Dissertation
Developing Taiwanese Students' Critical Literacy Through Reading Postmodern Picturebooks
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Washington State University
01/2017
Handle:
https://hdl.handle.net/2376/111445
Abstract
Developing critical literacy through reading may support students in understanding the assumptions, expectations, and ideologies. In the educational context of Taiwan, the majority of students are introduced to critical literacy at the tertiary level. That is, students in primary and secondary classrooms rarely have opportunities to familiarize themselves with critical literacy and engage in critical literacy practices. The purpose of this study was to explore how and in what ways reading postmodern picturebooks supports critical literacy development in Taiwanese 3rd- and 4th-graders. Six postmodern picturebooks were used in this study. Participants of this study included 127 Grade 3 and Grade 4 students from five different classrooms and their teachers participating in reading activities, including a) teachers reading aloud to students, b) teachers facilitating class discussions, and c) students reflecting on the books through writing, drawing, or both. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with teachers and students after six picturebooks were read. A small portion of the collected data was used to create two manuscripts for this dissertation. The first manuscript presents a critical content analysis of postmodern picturebooks to select books that showed potential for critical literacy development. Building on the finding of the first manuscript, the second manuscript presents the analysis of Taiwanese students’ written and illustrated responses to Piggybook (Browne, 1990) by using the visual discourse analysis method. The findings suggest that postmodern picturebooks have good visual and literary quality in general, but most importantly, they show the possibility for critical literacy development for students. Moreover, Taiwanese student started to think deeper about the power relations portrayed in the story, make connections with the story, and rethink the interrelationship between themselves and the society. Suggestions for future research are provided.
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Details
- Title
- Developing Taiwanese Students' Critical Literacy Through Reading Postmodern Picturebooks
- Creators
- Ying-Hsuan Lee
- Contributors
- Jane E. Kelley (Advisor)Barbara A. Ward (Committee Member)Sarah N. Newcomer (Committee Member)
- Awarding Institution
- Washington State University
- Academic Unit
- Department of Teaching and Learning
- Theses and Dissertations
- Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Washington State University
- Number of pages
- 129
- Identifiers
- 99900581828301842
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Dissertation