study invite teachers to consider Rosenblatt’s (1978) transaction theory, where “children bring their own store of knowledge and experiences” (p. 77). Such approaches will facilitate greater literary understanding such as plot, character, story elements etc and extending the meaning making process to inference and cognition. Children must be taught to become independent interpreters and storytellers. Talks about page break helps children to become active participants in the process of verbalization about the story. The three effects of talk are – helps struggling children, who depend on their classmates for connections in the book, aid in metacognition by allowing children to think about their own thinking of the story, and recognize the ability to derive at different interpretations and learn that there can be several meanings to one story. This study aimed at second graders interpretation of page breaks in five picture books while the books were read aloud to them in class. The children were introduced with the idea of observing and interpreting page breaks through questioning in class while referring to specific pages of the chosen books. The design here was to help children think about page breaks as part of “Children’s ‘literary tool box’” (p. 81). “No, David” by Shannon encouraged children to look into what happened in the story based on the illustrations because this book has very few words to help children rely on the text. Another book, “My Friend Rabbit” by Rohmann was used to look for children’s interpretations to plot point of one particular incident in the book. The third book, “Don’t Let Piegon Ride the Bus” by Wiliams was used to elicit audience participation, which is a different from looking at page breaks in the other books. The fourth book, “Hondo and Fabian” by McCarty was used to help children look at parallel story telling. The final choice was “Where the Wild Things Are” by Sendak. This book was used because this book is familiar to the children, so speculation about page breaks was easy and it was used to find out if children could recognize the shift in genre through page breaks. The data collected were coded for seven themes – character action, creating dialogue, internal state of the character, setting change, time elapsed, changes in reader perspective, and literary genre change. The authors rightly note that six out of these six themes were the good old literary analysis that children are familiar with. However, the category on changes in the reader/viewer’s visual perspective is the new theme the teachers discovered through the data analysis. This theme focused on the illustrations and how children perceived them as a slow moving movie, where the illustration are closer sometimes and farther at other times. This study was an initial exploratory study and can be expanded to research the alternate approaches to pedagogical practices in literary analysis. According to Sipe and Brightman (2009), “This type of activity adds one more item to children’s literary repertoire, as well as increasing their cognitive and critical literary abilities in general” (p. 98).

Questions
 * 1) Do children think of their own incidents while turning the pages?
 * 2) What happens if children come back to a page after several minutes or do children lose their train of thought if the pages are not turned sequentially?
 * 3) Does page turn facilitate imagination? I know the authors said that it helps create suspense, but I am looking at their imagination. My son would make up his own stories when I would read a book to him. This habit of concoction was more prevalent during page turns because sometimes we both did not know what to expect.

Madura, S. (1995). The Line of Texture of Aesthetic Response: Primary Children Study Authors and Illustrators. //The Reading Teacher 49// (2), p. 110.

This study looks at children's perceptions of visual arts and their appreciation to the genre through author-illustrator studies. The study opens with a book dialogue between children while the teacher listens quietly, who later comments, "Their discussion includes reactions to the text, appreciation for the visual beautyof Ehlert's work, and observations of their own experiences with collage, the technique Ehlert uses to illustrate her books." (Madura, 1995, p, 111). So, children are capable of interpreting illustrations if given a chance. This article is classified based on the history of children’s interpretation of illustrations, introducing the author/illustrator unit, initiating through reading, reading and discussing, art exploration, and extensions through the curriculum. Organizing and implementing an author/illustrator unit section focuses on how children appreciate art intermingled with text. This aspect was explored using author/illustrator studies. Both the teachers and the children corroborated the value in this exercise through a learning experience. Ultimately, the children became illustrators, writers, and readers. The different mediums of art were discussed with children to find out what children “repeatedly use one art medium (watercolour, collage, coloured pencil) or artistic style (realism, impressionism, cartoon, folk art)…” (p. 113). The books they studies and the genre of writing were explored as well. Several illustrated books such as Eric Carle, Ezra Jack Keats, etc were used in this study. A media center visit to explore the author/illustrator database was initiated. The reading, rereading, and discussing project after the author/illustrator study enabled children who were progressing readers to scaffold while encouraging all children with bloom’s taxonomy. Children could make inferences and comparisons between authors. The researcher asked five questions on books to elicit responses from children about Eric Carl’s books – their design elements, visual appeal, characters, motif, peritextual features. Children were able to identify aspects such as journey themes, natural settings, animal characters, and rich language. After week one, the children were able to discuss “…how author/illustrators can use repetitive features of theme and patterns in many different situations” (p. 114). Finally, the researchers were able to consolidate children’s perceptions and understanding of picture books. Real life experiences enabled children to connect to their experiences through reading. Art exploration was conducted using //The Very Hungry caterpillar//. Children were asked to manipulate with the medium and the different stages of the caterpillar. Later, the children wrote about the section they had created and the teacher provided intervention for those students who could not respond comfortably. Children’s perceptions of picture book design elements before teacher intervention and after were recorded for comparison. The children were able to indentify the process (Hannah’s discussion), suggest improvement (Kelsey’s comments), and offer suggestions (Hannah’s comments). Overall, the children were able to work collectively and learn using the socio-cultural interaction. Ultimately, children were able to recognize how “The text informs but also entertains.” This aspect was used as an extension of teaching materials. The text provided children with a working model so they could explore, discover, and apply what they learned. The author finally invites teachers and parents to consider aesthetic responses because this aspect provides children with “tools for expression that they might otherwise never experience”. Such experiences will have a long lasting effect in children’s literary exploration and children will be able to make connections to real life situations through art. Picture book is an excellent platform for children to explore the beauty of art and life.

