Social-Emotional Intelligence and Picture Books: Visual Modality as a Challenging Stimulus for Discussion with Preschoolers (original) (raw)
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Purpose-The contribution of children's literature to the social-emotional development of children has been recognized across disciplines. Especially picture books, as multimodal texts which communicate with young readers with two codes simultaneously, can be a potential means of fostering empathy in young children (Nikolajeva, 2013). The purpose of this paper is to introduce the program "My BEST friends, the books," an empirical project (in progress) based on a Book-Based Emotional Social Thinking approach. Design/methodology/approach-This approach is inspired by the Critical Thinking and Book Time approach (Roche, 2010, 2015). The program, based on the scales and competences of the Βar-On (2006) model of social-emotional intelligence, explores the way young readers interpret social-emotional skills when discussing about literary characters in children's picture books. This paper examines the philosophy, the main characteristics and structure of the program, and presents the first results of the pilot phase. Findings-The initial findings indicate that the design and implementation of such a program is a complex procedure that requires from the researcher to take into consideration various aspects that concern both the material and the participants, but also to step back and let children express their thoughts freely. Originality/value-Moreover, such discussions allow for understanding how preschoolers interpret the social-emotional skills of literary characters in a critical manner.
Theorizing Visual Representation in Children's Literature
Journal of Literacy Research, 2008
Children's literature has been analyzed through a number of different theoretical lenses, including critical literacy, feminism, and multiculturalism. Yet, given the prominence that image plays in such literature, little if any work in literacy has analyzed children's literature from the perspective of art theory. This study first theorized how and why artists render visual representations as they do. It then used this theory to analyze images in Caldecott award-winning literature. Three findings emerged from the analysis: (a) image types cut across time, culture, and artists' rendering; (b) images embody stable representations of culture; and (c) images tend to render visual binaries and invite oppositional readings. Implications are discussed for developing and using a theory for the close reading of visual imagery in children's literature.
Picture Books and the Making of Readers: A New Trajectory. NCTE Concept Paper No. 7
1993
Picture books enable children to experience "reading" from a very early stage in their lives. Although readers in the early part of this century were trained to read heavy books full of fine print, nowadays readers are being trained to read using intellectually and emotionally challenging picture books. Such books (particularly those by John Burningham) enable young readers to tackle material beyond their normal repertoire. The concepts the picture books describe are very sophisticated, yet young children do not seem to have any problem coming to terms with them. Several scholars have investigated the complexities in picture books which even very early readers can begin to master. J. A. Appleyard emphasizes the strong element of play and the important transition small children make from the intimacy of being read to at home to the intensely social experience of school reading. Perry Nodelman describes the range and variety of conventions which picture-book authors and illustrators call into play. Judith Graham investigates what and how children learn from picture books about narrative processes and conventions. The vocabulary of Peter Rabinowitz lends itself to a more activist interpretation of what the reader does. Contemporary children's stories make use of new and different conventions, and in the process may well be creating new and different readers. Picture books give even extremely young children access to literary codes. Armed with this background, however vestigial, children can be readers. (Contains 37 references.) (RS)
Impact Of Visual Media In Children’s Literature: A Paradigm Of Cognitive/Psycho-Linguistic Approach
International Journal of Linguistics, Literature and Translation, 2018
Throughout centuries, children’s books have influenced the identity creation of children in various levels, in the form of fairy tales, folk tales, picture books, Disney cartoons, and movies. Modern child spends more time with interactive learning/visual aids than with traditional pedagogical means which mainly consist of printed texts. Majority of their learning and leisure activities include focus on picture books, flash cards or several interactive pedagogical structures like interactive boards, pop-up books, animated movies etc. Receptive skills in children can be enhanced in their developmental stage in this way. It aids their psychological development and language acquisition skills along with socio-cultural aspects. Adults also relive their childhood days while engaging themselves with children and children’s books carrying the roles of facilitator, caretaker, parent or educator. This paper discusses the impact that visual media has imparted in the field of children’s literature and how it helps in the cognitive and psycho- linguistic development of children. Visual media has gained greater importance in recent years and has incredibly affected the contemporary modern world. It has made a tremendous influence in the field of literature, specifically in children’s literature. I postulate that children’s literature lays the foundation of shared intergenerational, national and international culture, a barometer of beliefs and anxieties about children and childhood, and a body of literature with its own genres, classic texts and avant-garde experiments.
INTERPRETING CHILDREN'S APPRECIATION OF CHILDREN'S LITERATURE IN THE VISUAL LITERACY ERA
Linguitics and Literature Journal , 2023
This current research explores children's appreciation of children's literature in the context of the visual literacy era. The ability of early childhood to appreciate visual literature can be viewed as an early childhood creative ability in the context of early childhood visual literacy. This current research aims to examine how early childhood (age 5-6) appreciates children's literature (children's stories on screen) and interpret their appreciation. The theoretical framework of this paper is the concepts of children's literature, appreciation of literature, and visual literacy. This current qualitative research positions children's appreciation of children's literature (children's stories on screen) in a reader-response approach. Two girls aged 5 and 6 who still could not read and write were involved as the participants (visual text readers). In the initial phase, the two readers have been enjoying their favourite story series, My Little Pony, on YouTube Kids every day for more than a year. The data obtained from the question and answer session was documented and interpreted. The findings show that children appreciate visual literature on screen by configuring particular ideas on the basis of the story's detailed images. The findings show that children can able to explore the life narratives in the stories: the conditions denoting 'the being' and 'the becoming' and the struggle between good and bad as the situations demonstrate the conflicts and the solutions. The interpretation of children's appreciation suggests that their appreciation of the visual literature on digital broadcast platforms refers to two major meanings: imagination and philosophy.