Universidade de Aveiro 2012
Departamento de Educação
Sandra Jones Mourão
Ilustrações do álbum em inglês e desenvolvimento
da linguagem em crianças na educação de infância
English picturebook illustrations and language
development in early years education
Universidade de Aveiro 2012
Departamento de Educação
Sandra Jones Mourão
Ilustrações do álbum em inglês e desenvolvimento
da linguagem em crianças na educação de infância
English picturebook illustrations and language
development in early years education
Tese apresentada à Universidade de Aveiro para cumprimento dos requisitos necessários à obtenção do grau de Doutor em Didáctica e Formação realizada sob a orientação científica da Doutora Ana Isabel de Oliveira Andrade, Professora Associada do Departamento de Educação da Universidade de Aveiro, e da Doutora Maria Eduarda Coquet, Professora Associada (aposentada) do Instituto de Educação da Universidade do Minho
Apoio financeiro do POPH/FSE Apoio financeiro da FCT e do FSE no âmbito do III Quadro Comunitário de Apoio
For Opal Dunn
O Júri
Presidente
Fernando Joaquim Fernandes Tavares Rocha Professor Catedrático da Universidade de Aveiro Doutora Bettina Kümmerling-Meibauer Professora na Universidade de Tübingen, Alemanha Doutora Maria Eduarda Ferreira Coquet
Professora Associada Aposentada do Instituto de Educação da Universidade do Minho Doutora Maria Margarida Afonso de Passos Morgado
Professora Coordenadora da Escola Superior de Educação do Instituto Politécnico de Castelo Branco
Doutora Ana Isabel de Oliveira Andrade Professora Associada da Universidade de Aveiro
Doutora Cristina Manuela Branco Fernandes de Sá Professora Auxiliar da Universidade de Aveiro
Doutora Ana Margarida Corujo Ferreira Lima Ramos Professora Auxiliar da Universidade de Aveiro
Agradecimentos I am grateful to many for their help and support during the last four years: To my supervisors, Ana Isabel Andrade and Maria Eduarda Coquet, who in accepting the responsibility to guide me through the maze that research is, have shown patience and kindness. I am grateful to them both for their shared wisdom. Obrigada e um grande abraço!
To the three pre-school educators, who gave of their time and energy so that I could successfully undertake my fieldwork; the school directors who gave me a free rein within their schools and the 64 children who solemnly agreed to be part of my research project, and without whom it would not have been possible. To Ana Claudia, who has substituted me for the last three years so that I could undertake this research knowing everything was safe and well.
To Piedade for being my pilot interview. To Ana who transcribed the interviews.
To Raquel who spent hours checking transcriptions that became my corpus. To Janice Bland, Simon Borg, Elena Consejo, Guy Cook, Americo Dias, Opal Dunn, Janet Evans, Lucia Gomes, Teresa Fleta, Fran Gamboa, Eva Gressnich, Caroline Linse, Ana Lopes, Mónica Lourenço, Peetr Mehisto, Flórencio Moniz, Cristina Nobre, Amos Paran, Ana Margarida Ramos, Gabriela Sotto-Mayor, Jeff Stanford, Rui Veloso, and Grace Welch for sending, sharing and helping me access articles and publications for my research.
To Raquel, Filipe, Eduarda, Ana Claudia, Carina, Celia and Teresa for help with my abstracts.
To colleagues in LALE for their camaraderie. To Paulo for his photography.
To Janet, for helping me see the wood through the trees. To Lucia, Gabriela and Carina for their picturebook friendship. To Mum and Dad for being there at the end.
To Filipe for being the most amazing reviser. To Rachel and Glynn for taking that last look…
And to my lovely family Luis, Filipe and Marta, who have supported and encouraged me, always. THANK YOU!
Agradecimentos I would like to acknowledge the publishers who gave me permission to reproduce the pages from the picturebooks in my study:
Just like Jasper
Written by Nick Butterworth and illustrated by Mick Inkpen Published by Hodder Childrenʼs Books
Good Night, Gorilla!
Written and illustrated by Peggy Rathmann Published by Penguin Group (USA) Inc.
Palavras-chave Álbum, ilustrações, desenvolvimento da linguagem, repertório linguístico, compreensão literária
Resumo Este estudo investiga a influência da interação imagem-texto de três álbuns ilustrados de língua inglesa no desenvolvimento do repertório linguístico de crianças pré-leitoras. Numa metodologia de estudo de caso, adotando uma abordagem qualitativa e socio construtivista num contexto real de educação pré-escolar, três grupos de crianças portuguesas foram filmados ao longo de várias sessões de leitura repetida em voz alta e em inglês, e de sessões de recontos trabalhados em pequenos grupos. Após a transcrição das gravações, o corpus resultante foi analisado com base numa teoria fundamentada de compreensão literária e em escalas de leitura emergente. Os resultados mostraram que as crianças adotaram uma postura fortemente analítica face aos álbuns, direcionando as suas respostas para as ilustrações e usando-as como apoio na construção de significados. Os resultados mostraram também que cada interanimação visual e verbal ofereceu diversas oportunidades para o uso das línguas em presença, o português e o inglês, tendo o formato e a estrutura inerentes a cada álbum contribuído de forma muito relevante para as respostas das crianças. Contudo, os álbuns com uma dinâmica imagem-texto mais complexa proporcionaram um maior envolvimento das crianças,
provocando mais discussão em torno das ilustrações e criando mais oportunidades para mediação do uso da segunda língua. Os resultados revelaram ainda a importância da interação durante as leituras repetidas, na compreensão e na análise narrativa, num processo de desenvolvimento da linguagem. Com base nestes resultados, apontam-se conclusões, com implicações para os contextos educativos, quer ao nível da língua materna, quer ao nível da segunda língua, nomeadamente em relação: à seleção de álbuns e à valorização das ilustrações e ainda à importância de leituras repetidas em voz alta e à discussão realizada pelas crianças.
Keywords Picturebooks, illustrations, language development, linguistic repertoire, literary understanding
Abstract The purpose of this study was to investigate how the picture-word dynamic within three English picturebooks affected childrenʼs linguistic repertoire and language development. Using a qualitative case study approach and adopting a socio-constructivist stance in a naturalistic setting, three groups of pre-literate Portuguese children were filmed during whole class repeated read alouds in English and small group retells. Upon transcription, the resulting corpus was analysed using a grounded theory of literary understanding and emergent reading scales. The findings showed that children took an overwhelmingly analytical stance towards the picturebooks, directing their responses to the illustrations and using them to support meaning making. It was found that each visual and verbal interanimation provided distinct opportunities for language use, and furthermore that the format and structure inherent within each
picturebook contributed to the childrenʼs responses. However, the picturebooks at the more complex end of the picture-word dynamic afforded a more active involvement from the beholder, provoking more discussion around the
illustrations and increased opportunities for the childrenʼs linguistic repertoires to mediate second language development. In addition, the results revealed the importance of interaction during repeated readings in supporting childrenʼs analysis of narrative and language development. Assertions are made based on these results, with implications in both mother tongue and second language classrooms, in relation to picturebook selection and valuing the illustrations, the importance of repeated read alouds and child-initiated discussion.
