‘reading’ picture stories explorations in picture story tasks of the leslla learner susanna...
TRANSCRIPT
‘Reading’ picture stories
Explorations in Picture Story Tasks of the LESLLA Learner
Susanna Strube, Radboud University Nijmegen, The Netherlands, [email protected]
Introduction
Little research on the Leslla classroom
Mezirow, Dakenwald, and Knox (1975) Beder and Medina (2001) Condelli, Wrigley et al. (2003) Kurvers and Van der Zouw (1990) Strube
Research focus
The research project strives to find those characteristics which are specific for the Leslla learner in an educational setting.
The focus is on oral skills practice.
Method - design
Longitudinal study
Based on classroom observation (during one school year)
Pre- and post assessments
Method - Participants
Five centers of adult education
Six literacy classes
Six literacy teachers
68 literacy students
Participants - selection
Selection based on:
Type of classroom organization (oral and written skills)
Geographical location
Institution size
Classroom size
Classroom organization
Type 1 Type 2 Type 3
lesson timeallotted to oral and written skills
50% - 50% 50% - 50% not fixed
placement of students
according to level in each skill
class stays together
class stays together
materials specific materials for each skill
specific materials for each skill
variousmaterials
Nova College – 1
ROC Amsterdam – 1
Nova College – 3
ROC Midden Nederland – 3
ROC Rijn IJssel – 2
ROC de Leijgraaf – 2
Learner Characteristics of Literacy Students, January 2007.
Classroom (and type)
Age
Mean
Gender Country of origin
Years of schooling L1 DSL
Mean Mean
Years in theNetherlands
Mean
1 (1) 35.3 14 F various 1.7 0.8 9.3
2 (1) 41.0 11 F various 0.3 1.3 4.9
3 (2) 46.4 6 F1 M
various 1.1 1.1 2.6
4 (2) 33.0 10 F 1 M
various 3.8 0.8 3.8
5 (3) 48.0 13 F 12 Morocco1 Russia
0.6 1.3 15.4
6 (3) 42.8 11 F 10 Morocco1 Turkey
0 1.8 14.5
Totals/averages
41.0 65 F 3 M
1.3 1.2 8.4
Classroom data
Observation Classroom structure
Audio recordings Classroom instructional
interaction
Learner data
Learner background Pre- and post
assessments
Data collection
Assessments
Interview
Vocabulary – receptive and productive
Retention task
Picture description task
Picture story task
Picture story task
Analysis picture story tasks
Relevance
Coherence
Morphosyntax
Relevance
A relevant utterance is one in which the words of the speaker have a direct bearing on the picture; the relationship between what is said by the speaker and what is seen in the picture can easily be perceived.
Minimal distinctive elements for a picture story task.
Entities Activities/properties
manwomangift
give
womangift
hold
womangift
open
womanvase
take
Minimal distinctive elements - illustrated
Picture story Minimal distinctive elements Story told by Royah
Story told by Asomi
Entities Activities/properties
man, woman, gift
give Gift.
(partially relevant)
This man gives gift for this woman.
(relevant)
woman, gift hold Also gift take.
(partially relevant)
This woman look at gift.
(partially relevant)
woman, gift open That maybe T-shirt or so.
(not relevant)
This woman open the gift.
(relevant)
woman, vase take That vase.
(partially relevant)
This woman take the mug.
(relevant)
Relevance Partially and non- relevant utterances
Relevant and partially relevant utterances
Minimal distinctive elements for 14 students for one picture story
Student
Entities (n=56) Activities and properties (n=56)
Relevant Partiallyrelevant
Not relevant
Relevant PartiallyRelevant
Not relevant
1 0 1 3 3 1 0 1 1 0 0 3 3
2 0 0 3 2 1 2 0 1 0 0 4 3
3 2 2 1 1 1 1 4 3 0 0 0 1
4 4 0 0 4 0 0 3 3 1 1 0 0
5 0 0 3 1 1 3 1 0 0 0 3 4
6 1 0 3 3 0 1 2 2 0 0 2 2
7 0 0 3 2 1 2 2 2 0 0 2 2
8 1 1 1 3 2 0 1 1 0 0 3 3
9 0 1 4 1 0 2 0 0 0 0 4 4
10 4 4 0 0 0 0 3 3 0 0 1 1
11 0 0 3 4 1 0 3 3 0 0 1 1
12 0 0 0 1 4 3 1 0 0 0 3 4
13 0 2 2 1 2 1 0 2 0 0 4 2
14 0 0 2 1 2 3 1 0 0 1 3 3
Total 12 11 28 27 16 18 22 21 1 2 33 33
Ass. 1Ass. 2
21.4%19.6%
50.0%48.2%
28.6%32.1%
39.3%37.5%
1.8%3.6%
58.9%58.9%
Coherence
Coherence concerns the continuity of a text.