Questions
 * 1) How can this curriculum incorporated in ELL classroom?
 * 2) Are children capable of co-constructing knowledge with regard to design elements and visual elements?
 * 3) What is the role of media in thwarting children’s interest in printed picture books?

Colmen, P. (2007). A New Way to Look at Literature: A Visual Model for Analyzing Fiction and Nonfiction Texts. //Language Arts 84// (3). Research Library, p. 257- 268.

This article deals with fictitious and non-fictitious text analyses. The author discovers how non-fiction is underrepresented in our schools and libraries today. Although non-fiction facilitates readers to think critically and form knowledge based on life experiences, this genre is underrepresented because of the existence and preference of fiction in our society. It is through non-fiction that we learn about life, society, and the world we live in. Zena Sutherland’s coinage of the phrase informational books paved way to the introduction of biographies, history, true adventure, science, sports, essays, memoirs etc. Another reason why non-fiction is not preferred is because of the cost involved in the production of such books. The design elements are expensive and the illustrations are very costly. Also, fiction is safer than non-fiction, where the readers can stay detached to the characters, for example, in fiction. The several misunderstandings and make pre conceived ideas about non-fiction as listed on pages 258 and 259 discourage readers from selecting non-fiction. The one that alarms me is the myth about non-fiction is how this genre does not help students learn how to write. I used to read Mahatma Gandhi’s “My Experiment with Truth” and Anne Frank’s “Diary of Anne Frank”. The language is so lucid in these books that I used to use them as models to write my literature papers in graduate school in India. Also, such stories are important for our children to understand hegemony and atrocity of powerful people on weak and vulnerable. The victim’s first had experiences as recalled by the persons is more appealing than a fictitious recreation of the events. The movie “Gandhi” brings home the suffering of Asian Indians, but a non-fiction rendered by a victim is beneficial and appropriate. Hybrid books are those that have both the elements of fiction and non-fiction. Studet’s version of “faction” is the author’s hybrid books. Colman designed a visual model for analyzing fiction and non-fiction texts using nine elements – made-up material, information, structure, narrative and expository text, literary devices, author’s voice, front and back matter, and visual elements.


 * Made-up material

Fictionalized or based on incomplete/unverifiable information or evidence Eg: Biographies and social histories || Structure

Organization of material with respect to chronology, theme, episode, etc. Simple with one layer of organization and complex with multiple layers of organization. Eg: The Temple Bombing, and Last Man Out and A Woman Unafraid: The Achievements of Frances Perkins || Narrative and Expository text Story and informative texts. Eg: Corposes, Coffins, and Cypts: A History of Burial || Literary devices

Techniques such as diction or word choice; metaphors, repetition, and details to evoke response Eg: Adventrous Women Who Made a Difference || Author’s Voice

Reader’s sense of a author’s presence or style in the text. Eg: Girls: A History of Growing Up Female in America || Front and Back Matter

Peritextual features

Eg: Adventrous Women

Visual Elements

Illustrations, photos, maps, diagrams, etc

Eg: Same as above ||

The dichotomy that exists between fiction and non-fiction is over simplified to a level where teachers do not know how to use these genres to teach students. The demand for fiction has eclipsed the value of non-fiction in our children’s lives. It is important to resurrect the genre so children are aware of true incidents in the world.

Question
 * 1) Why is fiction most bought? Is it because they are cheap or is it because teachers do not support this genre?

Sipe, L. (2006). The Construction of Literary Understanding by first and second graders in oral response to picturebook read-alouds. Reading Research Quarterly 45 (2), pp. 252-275.