Palavras-chave Libro álbum, ilustraciones, desarrollo del lenguaje, repertorio lingüístico, teoría de comprensión literaria
Resumen El objetivo de esta tesis fue investigar cómo la dinámica imagen-palabra de tres libros álbum en inglés influyó en el al repertorio lingüístico y en el desarrollo del lenguaje de los niños. Se trata de un estudio de caso con enfoque cualitativo para el que se adoptó una perspectiva socio-constructivista en un entorno naturalista. Se filmó a tres grupos de niños portugueses de pre-escolar durante la hora de clase en la que se realizaron repetidas lecturas en voz alta y una actividad consistente en volver a contar el cuento ilustrado en pequeños grupos. Tras la transcripción de las grabaciones, se analizó el corpus resultante mediante teorías de comprensión literaria y niveles de lectura emergente. Los resultados mostraron que los niños adoptaron una postura abrumadoramente analítica hacia los libros álbum, haciendo uso de las ilustraciones para apoyar sus respuestas. Se encontró que cada intercambio visual y verbal brindaba diferentes oportunidades para el uso del lenguaje, y más aún, que el formato y la estructura inherente de cada libro álbum influía en las respuestas de los niños. Además, los libros álbum que contenían una dinámica de imagen-palabra más compleja provocaron una participación más activa del espectador, provocando más debate en torno a las ilustraciones y aumentando las oportunidades de los repertorios lingüísticos de los niños para desarrollar una segunda lengua. Además, los resultados revelaron la
importancia de la interacción durante las lecturas repetidas para el análisis de la narrativa y para el desarrollo del lenguaje de los niños. Estas afirmaciones se fundamentan en los resultados del estudio y tienen implicaciones
pedagógicas tanto para la clase en lengua materna como en segundas lenguas, tales como la selección de libros álbum y la valoración de las
ilustraciones; la importancia de la lectura repetida en voz alta; y las discusiones iniciadas por los niños.
Mots-clés Albums, illustrations, développement du langage, répertoire linguistique, compréhension littéraire
Résumé Cette étude a comme objet de recherche les effets de lʼinteraction entre lʼimage et le texte de trois albums illustrés en langue anglaise sur le répertoire
linguistique dʼun groupe dʼenfants portugais. Dans le cadre dʼune étude de cas, tout adoptant une approche socioconstructiviste dans un contexte réel
dʼéducation, trois groupes dʼenfants portugais en phase de pré-alphabétisation ont été filmés au cours de plusieurs séances de lectures répétées, en voix haute, en anglais, ainsi que de contes/racontages travaillés en petits groupes. Après avoir transcrit les enregistrements vidéo, le corpus a été analysé a partir dʼune théorie fondée sur la compréhension littéraire avec une grille dʼanalyse des niveaux de lecture émergente. Les résultats obtenus ont démontré que les enfants ont adopté une attitude analytique face aux albums, en conduisant leurs réponses vers les illustrations et en sʼy appuyant pour la construction du sens. Les résultats ont aussi montré que chaque inter-animation visuelle ou verbale a offert des opportunités distinctes dʼutilisation des langues en présence, le portugais et lʼanglais. Le format et la structure inhérents aux albums semblent avoir aussi contribué aux réponses des élèves. Néanmoins, à un niveau plus complexe de la dynamique image-texte, les albums permettent une interaction plus active de lʼenfant, tout en incitant à une discussion plus élevée autour des illustrations et à une médiation de lʼusage de la deuxième langue. De plus, les résultats ont révélé lʼimportance des interactions entre les enfants, pendant les lectures répétées, pour la compréhension et lʼanalyse narrative. Lʼanalyse des résultats de lʼétude conduit à dʼimportantes
implications éducatives, soit au niveau de la langue maternelle, soit au niveau dʼune deuxième langue, notamment par rapport à la sélection des albums et à la valorisation des illustrations; à lʼimportance de lectures orales répétées et à lʼinitiation des enfants à la discussion.
Table of contents
List of graphs ... 10!
List of figures ... 11!
Abreviations ... 14!
Introduction!
1. Prologue ... 15!
2. The phenomenon ... 18!
3. The content ... 21!
4. The two languages in this study ... 23!
Part I: The theoretical and methodological background
Introduction ... 25!
Chapter 1: The picturebook!
1. A relationship between pictures and words ... 27!
1.1 What is a picturebook? ... 28
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1.2 Words and pictures on a page - a short history of influences ... 32
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1.3 The words and the pictures ... 36
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1.3.1 The creators ... 37
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1.3.2 The academic deliberations ... 38
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1.3.3 Taxonomies of word - picture relationship ... 41
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1.3.4 To be or not to be symmetrical ... 46
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1.3.5 Further discussion around words and pictures on a page ... 48
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1.4 Summary and concluding thoughts ... 52
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2. Picturebooks in the classroom: a focus on response ... 53!
2.1 Reader response criticism ... 54
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2.2 Psychological response ... 57
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2.3 Response to visual texts ... 58
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2.4.1 Thompson's model ... 61
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2.4.2 Categories of response to picturebooks ... 62
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2.4.3 Lawrence Sipe's theory of literary understanding ... 64
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2.5 Concluding thoughts ... 67
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Chapter 2: Language development!
1. The social context of language development ... 69!
1.1 Theories of language development ... 70
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1.2 Piaget and Vygotsky: constructivism and the social slant ... 71
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1.3 Vygotsky's zone of proximal development ... 74
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1.3.1 The ZPD and imitation ... 78
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1.3.2 Collaboration in the ZPD and a classroom full of children ... 79
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1.3.3 Affordance and the ZPD ... 82
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1.4 The L1 and the L2 in language learning ... 84
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1.4.1 The interdependence of L1 and L2. ... 85
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1.4.1.1. Effects of the L2 on the L1 ... 86
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1.4.1.2 The L1 and the L2 in the classroom ... 87
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1.5 Summary and concluding thoughts ... 89
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2. Language development and story ... 91!
2.1 Early studies ... 91
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2.2 Read alouds and language development ... 93
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2.3 Books with pictures and L2 development ... 96
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2.3.1 ELLs and bilingual contexts ... 96
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2.3.2 Picturebooks and L2 learners in FL contexts ... 97
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2.3.3 Pictures in picturebooks and L2 learners ... 101
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2.4 Emergent reading of picturebooks ... 105
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2.4.1 Emergent literacy and being "literacy set" ... 105
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2.4.2 Emergent reading classification schemes ... 107
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Chapter 3: The methodological approach!
1. Paradigms and approaches ... 111!
1.1 Some initial thoughts ... 111
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1.2 An interpretative paradigm ... 111
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1.3 A case study approach ... 113
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1.3.1 The limitations of case study approach ... 115
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1.3.2 A collective, instrumental case study ... 116
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1.3.3 Selecting the cases and sub-units ... 118
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1.3.3.1 Selecting the picturebooks ... 118
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1.3.3.2 Selecting the groups of children ... 120
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1.3.4 Defining the case ... 121
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1.3.5 The issue statements ... 121
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2. The metamorphosis: from teacher to researcher ... 123!