In this case a text is the whole picture story.
Throughout, the utterances for the picture story must in some way be connected and it must be easy to infer the relationships between them. Explicit - cohesive elements and deictic markers Implicit - reasoning and mutual knowledge
Explicit coherence - cohesion
Linguistic devices that connect utterances. (Halliday and Hassan, 1979)
Reference - I wash my apple before eating it.
Substitution - I like red apples, but my friend likes green ones.
Ellipsis - I bought red apples, but my friend green ones.
Conjunction - She washed her apple and ate it. Then put on her coat to go to school.
Lexical cohesion – I eat a lot of fruit. Just yesterday I ate six apples.
Implicit coherence
John can open Bill’s safe. He knows the combination.
Hobbs, J. R. (1979)
Coherence in three picture stories
Picture story Story told by Royah
Story told by Yamina
Story told by Asomi
Gift. Gift, gift. I uuh give.
This man gives gift for this woman.
Also gift take. I here to house. This woman looks at gift.
That maybe T-shirt or so.
Broken. This woman open the gift.
That vase. Jug uuh jug. This woman take the mug.
Coherence Non-coherent story
Non-coherent story
Coherent story
Coherence – a comparison
Learners Percentage Coherence
Strube study Ass. 1Ass. 2
2 (n=14) 2 (n=14)
14.3%14.3%
Kurvers study LiteratesPre-
schoolersIlliterates
19 (n=19)14 (n=19) 9 (n=20)
100.0%73.7%45.0%
Morphosyntaxis – focus on verb
Syntaxis
Verb presence Verb position Agent presence
Morphology
Uninflected Inflected – correct Inflected - incorrect
Morphosyntax in the picture stories
Picture story Story told by Royah
Story told by Yamina
Cadeautje.
Gift.
Cadeautje, cadeautje. Ik uuuh geef.
Gift, gift. I uuh give.
Ook cadeautje pakken.
Also gift take.
Ik hier naar huis.
I here to house.
Die misschien T-shirt of zo.
That maybe T-shirt or so.
Kapot.
Broken.
Die vaas.
That vase.
Kan uuuh kan.
Jug uuh jug.
Morphosyntax in the picture storiesPicture story Story told by Gita Story told by Asomi
De meneer voor deze vrouw doorgeef cadeautje.
The man for this woman pass on gift.
Deze meneer geeft cadeautje voor deze mevrouw.
This man gives gift for this woman.
De vrouw cadeautje halen.
The woman gift get.
Deze mevrouw kijkt naar cadeautje.
This woman looks at gift.
Dan kom voor thuis misschien openmaken.
Then come for home maybe to open.
Deze mevrouw open de cadeautje.
This woman open the gift.
Dan kijk mooie, de naam weet ik niet.
Then look pretty, the name I don’t know.
Deze mevrouw pakken de beker.
This woman take the mug.
Verb use in four picture stories
Royah Yamina Gita Asomi Maximum scores
1. Verb present 1 1 4 4 4
2. Verb position correct 0 1 2 4 4
3. Agent present 0 1 2 4 4
4. 1 + 2 + 3 0 1 2 4 4
5. Uninflected 1 2 1
6. Inflected – correct 1 1 2
7. Inflected - incorrect 1 1
Verb use in picture story of 14 students
Assessment 1
Assessment 2
Average Assessment
1 + 2
1.Verb present 58.9% 67.9% 63.4%
2.Verb position correct 54.5% 42.1% 48.3%
3. Agent present 54.5% 55.3% 54.9%
4. 1 + 2 + 3 42.4% 28.9% 35.7%
5. Uninflected 63.6% 60.5% 62.1%
6. Inflected – correct 9.1% 5.3% 7.2%
7. Inflected – incorrect 27.2% 34.2% 30.7%
Noteworthy characteristics
Telling characteristics
Picture-by-picture telling Overuse of deictic elements Picture misinterpretation Dialoging Overall lack of coherence
Verb use
ca. 60% of the utterances contained a verb
Verb position usually incorrect Agent usually absent Prominent use of uninflected
verbs - little verb inflection