According to literacy researchers and theorists, reading stories to children improves children’s social, emotional, language, and intellectual skills. Reading early on is beneficial to children’s school success. However, the relationship between reading for literary analyses may be restricted to understanding the narrative elements. Drawing on semiotics, visual, aesthetic, schema, and cognitive theories, and literary criticism, Sipe conducts a seven-month study of the construction of literary understanding in children in first and second grades. This interdisciplinary approach to studying the literary responses focuses on the children’s inferences on story book read-alouds. Several approaches to literary understanding in children were considered for adoption for this study. First, story model and structuralistic approaches were examined. Schema theory provides a framework to understanding narrative interpretations in children. However, Golden and Rumelhart’s model is dependent on the contents not in the story but supplied by the active readers. The story models and structuralistic approaches have several limitations – uses simple short stories, focuses on textual features and ignores the reader qualities, and interferes with comprehension by limiting thinking. The reader-response theory is dependent on the text and the way the reader makes sense of the text. Rosenblatt’s ‘efferent stance’, where the readers take meaning away from the text can be a threat to the text. Literary theories focus on intertextuality, which calls for the cultural and personal experiences. The different studies conducted to determine the value of story reading to young children clearly tend to help researchers understand how children develop literary understanding.


 * Wolf & Heath (1992)

Children connect stories with reality

Interpret life using creativity

Critical thinking enhances

Organized experiences

Understand life

Partnered with parents in meaning making process || Cochran-Smith (1984)

Cultural codes/conventions

Make life-text connections

Use prior knowledge

Understand ;life through stories || Rowe (1998)

Uses Sociodramatic play

Used toys

Used drama for intertextual connections

Child’s world and adult world embedded ||

Research on picture book illustrations Both text and illustrations are important for the child to understand the plot. The literary understanding involves aesthetic understanding. According to Sipe (2000), “Picture books may be conceived (in semiotic terms) as the site of the interaction or transaction between two sign systems: the visual sign system of the illustration sequence and the verbal sign system of the printed word (Nodelman, 1988, p. 259). So, both the text and pictures work synergistically in a picture book. However, educators have not fully understood the value of this symbiotic relationship in picture books. Kiefer’s classroom experiences with the illustrations in picture books helps researchers understand the value of aesthetics in picture books. Kiefer categorized the responses based on Halliday’s categories of language functions – informative, imaginative, heuristic, and personal. Children’s responses were noted with regard to wonderings, personal association with the book, their feelings about the book, and Eisner’s art criticism such as description, interpretation, evaluation, and thematic issues. This study revealed how story book read alouds help children understand literary exercise than just gain literacy knowledge. The interdisciplinary approach of drawing on various theories is beneficial in this understanding.

Theoretical Framework Several argumentative theoretical lenses are used for this study. Social constructivists paradigm, socio-cultural interaction, and communicative competence are a few examples. This was a qualitative, naturalistic, and grounded theory approach. This study reminds me of Dr. Prior’s dissertation study at UTSA. The study was conducted at a rural school with kinder through 5th graders. Data was collected using triangulation through – field notes, story book read-alouds, and children’s verbal responses (recorded). The three different contexts chosen provided researchers enough validity to support their predictions. The data analysis was done using threefold process of open coding, axial coding, and selective coding. The data analyses yielded five conceptual categories that represented five different facets of literary understanding – analytical, languages aspects, illustrations, narrative meaning, and the distinction between fiction and reality. The subcategories were – intertextuality, personal, transparent, and performative. Finally, a grounded theory based on children’s literary understanding was elicited after the coding of the conceptual categories reached saturation.

Pedagogical implications and Limitation of the study Teachers can look at their story book read-alouds to “assist in the formation of classroom interpretive community” (p. 271). The different aspects of literary understanding can be analyzed for cognitive enhancement in children. This study was based on children’s talk and a response based analysis is much more productive. Researchers could use children’s written artifacts, drawing or painting, etc based on the instruction used in this study to further analyze their literary understanding of the story book read-alouds.

Goldstone, B., & Labbo, L. (2004). The Postmodern Picture Book: A New Subgenre. //Language Arts 81// (3), p. 196-204. According to Hearne et al, picture books are designed with story and pictures working synergistically. However, Wiesner’s “The Three Pigs” diverged from this organization if linear story telling. Wiesner used several alterations with regard to story, signs, and layout of the story. For example, the pictures say the opposite of what the story says (see illustrations below).