2.1 Obtaining permission ... 123
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2.2 … and the children? ... 124
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3. The data collection methods ... 124!
3.1 Picturebooks in the children's lives ... 124
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3.1.1 Interviews with preschool educators ... 125
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3.1.2 Observing a storytelling session ... 126
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3.1.3 Questionnaires to families ... 126
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3.1.4 The English activities ... 127
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3.2 Observing repeated read alouds ... 128
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3.2.1 Cammy the camera ... 128
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3.3 The repeated read aloud sessions ... 129
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3.3.1 Seating for the RRAs ... 130
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3.3.2 Describing the RRAs ... 130
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3.3.2.1 Picturebook formats ... 131
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3.3.2.2 The RRA procedure ... 131
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3.3.2.3 The number of RRAs ... 132
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3.4 The retell sessions ... 132
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3.4.1 Why use retells? ... 132
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3.4.2 The retell groups ... 133
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3.5 Transcribing data ... 135
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3.5.1 Intentions with hiccups ... 135
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3.5.2 The eventual transcriptions ... 135
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3.6 Data analysis ... 136
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3.6.1 Clarifying message units and topic units ... 136
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3.6.2 The read alouds ... 136
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3.6.2.1 Categorizing literary impulses ... 136
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3.6.2.2 Summarized RRA response documents ... 138
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3.6.3. The retells ... 138
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3.6.3.1 Categorizing emergent reading behaviour ... 139
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3.6.3.2 Comparing read alouds and retells ... 140
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3.6.3.3 Summarized retell documents ... 140
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4. Summary ... 141!
Part II: Results and discussion!
Introduction ... 143!
Chapter 1: The unique, bounded systems!
1. The context ... 145!
1.1 Preschool education and L2 learning in Portugal ... 145
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1.2 The English activities ... 147
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1.2.1 The English teaching methodology ... 148
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1.2.2 The English stories ... 150
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2. The case picturebooks ... 151!
2.1 Case 1: Just like Jasper ... 151
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2.1.1 The peritextual features ... 152
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2.1.2 A not quite so simple picture-word dynamic ... 154
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2.1.3. The questioning pattern of the illustrations ... 155
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2.1.4 How the visual expands on the verbal ... 156
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2.1.5 The verbal text ... 158
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2.2.2 The picture-word interplay ... 164
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2.2.3 Story fragments and indications ... 168
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2.2.4 The verbal text ... 170
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2.3 Case 3: Rosie’s Walk ... 171
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2.3.1 The peritextual features ... 173
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2.3.2 The picture-word interplay ... 175
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2.3.3 A visual pattern between spreads ... 176
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2.3.4 Story fragments ... 178
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2.3.5 The verbal text ... 179
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2.4 A brief summary of the cases ... 180
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3. The case schools ... 181!
3.1 School 01 ... 181
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3.1.1 The children and their families ... 182
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3.1.2 Families and books ... 183
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3.1.3 Ana, the preschool educator ... 184
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3.1.4 Ana and stories ... 185
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3.1.5 The classroom ... 187
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3.1.6 Ana's observed storytelling session ... 188
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3.1.7 School 01 and English ... 189
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3.2 School 02 ... 190
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3.2.1 The children and their families ... 191
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3.2.2 Families and books ... 192
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3.2.3 Brenda, the preschool educator ... 193
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3.2.4 Brenda and stories ... 194
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3.2.5 The classroom ... 197
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3.2.6 Brenda's observed storytelling session ... 198
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3.3.7 School 02 and English ... 199
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3.3 School 03 ... 200
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3.3.1 The children and their families ... 202
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3.3.2 Families and books ... 203
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3.3.3 Carmo, the preschool educator ... 204
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3.3.4 Carmo and stories ... 205
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3.3.6 Carmo's observed storytelling session ... 209
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3.3.7 School 03 and English ... 209
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3.4 Brief discussion and summary of the case study sub-units ... 211
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Chapter 2 - The read alouds (level I)!!
1. Message units and topic units ... 213!
1.1 The message units in particular ... 216
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1.2 The topic units in particular ... 217
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1.2.1 Teacher-initiated TUs ... 217
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1.2.2 Child-initiated TUs ... 219
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2. Summary and concluding thoughts ... 221!
Chapter 3 - The read alouds (level II)!!
1. Literary impulses and their enactments ... 223!
1.1 The analytical response ... 224
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1.1.1 Analysis of narrative meaning. ... 227
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1.1.1.1 Children predicted and confirmed predictions ... 227
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1.1.1.2 Children described plots ... 231
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1.1.1.3 Children described and made inferences about characters thoughts, personalities, motivations and moods ... 236
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1.1.1.4 Children recognized cause and effect ... 238
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1.1.1.5 Children constructed narrative through discussion ... 241
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1.1.1.6 A short summary of analysis of narrative meaning ... 242
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1.1.2 Analysis of illustrations ... 243
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1.1.2.1 Children identified and labelled ... 243
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1.1.2.2 Children describe action ... 253
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1.1.2.3 Children give away the punch line ... 255
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1.1.2.4 Children talked about styles, techniques and misprints ... 258
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1.1.2.5 A short summary of analysis of illustrations ... 260
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1.1.3 Analysis of story language ... 263
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1.1.3.3 Asking for the words to be read ... 269
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1.1.3.4 A short summary of analysis of the story language ... 269
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1.1.4 Analysis of book as object ... 270
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1.1.4.1 Authors, illustrators and publishers ... 271
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1.1.4.2 The dedication page ... 273
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1.1.4.3 Summary of analysis of book as object ... 274
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1.1.5 Analysis of relationship between reality and fiction ... 274
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1.1.6 Analysis of (linguistic) codes ... 275
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1.1.6.1 Confirming L1 understanding of an L2 word ... 276
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1.1.6.2 Requesting a translation of a Portuguese word ... 278
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1.1.6.3 Requesting the translation of an English word ... 278
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1.1.6.4 Automatically translating a message unit ... 279
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1.1.6.5 Portuguese labels ... 279
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1.1.6.5 Metalinguistic comments about codes ... 280
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1.1.6.7 Summary of analysis of (linguistic) codes ... 282
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1.1.6.8 A short summary of the analytical response ... 283
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1.2 The intertextual response ... 284
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1.2.1 Other texts in the L1 world ... 285
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1.2.1 Other texts in the L2 world ... 287
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1.2.1 A short summary of the intertextual response ... 290
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1.3 The personal response ... 291
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1.3.1 Comparisons to personal experiences ... 291
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1.3.1.1 Opinions based on personal preferences ... 292
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1.3.1.2 Children used their understanding of the world ... 293
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1.3.1.3 Short summary of the personal response ... 294
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1.4 A transparent response ... 294
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1.4.1 A genuine emotional response. ... 295
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1.4.1.1 Adding sound effects and dramatizations ... 295
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1.4.1.2 Interacting with the story characters ... 296
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1.4.1.3 Reliving the experience ... 297
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1.4.1.4 Summary of the transparent response ... 297
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1.5 A performative response ... 298
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2. Accumulated narratives ... 301!
