Beyond 'Because I Like It': Emergent Readers' Picture Book Selection and Interaction
Abstract/Contents
- Abstract
- This study examined the book selections of a population of emergent readers (n = 32; 15 male) and asked them to reflect upon their choices with the intention of cultivating a deeper understanding of what matters to children in their early reading experiences. The hypothesis tested was that ethnicity would emerge as a significant predictor of book selection and duration of interaction. Participants sat with an experimenter who showed them three books each featuring characters from diverse backgrounds (African-American, Hispanic, Caucasian). Children received brief summaries of each book (presented in counterbalanced order) and were instructed to choose the one they most wanted to look at. The experimenter was silent and recorded the child’s total time with the book as well as his or her total independent interaction times. Once finished children were asked and answered a series of questions evaluating what they found most important. No differences in selection based on ethnic background were observed. Agentive factors emerged as the most significant justifications for selecting books, and children routinely made connections to their personal lives (e.g. family, experiences, preferences), and children regularly used text as a substrate for reflection on experience and revelation-of-self. As children in early childhood are in the early stages of ethnic identity development it was likely that ethnicity was deemed irrelevant or at least secondary to immediate lived experiences in children’s literary engagement. Implications for authors, teachers, and parents are considered.
Description
| Type of resource | text |
|---|---|
| Date created | May 2015 |
Creators/Contributors
| Author | Anderson, Ronald L. |
|---|---|
| Primary advisor | Deborah Stipek |
| Advisor | Willinsky, John |
| Degree granting institution | Stanford University, Graduate School of Education |
Subjects
| Subject | emergent readers |
|---|---|
| Subject | early childhood |
| Subject | literacy |
| Subject | picture books |
| Subject | Stanford Graduate School of Education |
| Genre | Thesis |
Bibliographic information
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- Use and reproduction
- User agrees that, where applicable, content will not be used to identify or to otherwise infringe the privacy or confidentiality rights of individuals. Content distributed via the Stanford Digital Repository may be subject to additional license and use restrictions applied by the depositor.
- License
- This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial 3.0 Unported license (CC BY-NC).
Preferred citation
- Preferred Citation
- Anderson, Ronald L. (2015). Beyond 'Because I Like It': Emergent Readers' Picture Book Selection and Interaction. Stanford Digital Repository. Available at: http://purl.stanford.edu/fq614wj5417
Collection
Undergraduate Honors Theses, Graduate School of Education
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- Contact
- ronaldleonjr@gmail.com
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