Several other authors have deconstructed the traditional picture books by incorporating their own style. These authors’ books are atypical picture books with idiosyncratic features of the respective illustrators. The contents in these books are questionable and follow the themes of postmodern genre. However, these book sare used for communication purposes and they also are cultural artifacts “with roots in the living experiences of the world” (p. 198). Postmodern books do not follow the conventions of styles, attitudes, and theoretical frameworks adopted by canonical illustrators, but instead follow its own pattern. Most post modern book sre multimodal, multi genre presentations that may be engaging to young readers, especially to the digital natives of today. This movement began after WW 11 in the western culture. The following five motifs are typical of postmodern books.

Motifs
 * Life is fragmented (Paley, 1992)

Incongruent || Human action (Moss, 1992)

Flamboyant narration || Human motivation (Lucy, 1997)

Contradictions in plot and/or illustrations || Reader Agency (Fish, 1994)

Readers coauthor and create subplot || Information Alteration (Georgakopoulu, 1991)

Information is not sacred, but readers redirect the plot ||

According to Moebius, the semiotics of illustrations facilitate interpretation in readers – character position and size, perspective, peritextual features, etc. Overall, postmodern picturebooks help the reader predict the plot, sort the motifs, understand the text structure/organization (schemata), aid in metacognitive process, empower students, and move on to the next text. Another aspect that distinguishes the postmodern books is the nonlinearity with multiple narrators, irony, and the description of creative process and plot. For example, “The Armadillo from Amarillo” traces the journey motif and has several stories rendered parallel. Such texts drive me crazy because I do not like to wander off from story to story on a single page. It creates a sense of cognitive dissonance in my mind. I cannot keep the thoughts to one section of the book. Ultimately, it is very stressful to my eyes and disturbing to my mind to process two or even four stories in one book. I think, the post modern genre calls for multitasking and a capacity to process information that is juxtaposed. The following illustration is so crowded that I do not know where to look first. All the animals except the armadillo have keys, so they are artificial toys and the Armadillo is real. The rabbit is driving the Armedillo on a cart with mint wheels? Is this imaginable/possible in life? The squirrels have a mask and they are carrying baskets of petals. The petals are strewn on the path like Hansel and Gretel? I just cannot keep the page in mind because my mind is wandering all over while I am on such pages! Also, if the rabbit is artificial, why is the carrot hanging above the rabbit? Several incongruent questions pop up in my mind while I read books like these.

Multiple Perspectives This is unique to postmodern books, where several narratives run parellely in a book like “The Three Pigs”. Some places, the pigs are talking to themselves and other times, they talk to each other and the readers, etc. Two themes are intertwined in these books - one to tell the story and the other to reveal information. Irony and Contradiction This happens when the text is divergent to the text presented in a book. Example of this is “The Three Little Pigs”, where the wolf eats the pig after he blows away the straw hut, when the pig is not to be seen on the page. So, “IN traditional picture books, the viewer searches for elements that support, validate, and enrich the story line. In postmodern picture books, the viewer must recognize these new pictorial elements and decide how to use them (p. 201). I do not have this kind of intelligence to locate what the illustrators are trying to say if he/she is not saying what the story is all about. I may form different perceptions based on my prior knowledge or my funds of knowledge. Uncovering the Artistic Process of Book Making Ha! According to Goldstone (2004), “…the reader is put in the position of questioning reality. What is real here? The book? The story? The reader’s perceptions?”. I cannot handle forced suspense if it is out of my comfort zone. What is the deal with the pigs making friends with a cat and a dragon in “The Three Pigs”? Is it ever possible for pigs and cats (real) and dragons (fictitious) to be together? Such stories that are typically postmodern books deconstruct the story and create disturbing images in my mind. Postmodern books are not spatially arranged or follow the chronological or psychological time zones. I get lost and I cannot hold the thoughts cohesively while reading these books. Final Thoughts The readers need the following “reading behaviours and text expectations that can guide students through postmodern literary experiences to make sense of the semiotic codes more visible and understandable” (p. 203)
 * 1) It is the reader’s responsibility to decipher the hidden meaning
 * 2) Unreal story is to be expected
 * 3) Readers, characters, and author co-construct knowledge
 * 4) Readers must be able to use multiple lenses while reading postmodern books
 * 5) The connections must be made by the readers without expecting the author to lead you

According to Sipe (2000), the story in a postmodern book “upsets, unsettles, or disturbs one’s expectations” (p. 203). I am uncomfortable with materials that are beyond my imagination. I simply cannot read too much meaning into texts. It is absurd to exert my brain to look for something that is beyond my capacity. Postmodern genre is not my preference when it comes to picture books. However, it may be interesting to digital natives, whose are able to decipher meaning from digital texts because they are able to, “understand, and manipulate content to suit their communicative, personal, academic, social, and cultural purposes” (Labbo as quoted in Goldstone, 2004, p. 202). Labbo also rightly recognizes the youngster’s ability to process information on the web given their cognitive engagement. I need space and too many images will distort my thinking and leave me paralyzed to a point where I refuse to think or participate in the text.