2.1 Accumulated narratives during Just like Jasper ... 302
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2.2 Accumulated narratives during Good Night, Gorilla! ... 305
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2.3 Accumulated narratives during Rosie’s Walk ... 307
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2.4 A summary of the accumulated narratives ... 309
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3. Discussion around L2 use during RRAs. ... 310!
3.1 L1 and L2 use and picture-word dynamics ... 310
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3.2 Linguistic repertoires ... 312
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3.3 Mixing codes ... 313
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Chapter 4 - The small group retells!
1. Re-enactments ... 317!
1.1 A quantitative look at the retell groups ... 317
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1.2 Print- or picture-governed retells. ... 318
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1.3 Picture-governed non-narrative talk ... 319
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1.3.1 Identifying, labelling and describing action ... 319
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1.3.2 Children participating in oral dialogues ... 329
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1.3.2.1 The act of retelling ... 330
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1.3.2.2 Commenting about L1 words ... 331
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1.3.2.3 Commenting about L2 words ... 332
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1.4 Picture-governed narrative talk ... 332
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1.4.1 Written-like narratives during Just like Jasper ... 333
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1.4.1.1 Children imitated a questioning intonation ... 333
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1.4.1.2 Children's question-answer narration ... 335
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1.4.2 Written-like narratives during Rosie’s Walk ... 337
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1.4.3 Print-governed behaviours. ... 338
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1.4.4 Summary of picture- and print-governed behaviours ... 340
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1.5 Children's importations ... 342
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1.5.1 Importations in Just like Jasper retells ... 342
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1.5.2 Importations in Good Night, Gorilla! retells ... 343
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1.5.4 Importations from other texts ... 347
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1.6 Summary of retells ... 349
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Conclusions!
1. Summary of findings ... 353!
2. Validity, reliability and limitations ... 362!
3. Implications for teachers and their classrooms ... 364!
4. Future research directions ... 367!
Bibliography
Primary sources ... 371!
Secondary Sources ... 371!
Reference literature ... 373!
List of graphs
Graph II.2.1 Child Utterances - Just like Jasper repeated read alouds p. 214 Graph II.2.2 Child utterances - Good Night, Gorilla! repeated read alouds p. 214 Graph II.2.3 Child utterances - Rosie’s Walk repeated read alouds p. 215 Graph II.2.4 Percentage of child-initiated TUs focusing on the illustrations p. 220 Graph II.2.5 Percentage of child-initiated TUs - personal comments. p. 221 Graph II.3.1 Literary impulses for all picturebooks during RRAs 1 - 7 p. 223 Graph II.3.2 Percentage of responses in sub-categories for the analytical
response in all picturebooks during read aloud sessions 1–7 p. 235 Graph II.3.3 Percentage of responses categorised as labels or
identifications within the sub-category analysis of illustration p. 244 Graph II.3.4 Percentage of responses categorised as describing action
within the sub-category analysis of illustration p. 253 Graph II.4.1 Just like Jasper, L2 use during RRA and retells. p. 321 Graph II.4.2 Good Night, Gorilla!, L2 use during RRAs and retell. p. 324 Graph II.4.3 Rosie’s Walk L2 use during RRAs and retells. p. 327
List of figures
Figure I.1.1 Literary impulses and their enactments (after Sipe, 2000) p. 65 Figure I.1.2 Response categories of Kiefer, Madura and Sipe p. 66 Figure I.2.1 An expanded ZPD (after van Lier, 2004) p. 81 Figure I.3.1 A collective embedded case study design (after Yin, 2003a) p. 117 Figure I.3.2 A picture-word dynamic continuum p. 118 Figure I.3.3 Matrix for selection of picturebooks for study p. 120 Figure I.3.4 Dates for sending and receiving of questionnaires (Qs) p. 127 Figure I.3.5 Literary impulses and their enactments p. 137 Figure I.3.6 Sub-divisions and sub-categories for analyzing retells p. 140 Figure II.1.1 Back and front covers of Just like Jasper p. 152 Figure II.1.2 Page 3 in the front matter of Just like Jasper p. 153 Figure II.1.3 Pages 4 and 5 in the front matter of Just like Jasper p. 153 Figure II.1.4 Pages 30 and 31 in the back matter of Just like Jasper p. 154 Figure II.1.5 Double spread 03 of Just like Jasper p. 155 Figure II.1.6 Double spread 11 of Just like Jasper p. 156 Figure II.1.7 Double spread 02 of Just like Jasper p. 157 Figure II.1.8 Double spread 04 of Just like Jasper p. 157 Figure II.1.9 Double spread 05 of Just like Jasper p. 158 Figure II.1.10 Double spread 02 of Good Night, Gorilla! p. 161 Figure II.1.11 Back and front covers of Good Night, Gorilla! p. 162 Figure II.1.12 Title page of Good Night, Gorilla! p. 163 Figure II.1.13 Copyright page of Good Night, Gorilla! p. 163 Figure II.1.14 The symmetrical structure of Good Night, Gorilla! p. 165 Figure II.1.15 Double spread 03 of Good Night, Gorilla! p. 165 Figure II.1.16 Double spread 05 of Good Night, Gorilla! p. 166 Figure II.1.17 Double spread 07 of Good Night, Gorilla! p. 166 Figure II.1.18 Double spread 11 of Good Night, Gorilla! p. 167 Figure II.1.19 Double spread 12 of Good Night, Gorilla! p. 167 Figure II.1.20 Double spread 17 of Good Night, Gorilla! p. 168 Figure II.1.21 Double spread 01 of Good Night, Gorilla! p. 168 Figure II.1.22 Double spread 08 of Good Night, Gorilla! p. 169 Figure II.1.23 Close up of bedside table on spread 13, Good Night, Gorilla p. 170 Figure II.1.24 Front cover of Rosie’s Walk (Scholastic edition) p. 173 Figure II.1.25 Half title page of Rosie’s Walk p. 174
Figure II.1.26 Title page of Rosie’s Walk p. 174
Figure II.1.27 Dedication page in Rosie’s Walk p. 175
Figure II.1.28 Spread 02, a set up spread in Rosie’s Walk p. 176 Figure II.1.29 Spread 03, a punch line spread in Rosie’s Walk p. 176 Figure II.1.30 The joke spreads within Rosie’s Walk p. 177
Figure II.1.31 Spread 11 in Rosie’s Walk p. 177
Figure II.1.32 Spread 12 in Rosie’s Walk p. 178
Figure II.1.33 Spread 13 in Rosie’s Walk p. 178
