How to Read Picture Books "Children's Literature" English Department

Literature forms a centrepiece to being a reader or a writer. Information technology comprises texts, such every bit brusque stories, novels, poetry, prose, plays, film and multimodal texts. The pleasures and understandings afforded by engaged reading, interpreting, affectionate, evaluating and creating literature enable children to expand their ideas, remember securely and notice new things in their world.

Nodelman and Reimer (2003) identify multiple pleasures that children's literature can provide, some of which are:

• the pleasure of having i's emotions evoked
• the pleasance of the pictures and the ideas that words of texts evoke
• the pleasure of finding a mirror for oneself
• the pleasance of escape.

Hisham Matar (2017) has noted that literature, specifically, books "develop our emotional, psychological and intellectual life, and, by doing and so, show us how and to what extent we are connected." Far from beingness a passive activity, La Marca and Macintyre (2006) contend that rich reading of literary texts is "imaginatively, intellectually, emotionally challenging, enervating, comforting and consoling (p. xviii)". A key strand of both the Victorian and Australian Curriculum, literature benefits students on both personal and academic levels, with research consistently finding strong correlations between reading date and reading achievement.

Inclusive literature

EAL/D learners need to find themselves, their languages and cultures reflected in the books and resources used in grade. At the same time, all learners 'need to read other countries' stories about national, personal and community identities to enlarge their cultural frames of reference and to reflect on how these stories share similarities and differences to their own' (Mallan, 2014). Schools can promote inclusiveness for EAL/D students by including plurilingual (more than than one language integrated) and multicultural literature in their classrooms and school libraries. Adam and Harper (2016) provide a useful checklist for selecting and evaluating multicultural motion picture storybooks that could exist extended to other media.

When choosing texts, some considerations include whether:

• the author is qualified to write well-nigh the culture(due south) portrayed or has extensively researched the culture
• the story is high quality, interesting and contains authentic language and accurate factual details (where appropriate)
• the characters are believable, reflect universal themes and correspond diverse groups of people
• the cultural and geographical settings are realistic, authentic and reflect a variety of settings
• the plot challenges causeless knowledge and presents opportunities for students to discuss and resolve conflicts
• the theme allows for students to consider multiple perspectives and values
• the illustrations avoid stereotypes and promote diversity
• the story is developmentally appropriate. Can the students relate to and engage with the story? (Adam and Harper 2016).

This includes:

• books near children with diverse cultures, for example, an Aboriginal educatee living between two different cultures
• books nigh children living in different parts of the earth
• bilingual picture books
• translations of popular books written in English, due east.g. 'The Very Hungry Caterpillar' or a Harry Potter novel
• stories and other texts written and published by EAL/D students or plurilingual Australian authors
• translations of books by EAL/D students, family members or community members.

For more information on inclusive literature, contact: The Languages and Multicultural Education Resource Centre (LMERC).

Reading Commonwealth of australia provides lists of literature such equally:

• The Reading Australia Guide to Asian-Australian Literature
• Books to read on World Refugee Twenty-four hours
• Celebrating Indigenous writers this NAIDOC Calendar week

Both the Australian Literacy Educators' Clan and the Primary English Teaching Association of Australia (PETAA) have units of work around multilingual and plurilingual texts, book reviews as well as instructor references on instruction EAL/D students finer.

For information on digital storybooks with multilingual elements, see:

• University of Melbourne Research Unit of measurement for Multilingualism and Cantankerous-Cultural Communication (RUMACCC)
• Global digital library
• International Children's Digital Library Foundation
• Storybook Canada
• StoryWeaver
  

Teaching literature

Classroom educational activity should incorporate:

• dedicated classroom time for children to read, or be read to, and to discuss their reading
• opportunities for children to be read to, to read with others, and to read past themselves
• opportunities for children to respond to what they read in a variety of ways.
  