Questions
 * 1) Why are people like me allergic to post modern genre? Am I the only one or do I have friends who agree with me?
 * 2) How about childrens’ language skills, especially writing if they become too dependent on digital images and text?
 * 3) How do I know that I am reading the meaning correctly while I am reading the post modern books?

Pantaleo, S. (2004). Young Children interpret the metafictive in Anthony Browne’s Voices in the Park. //Journal of Early Childhood Literacy 4// (2), p. 211 – 233.This study focuses on the story telling aspect in young children. Children are exposed to oral story telling before they come to school, so it can be tapped for literacy enhancement in children. Also, various cultures have various formats of storytelling. All the different reading materials, media entertainment systems, and games enable children to learn story telling. According to pantleo (2004), “metafictive devices distance readers from texts, draw their attention to the artifice of fiction, and position them in a more interactive and interpretive role as readers” (p. 212). Such texts require reader engagement since they are not the traditional linear narratives.Anthony Brown’s “Voices in the Park” lends itself to a metafictive analysis. The several metafictive devices used in this novel render it both fiction and text. This is again a postmodern view of literature.MetafictionMetafiction like postmodern books resembles both fiction and reality. This genre is representative of the cultural codes and codes in literary works. Nine picture book sahve been used to analyze this metafictive form. Several narratives and narrators create a non-linear and non-sequential plot in metafiction. The study uses read-alouds and the responses are coded based on Sipe’s aspects of literary understanding- Metafictive devices in //Voices in the Park// About 10 devices were identified in the above mentioned book. They all work together synergistically to ameliorate the meaning of the book.
 * Analytical || Intertextual || Personal || Transparent || performative ||
 * 1) Multiplicity – Stories within stories in Browne’s book reminds me of the Hindu epics, Ramayana and Mahabharata. There are several stories within stories that help children understand human psyche and behaviour. Browne uses linguistic design elements and colour to distinguish between narrations and plot. The chronological and psychological times are beautifully juxtaposed. According to Iser, “…gaps or blanks in texts and of the reader’s active role in ‘filling-in’ these interminacies” (p. 220). This reminds me of the post modern genre that I am not comfortable with. I can infer based on the story and the illustrations provided for me, but in order to look for hidden and subtle information, I have to exercise my mind. I do not know if the joy is sucked out in such exercise of trying to find out what the text and pictures are trying to say? If there are multiple stories and multiple pictures, I would like to put down the book.
 * 2) Intertextuality – I love this section of the cultural allusions. Although these allusions may be disruptive to thought processes, I enjoy the illustrations that represent our lived experiences and culture. The transaction that goes on between the reader and the text/illustrations is engaging. Children have to be able to bring in their personal connections to understand intertextuality. Teaching/introducing parody to children is exciting since they may be able to form connections by relating to their own backgrounds. For example, Dr. Martinez invited students to explain the cultural conventions in a chosen book in class. I was thrilled that she was interested in my background and the other students asked me several questions about the conventions used in that book. Children feel affirmed and this affirmation may help them feel connected.
 * 3) Typography – Browne’s typeface is special and attractive to children. Children were able to identify the characters based font the font used in the story.
 * 4) Indeterminacies – The multiple interpretations of Brown’s book is not easy for someone like me. The guessing that went on between Brianna, Melissa, S, and Gujit is intriguing given that Browne is fond of suspense/secrets. The picture below has two men standing and my daughter asked me if the man behind her wass a dummy or a real one!Gowri got scared while reading this page.

<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">However, children may be capable of meaning making based on their social practices that they learn during the picture book read-alouds <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Today’s children seek multi modal and multi genre materials, so metafictive devices are helpful in children’s reading experiences. Hence, teachers have to adapt these devices while teaching youngsters these days for optimal enjoyment and cognitive purposes. Linear story telling is losing its charm after this post modern genre paved its way into the repertoire of children’s books.
 * 1) <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Metafictive devices and children – Browne’s book helps children become authors by participating in the writing the story in their heads. All of the devices help children fill in the gaps as propounded by Iser and involve in a transaction as described in Rosenblatt’s theory. Also, according to Goldstone, children are capable of reading the illustrations and texts and make meaning. This skill will be used by children while they read other genres eventually in their lives.