Figure II.1.34 Story fragments in set up spread 04 in Rosie’s Walk p. 179 Figure II.1.35 Story fragments in punch line spread 05 in Rosie’s Walk p. 179 Figure II.1.36 Summary of picturebooks used in the study p. 180 Figure II.1.37 Sketch of the classroom in School 01 p. 187 Figure II.1.38 Themes and stories in School 01, 2008 / 2009 p. 189 Figure II.1.39 A sketch of the classroom in School 02 p. 198 Figure II.1.40 Themes and stories in School 02, 2008 / 2009 p. 200 Figure II.1.41 Sketch of classroom in School 03 Sept. 2008 - March 2009 p. 208 Figure II.1.42 Sketch of classroom in School 03 March 2009 - June 2009 p. 208 Figure II.1.43 Themes and stories in School 03 2008 / 2009 p. 210 Figure II.3.1 School 03 from sapato to shoe in spread 08 p. 247 Figure II.3.2 Consistent L2 labels during the RRAs of Just like Jasper p. 249 Figure II.3.3 Consistent L2 labels during the RRAs of Good Night, Gorilla p. 250 Figure II.3.4 Consistent L2 labels during the RRAs of Rosie’s Walk p. 251 Figure II.3.5 School 02, Just like Jasper, labels for envelope and money p. 252 Figure II.3.6 School 02, intra-sentential code mixing, Good Night, Gorilla p. 257
Figure II.3.7 The snowball effect p. 262
Figure II.3.8 The verbal text of Just like Jasper during RRAs p. 264 Figure II.3.9 The verbal text of Good Night, Gorilla! during RRAs p. 265 Figure II.3.10 The verbal text of Rosie’s Walk during RRAs p. 266 Figure II.3.11 School 02 noticing the graphic features p. 268 Figure II.3.12 School 03 warning the gorilla, Good Night, Gorilla! p. 297 Figure II.3.13 School 03, performative response, Rosie’s Walk p. 300 Figure II.3.14 School 01, accumulated narrative, pp. 3/4 Just like Jasper p. 302 Figure II.3.15 School 02, accumulated narrative, pp. 3/4 Just like Jasper p. 303 Figure II.3.16 School 03, accumulated narrative, pp. 3/4 Just like Jasper p. 303
Figure II.3.17 School 02, accumulated narrative, spread 08, Just like
Jasper
p. 304 Figure II.3.18 School 03, accumulated narrative, spread 08, Just like
Jasper
p. 304 Figure II.3.19 School 02, accumulated narrative, spreads 12/13, Good
Night, Gorilla!
p. 305 Figure II.3.20 School 01, accumulated narrative, spreads 12/13, Good
Night, Gorilla! p. 306
Figure II.3.21 School 03, accumulated narrative, spreads 12/13, Good
Night, Gorilla!
p. 307 Figure II.3.22 School 01, accumulated narrative, spreads 04/05 Rosie’s
Walk
p. 307 Figure II.3.23 School 02, accumulated narrative of "Bye-bye" p. 308 Figure II.3.24 School 03, accumulated narrative of "Splash" p. 309 Figure II.3.25 The visual verbal divide which prompts response p. 311 Figure II.3.26 Linguistic repertoire as mediator for the L2 p. 313 Figure II.4.1 Number of retell groups per school for each picturebook p. 318 Figure II.4.2 School 01, Just like Jasper Retell group 2 p. 322 Figure II.4.3 L2 words/formulaic phrases in the retells, Just like Jasper p. 323 Figure II.4.4 L2 words/formulaic phrases in the retells, Good Night,
Gorilla. p. 326
Figure II.4.5 L2 words/formulaic phrases in the retells, Rosie’s Walk p. 328 Figure II.4.6 Sal's invented questions during the Just like Jasper retell p. 334 Figure II.4.7 RR's repeated question structure, Just like Jasper retell p. 334 Figure II.4.8 MN's question structures during his Just like Jasper retells p. 335 Figure II.4.9 School 01, Retell group 4 monologues and dialogues, retell
of Just like Jasper p. 336
Figure II.4.10 The written-like narratives used in the Rosie’s Walk retells p. 338 Figure II.4.11 Rui's spontaneous reading of Rosie’s Walk p. 339 Figure II.4.12 School 02 retells demonstrating diversity in emergent
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ADHD ATL Ded DS EALAttention-deficit hyperactivity disorder
Atividades de tempos livres (free time activities for after school first cycle students)
Dedication page in a picturebook Double spread
English as an additional language
EFL English as a foreign language
ELLs
ELT
Early language learners – usually refers to children in the United States, who attend English medium schools, but who speak another language at home
English language teaching EngT
ESL
English teacher
English as a second language
ESOL English to speakers of other languages
L1 The learner's mother tongue(s) or first language(s)
L2 The learner's other, second or foreign language
MU Message unit
PNL Plano Nacional de Leitura (national reading plan) PreT
RRA
Preschool educator Repeated read aloud
TEYL Teaching English to young learners
TU Topic unit
YL Young learners
ZPD Zone of proximal development
English picturebook illustrations and language development in early years education ___________________________________________________________________
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1. Prologue
This prologue serves to establish the setting and background details in relation to the study described in this thesis – it is the story before the story. It describes the ideas that developed through reflection of practice over several years and which prompted the eventual research questions for the study that began in January 20081. This is the story behind that proposal.
How far back does one delve to find a seed of motivation? As a child the love of books and pictures, the visual in general, led me through school and onto university to study on a Fine Art and Drama combination degree. Later as a young mother bringing up two small children, picturebooks were included in my children's upbringing. We sat together several times a day and shared books - pointing, talking and being together – precious moments promoting a love for books and story in both my children. It was while watching my children grow up as bilingual Portuguese-English speakers that my interest in teaching English to preschool children began. Picturebooks were amongst the materials I used in those early lessons with small groups of 4 and 5 year olds. The picturebooks that had been read and loved with my children were adapted to suit these particular learners, based on a gut feeling that a book with pictures belonged to the world of small children. These were the seeds of motivation, a love of pictures and an understanding that, together with words in a book, pictures produced a certain kind of magic when shown to children.
These seeds of motivation were nurtured as my education continued, while reading about second language teaching in the early years (Freudenstein, 1979), the educational value of using stories and picturebooks with young children (Bruner, 1983, Heath, 1983) and to learn another language (Garvie, 1990; Ellis & Brewster, 1991), and gradually theories began to confirm beliefs. Critical to this professional development was joining teacher
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associations, both locally and internationally, which enabled contacts with colleagues working with small children, both in Portugal and throughout the world. Through the sharing of ideas and experiences a reflection of practice began, in particular around the use of picturebooks. The work of Opal Dunn and her self-published Realbook News publication (see Dunn, 1997 – 2005; 2003) was particulalrly inspiring to me. Sharing a passion for picturebooks and finding others who believed in their magic was indeed motivating.