Evidence base of operations

The links between engaged, regular reading of literature and educatee achievement are well established in the research literature.  Big scale international assessments such as the Plan for International Student Assessment (PISA) and the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) – both administered through the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Evolution (OECD) – reveal strong correlations between reading engagement and reading achievement.  These international studies reveal that Australian students – at both primary and secondary school level – are less engaged and motivated in relation to reading than similar aged students in many other countries.  This has implications for issues of text choice, student voice and choice, and the means reading is implemented in classrooms.  Many enquiry studies (see for example, Guthrie, 2008; Graff, 2010) reveal that students can be more than directly engaged (or re-engaged) with reading when:

• they are given choices in what they read
• the reading itself is valued (rather than, especially, written response)
• classroom reading embraces both paper-based and online texts
• and both private and social, dialogic dimensions of reading are emphasised.

The benefits of costless voluntary reading – reading for reading's sake – have been compellingly documented (Krashen, 2004, 2011) and student self-efficacy in reading has been shown to increase when students have the opportunity to choose texts of interest and relevance and share their responses and insights after reading with peers and teachers (Guthrie, 2008).

Research to practice

Classroom teaching that draws on these inquiry imperatives should incorporate:

• dedicated classroom time for students to read and hash out their reading
• reading to, with and past: opportunities for students to be read to, to read with others (teachers and peers) and to read by themselves (contained reading)
• opportunities for students to respond to what they read in a variety of ways (verbally, in writing, online, through the Arts, through taking action of some sort).

The instructional focus taken here to accommodate these imperatives is literature circles​.

Reading interest survey

Understanding your students' reading habits and interests will help yous to connect them to reading materials they enjoy too every bit to texts which might expand their reading repertoire.

For an instance of a reading interests and habits questionnaire developed past Paul Molyneux and Pam Macintyre, run across: Student Reading Interest and Habits Questionnaire (pdf - 47.38kb).

References

Adam, H. & Harper, Fifty. (2016). Educating for Values and Multifariousness through Culturally Inclusive Children's Literature. PETAA Paper 205.

Carle, E. (2002). The Very Hungry Caterpillar. London, Britain: Puffin Random House

Chambers, A. (1994). Tell me: Children, reading and talk.  Newtown, NSW: Primary English Teaching Association.

Daniels, H. (2002). Literature circles: Vocalism and selection in book clubs and reading groups. Portland, ME: Stenhouse.

Daniels, H. (2006). What's the next large thing with literature circles? Voices from the Center, 13, (four), 10-fifteen.

Gallagher, Chiliad. (2009). Readicide: How schools are killing reading and what you can do about it. Portland, ME: Stenhouse.

Graff, J.M. (2010). Reading, readin', and skimming: Preadolescent girls navigate the sociocultural landscapes of books and reading. Language Arts, 87 (3), 177-187.

Guthrie, J. T. (Ed.) (2008). Engaging adolescents in reading. One thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.

Keene, Due east. O., & Zimmerman, S. (2007). Mosaic of thought: The power of comprehension strategy instruction. (2d ed.). Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

Krashen, S. (2004). The power of reading : insights from the research. Westport, CN: Libraries Unlimited.

Krashen, Due south. (2011). Free voluntary reading. Westport, CN: Libraries Unlimited.

La Marca, S. & Macintyre, P. (2006). Knowing readers: Unlocking the pleasures of reading. Carlton: SLAV.

Mallan, One thousand. (Ed.) (2014). Picture Books and Beyond. Newtown, NSW: Main English Didactics Association Australia.

Matar, H. (2017, March sixteen). Books can take y'all places Donald Trump doesn't want yous to get, The New York Times.

Mills, H. & Jennings, L. (2011). Talking about talk: Reclaiming the value and power of literature circles. The Reading Teacher, 64 (viii), 590-598.

Nodelman, P. & Reimer, Thou. (2003). The pleasures of children'due south literature. Boston: Allyn & Salary.

Thomson, S., Hillman, Thousand. & De Bortoli, L. (2013). A teacher's guide to PISA reading literacy. Camberwell, Vic: ACER.

Thomson, Southward., Hillman, K, Wernert, N., Schmid, Thousand., Buckley, S. & Muneme, A. (2012). Highlights from TIMMS and PIRLS 2011 from Australia's perspective. Melbourne: ACER.

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Source: https://www.education.vic.gov.au/school/teachers/teachingresources/discipline/english/literacy/readingviewing/Pages/litfocusliterature.aspx

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