Becoming active within the fairly small world of early years English language professionals led to an invitation to write a book, a resource book about using picturebooks in primary education (Mourão, 2003). It is important to emphasise that at this time the picturebooks I selected for use in the classroom contained pictures that supported the words (Ellis & Brewster, 1991): titles like Brown Bear, Brown bear, what do you see? (Martin Jr & Carle), Where's Spot? (Hill) and The very hungry caterpillar (Carle), but through noticing that children wanted to talk about illustrations, this book included a proposal that the child's own language should be used as a support for English, the other language they were also interacting with, "[u]se what they say as a support for their understanding. You can reply and expand in English" (Mourão, 2003, p. 5). Several of the picturebooks referred to in this publication did in fact provide opportunities for talk through the illustrations - examples being Princess Dress (Heap), Just Like (Waterhouse & Robbins) and The time it took Tom (Tucker & Sharratt).
The moment of Eureka occurred while participating in a small project in preparation for a conference looking at using picturebooks in language learning with children, hosted at the International Youth Library in Munich, Germany, in November 2004. A set of picturebooks had been selected by a colleague to be shared during short read aloud sessions at the end of every English lesson. The objective of the project was for children to share English picturebooks with their families. To help them do this, each picturebook was reread over a number of English lessons, providing children with repeated opportunities to hear the story words, the children then took the picturebooks home and shared them with their families (Mourão, 2006a). It
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encountered before, in particular some containing more complex language and pictures that did not always help children understand the words (e.g. My Daddy by van Genechten). As children interacted with these titles over several lessons I observed their reactions, "[t]he children commented on illustrations throughout the eight sessions and found new things to comment on each time, as well as repeating comments made in previous storytellings" (Mourão, 2006b, p. 55). I began considering the illustrations from a different perspective when selecting picturebooks and, with the realization that children interacted with and discussed these illustrations, this selection became more adventurous. My practice also included rereading the same title many times, giving children opportunities for several attempts to reflect on language and meaning, as it also became apparent that it took a long time for children to contemplate what they understood (cf. Mourão, 2006b). Every picturebook shared led to further reflection on how the pictures and the words within these books affected the children's reactions in both their own language and in English.
Information about how pictures and words functioned within picturebooks within the field of English Language Teaching (ELT) was scarce and summarized in a couple of lines: the verbal text is said to provide children with rich forms of language (Ellis & Brewster 2002), with picturebooks supporting first steps in becoming literate (Enever, 2006). The visual text has been recognized as developing visual literacy and art appreciation (Dunn, 2003), but very little of this is written about or encouraged in the practice of English teachers working with another language. Bland (2007a, 2007b; 2007c) is one of the few to critically discuss the role of illustrations in picturebooks and their importance in promoting four different literacies: “visual literacy”; “literary literacy”; “cultural literacy” and “functional literacy” (2007c, pp. 10-12), moving away from using picturebooks merely for the language learning opportunities they provided through the words they contained. Additionally, outside the field of ELT, a whole world of books and articles existed about the way pictures and words animate each other within picturebooks (see Agosto, 1999; Arizpe & Styles, 2003; Doonan, 1993; Evans, 1998; Lewis, 2001a; Nodelman, 1988; Sipe, 2000; Watson & Styles,
English picturebook illustrations and language development in early years education ___________________________________________________________________
1996). None referred to the particular context of using English in a foreign language situation, or any other language for that matter, though some studies did involve learners of English as a second language (Coulthard, 2003; Colledge, 2005). Additionally, there was a small collection of investigators who were discussing preschool children and picturebooks (Graham, 1998; Parkes, 1998; Sipe and Bauer, 2001, Walsh, 2003).
Finally, whilst working as a consultant with Scholastic USA in 2005/2006, and being responsible for selecting picturebook titles for the 3 to 6 year age group for use in ELT contexts in Europe from a vast Scholastic catalogue I discovered a picturebook which made the difference. When the hundreds of picturebooks arrived for critique, one particular picturebook, Good Night, Gorilla! (Rathmann), stood out for its quirky humour and combination of words in speech bubbles and wordless pages. Upon using this title in class it was immediately evident that it gave the children numerous opportunities for using English, producing language, which went far beyond that of the verbal text within the picturebook. Good Night, Gorilla! became an obsession: every preschool class was exposed to and shown the picturebook. The fact that this picturebook had such a simple verbal text, yet so much more English arose from it, was all-consuming. Visually, it was packed full and the children were using the illustrations as a platform for language production. This was the phenomenon which prompted this investigation project.
2. The phenomenon
Ellis & Brewster (1991; 2002) provide a long list of selection criteria when considering which picturebooks to use in primary English classrooms. When referring to illustrations, they look for picturebooks with pictures that "relate to the text and support the children's understanding" (1991, pp. 12-13). In their later publication they ask if illustrations "synchronize with the text" and also inquire as to whether "the layout supports children's understanding and maximizes their interaction with the story" (2002, p. 11). Their activity descriptions make very little reference to illustrations in the titles they write about.
English picturebook illustrations and language development in early years education ___________________________________________________________________
Other publications mention the illustrations in picturebooks. Hsiu-Chih (2008, p. 48) stresses that illustrations stimulate the students’ imagination and help them learn how to read pictures, and Dunn (2008) also confirms that illustrations in picturebooks are not just for supporting understanding of language, but that they are instrumental in developing visual decoding skills. However, there is no overt recognition and promotion of the use of the illustrations in picturebooks to support the development of language, though it is possible to see references to their importance in developing functional literacy (Ellis & Brewster, 2002) and emotional intelligence (Dunn, 2012).
There are fragments of recognition about the possibilities of illustrations in prompting language use: Cameron (2001) mentions the illustrations in picturebooks and their contribution to supporting children as they construct meaning in their minds through the pictures, using a mental processing which she says "can be carried out in the first language, or some language-independent way, using what psychologists call ‘mentalese’" (p. 40); Read (2006) takes this a step further and discusses the teacher’s scaffolding techniques during read alouds. She portrays the teacher interacting with the children, linking "the familiar with the new" (p. 18) and allowing them to use their previous knowledge, often in their own language, to support their foreign language learning. Naturally many of these comments are related to the illustrations, though Read’s discussion does not focus on this aspect in particular. Mourão (2003) encourages teachers to let children comment on illustrations using their own language, with a view to teachers then translating or rephrasing into English. Additionally, Mourão (2006a; 2006b) outlines how children used the illustrations in two different picturebooks to help either retell or actively make meaning. In a picturebook with a simple, repetitive narrative the children used the illustrations as "signs" to predict what was coming next, and were successful in retelling the story using these signs. In a picturebook with little repetition in the narrative, the children were unable to retell the story, but the illustrations helped them create meaning, often extending the picturebook narrative based on the illustrations, using their own language to do this.
English picturebook illustrations and language development in early years education ___________________________________________________________________
Research which looks at how children use the two languages at their disposal, their own and the classroom language (usually English), in relation to picturebooks is scarce. Cameron (2001), Read (2006), Bland (2007c) and Mourão (2006a, 2006b) mention its use, but there is no explicit discussion around whether, or how, the two languages in the classroom support each other.
As described above, the use of picturebooks with pictures that showed much more than what the words told was having a positive effect on how children used English, especially over several rereads of the same picturebook. This phenomenon was puzzling. Why in English language teaching did teachers use picturebooks with illustrations that merely supported the words (see Schäfer, 2010 or Soares, 2011)? Why is it that an object such as the picturebook, which contains pictures and words, should be selected primarily for the words it contains, when there is a whole other mode at work, the pictures, which cannot be ignored? It was this phenomenon - that children were using the illustrations in picturebooks as a springboard for using English, often from initial discussion in their own language - and that there didn't appear to be any mention or recognition of this occurrence within the world of English language teaching – that led to formulating a proposal for a research grant. This is the phenomenon that is being investigated in this thesis.
The initial motivating questions leading to this research were therefore: 1. How is language development extended when the visual texts of a
picturebook are used for language affordances?
2. Which kinds of picture-word dynamics within a picturebook are more successful for promoting development?
3. How do children use their first and second languages during interaction with different picture-word dynamics?
In an attempt at answering these questions, the objectives of this research project are:
1. To comprehend the relationship between the pictures and words in a picturebook;
English picturebook illustrations and language development in early years education ___________________________________________________________________
2. To identify how the picture-word dynamics within a picturebook can affect language development;
3. To comprehend how children use their linguistic repertoires (first and second languages) in relation to the picture-word dynamics within a picturebook.
3. The content
In terms of content this thesis is divided into two parts: Part I, “The theoretical and methodological background”, and Part II, “Results and discussion”.
Part I is composed of three chapters, The picturebook, The social context of language development and The methodological approach.
Chapter 1: The picturebook. As has already been mentioned, literature related to how pictures and words interact within a picturebook is scarce within the field of English language teaching. With this in mind, the first chapter in this study provides a literature review with regard to understanding better how the two modes of communication, the pictures and words, come to produce meaning within a picturebook. In addition, this first chapter also discusses reader response theories with a focus on what has been written about how children respond to picturebooks. Again, this has gone relatively unmentioned in English language teaching and later forms the background to the categorization process used during the data analysis.
Chapter 2: The social context of language development. This second chapter looks at language development from a socio-constructive perspective, focusing on the theories of Vygotsky and complementing them with reference to van Lier's (2004) ecological stance towards language learning. The objective is to reinforce the importance of the social aspect of development. This section continues with a discussion around how a student’s first language affects their second language use and linguistic repertoires. To continue, in the second half of this chapter studies are reviewed which report the use of picturebooks in relation to language development. Most of these are related to first language learning contexts but some involve second language learners. This chapter concludes with a
English picturebook illustrations and language development in early years education ___________________________________________________________________
brief discussion and review of the research into pictures in emergent literacy and describes a classification scheme, which is returned to later when discussing the data analysis.
Chapter 3: The methodological approach. Here, the choices made during the research are explained: the use of an interpretative paradigm, a case study approach; how each selected picturebook became the case and how each case contained three embedded sub-units, the three classrooms of children selected for observation using the picturebooks. This chapter continues with an account of the data collection methodology, first giving an explanation of how information about the cases and their sub-units was obtained, then describing the different phases of the fieldwork and how the data collected was transcribed to create a corpus for analysis. This chapter is completed with an overview of the data analysis procedures.
Part II is divided into five chapters and a conclusion. Each chapter discusses a different aspect of the results obtained from analysing the collected data and corpus. The conclusion identifies a set of assertions.
Chapter 1: The unique bounded systems. This first chapter in the results section is directed at the embedded, collective case studies. It begins with a description of the context: a brief account of preschool education and second language learning in preschools in Portugal, situating both the teaching and learning objectives and approaches used during the English activities in which the studied phenomenon occured. This is followed by a description of each case, the three picturebooks selected for the study, according to the view that they are multimodal objects, and therefore referencing peritextual features, the visual and verbal texts and their inherent structures. This chapter is completed with a depiction of the sub-units within each case – each institution and group of children is portrayed using results from an interview with their preschool educators, analysis of official documents and questionnaires to parents and carers.
Chapter 2: The read alouds (Level I). This is a short chapter, discussing the analysis of the corpus generated from the read alouds, describing the results of the first level of analysis. It entails a description of the children’s
English picturebook illustrations and language development in early years education ___________________________________________________________________
utterances categorized as Message Units or Topics Units, and provides information about their purpose or theme.
Chapter 3: The read alouds (Level II). This is the longest of the results chapters and gives a detailed account of the findings that emerge when an adaptation of the categories which constitute Sipe’s (2000; 2008a) theory of literary understanding are applied to the corpus generated from the repeated read alouds. It looks at each picturebook within the categories and subcategories selected, and relates how the children responded using the two languages at their disposal, with a view to understanding how they made sense of the picturebook illustrations using their individual linguistic repertoires. This chapter comes to a close with a description of how the children created accumulated narratives during the repeated read alouds and shows how this contributed to their language development.
Chapter 4: The small group retells. This chapter discusses the results obtained from the corpus related to the children’s retells. It imparts an analysis adapted from the emergent reading classification of Elster (1994). The children’s picture-governed and print-governed responses are described and the use of children’s importations is highlighted based on the repeated read alouds, and their prior knowledge and experience. How these affect the way the children use the two languages in relation to the three picturebooks and their picture-word dynamic is discussed at length.
The Conclusions provides the reader with a number of assertions related to using picturebooks in the early years. Additionally, this section highlights implications for teachers and teacher education and outlines possible future directions related to this research.
4. The two languages in this study
The experience shared here has always been in teaching English in a foreign language environment (EFL), that is when the learners’ “experience and activities in the target language are restricted to the time spent in the classroom” (Kecskés & Papp, 2000, p. 2). Before continuing, it is important to clarify the different teaching contexts that will be referred to in this study
English picturebook illustrations and language development in early years education ___________________________________________________________________
and introduce some of the acronyms.
There is good deal of diversity in the discourse related to English language teaching (ELT) around the world (Graddoll, 2006), but there are two traditions that come to the fore: teaching English in a “foreign language environment” or “second language environment” (Kecskés & Papp, 2000, p. 2). The latter includes Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL), English as an additional language (EAL) or English as a second language (ESL), which all refer to the learning of English, mostly in English speaking countries, where learners are speakers of other languages but learning in a school or community where English is the language of education. EFL differs from ESOL, EAL or ESL largely through the amount of time given to the English language, which in turn is a result of its statute within the country in which it is being learned. Graddoll (2006) disparagingly portrays EFL, as in all foreign language teaching, as considering "the target language [as] someone else’s mother tongue" (p. 83). English is spoken in English activities only, the rest of the school curriculum and community speak the students' first language, thus a common linguistic background unites the students, which is not the case in many second language environments (Kecskés & Papp, 2000). There are exceptions to low level exposure to the target language, programmes following a content and language integrated learning approach (see Mehisto et al., 2008) or bilingual projects (cf. Dobson et al., 2010). However, in Portugal, the context of this study, it is mainly a foreign language environment and children may be exposed to as little as an hour of English a week, so the learning conditions in all senses are very different to those encountered by children in the second language environments.
This wide range of contexts is often bundled together: ESOL, EAL, ESL and EFL, and referred to as second language learning (L2). Not only are there extreme differences in context and statute, but this other language may be the child's third or fourth language. Nevertheless, for simplicity's sake, during this study, the mother tongue(s) will be referred to as the learners' first language(s) (L1) and the target language, in this case English, though it could be any other language, is referred to as the second language (L2).
English picturebook illustrations and language development in early years education ___________________________________________________________________
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Introduction
Part I contains the theoretical background and methodology chapters, three chapters in all. The objective of this theoretcial background is to discuss and understand the picturebook as a compound object made of pictures and words and how this might affect children’s responses during shared read alouds taking a socio-constructive view of learning.
Chapter 1 is divided into two sections: the first discusses the picturebook with a view to understanding the picture-word dynamic that became evident through the phenomenon that stimulated me to begin my research. The second part places the reader in the classroom and considers research related to reader response theories and picturebooks. Here the grounded theory of literary understanding is introduced, which was later used to analyse part of the corpus.
Chapter 2 is also made up of two sections: the first considers language development from a socio-constructive perspective, following Vygotskian thought, and concludes with a short discussion related to using the L1 and the L2 in the classroom. The second section once again brings the reader into the classroom, with a view to reviewing studies that have used picturebooks to promote and measure language development. This chapter is brought to a close with a light explanation of emergent reading scales, one of which was adapted and used to analyse other parts of the corpus.
Chapter 3 completes Part I: it contains a description of the methodological approach and all that is inherent in such a chapter.
English picturebook illustrations and language development in early years education ___________________________________________________________________
English picturebook illustrations and language development in early years education ___________________________________________________________________
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1. A relationship between pictures and words
This chapter takes a detailed look at the picturebook, a form of children’s literature referred to in language teaching as “storybook” (Ellis & Brewster, 2002), “real book” (Cameron, 2001; Mourão, 2003) and “real picture book” which Dunn (1997a, p. 1) uses interchangeably with “real book”. In these terms there is a certain focus on fiction as opposed to non-fiction, hence “storybook”, but above all it is the authenticity of picturebooks, that they are “real books”, which is held in high esteem (Cameron, 2001; Dunn, 1997b; Mourão, 2003) and the principal reason for bringing them into the language classroom. This quest for authenticity reveals itself in the unabridged language these books contain. Picturebooks, however, by definition are not merely written language, they are visual experiences containing quality, original illustrations. Picturebooks are multimodal objects (Kress & van Leeuwen, 1996), where both modes of communication, picture and word, combine to create meaning. In focusing on just one of these modes we are missing out on an actively contributing other mode. The objective of this chapter then is to describe what a picturebook is, to improve our comprehension of how the two modes, the pictures and the words, come together and create meaning.
The path followed in the first part of this chapter is a descriptive one beginning with a definition of picturebook as a multimodal object; how it is spelt; its distinguishing features: the pictures, the words and its design. The latter will be discussed with a view to regarding the picturebook as an object in which all its parts are considered in the meaning making. The emergence of picturebooks as we know them today is a result of historical circumstances, important in comprehending how the particular picture-word dynamics have become possible. For this reason a short historical perspective of the printing process and parallel influences are outlined before describing in detail these dynamics.
English picturebook illustrations and language development in early years education ___________________________________________________________________
A description of the dynamics between picture and word opens with a focus on the creators of picturebooks - authors, illustrators and designers - before looking closely at the research which has taken place in the field of children's literature related to picture-word dynamics. This section outlines the different taxonomies put forward for how the pictures and words relate and communicate through their presence on the same page. The arguments are presented with a view to concluding that no matter how simple the relationship between pictures and words, they will always provide information in a variety of ways and consequently allow different interpretations.
1.1 What is a picturebook?
In defining picturebooks the spelling contributes to an understanding of its designation; it is of interest therefore to first look at discussion related to its spelling and only then upon the definition itself.
A noun and an adjective should be fairly easy to put together and therein define: are we not looking at a book with pictures? Alas, nothing is as simple: there is disagreement even upon the spelling. Should it be two words, “picture book” (Doonan, 1993; Gamble & Yates, 2008; Michaels & Walsh, 1990; Nodelman, 1988) or hyphenated, “picture-book” (Hunt, 1994; Trumpener, 2010)? Bader's seminal piece published in 1976 uses the compound noun “picturebook”, and Lewis proposes that this become the norm, reflecting the "compound nature of the artifact itself" (2001a, p. xiv). A number of publications in the first decade of this century use the compound noun (Arizpe & Styles, 2003; Evans, 2009a; Grenby, 2008; Nikolajeva & Scott, 2000; Reynolds, 2005; Sipe, 2008a), though agreement is still not to be had. In personal emails on the subject Nodelman (2008) has written:
About picture book vs. picturebook: I prefer the former, and always use it myself (unless conference organizers, etc., decide to change it for me). In their book, Nikolajeva and Scott made a case for picturebook, and a lot of people have been using it since then. But being a grumpy old curmudgeon, I prefer picture book. (“picture book” was once usual in North America, “picturebook” in the UK.)
English picturebook illustrations and language development in early years education ___________________________________________________________________
Sipe (2008a) states that in using the compound form he, and other researchers, is emphasizing the "integral unity of text and illustration as well as highlighting that they are cohesive aesthetic wholes" (p. 381). For the purpose of this thesis “picturebook” will be used to emphasis its compound nature and aesthetic whole (Lewis, 2001a).
In Portugal, the context of this study, the francophone influenced term “álbum” is generally used when referring to picturebooks within the academic field, emphasizing picture storybooks as opposed to non-fiction picturebooks (Gomes, 2003). They are referred to as “álbum narrativo” (Ramos, 2007; Silva, 2006), “álbum narrativo ilustrado” (Ramos, 2010; Rodrigues, 2009) and “livro álbum” or ”livro-álbum” (Sotto Mayor, 2009), the latter possibly influenced by the Spanish denomination. "Livro ilustrado" is also a term used more within the public domain of newspapers, magazines and publisher materials.
The compound nature of the picturebook means a viewer is confronted with two modes of communication, pictures and words. Pictures and words however co-exist in a number of books with illustrations, and picturebooks are generally considered of the same ilk, rarely given the differentiation they deserve (Lewis, 1995a). There are books with pictures that are not picturebooks and confusion arises in particular between illustrated books and picturebooks as there is no clear dividing line between the two, despite a widespread understanding that "picturebooks differ from illustrated books insofar as neither words nor pictures stand alone but work together in some way." (Lewis, 1995a, p. 101). To support Lewis' claim, The Caldecott Award, the most prestigious award for children's book illustration, provides the following criterion for a picturebook:
A picture book for children, as distinguished from other books with illustrations, is one that essentially provides the child with a visual experience. A picturebook has a collective unity of story-line, theme, or concept, developed through the series of pictures of which the book is comprised.
(http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/alsc/awardsgrants/bookmedia/caldecottmedal/c aldecottterms/caldecottterms.cfm)
