Literature for the English classroom

Barbara Blair has been employed at Bergen University College since 2002. She has worked in the English Department in the literature/ culture discipline. Her focus has been on intercultural communication and didactics, including innovative methods such as Storyline and Photo Story. In recent years she has developed a course in Academic Writing for the staff and MA students at the college.

Turid Husabø is Assistent Professor at Sogn og Fjordane University College (HISF). Years of experience as a teacher, including the teaching of literature and didactics at HISF, have convinced her of the huge potential of extensive reading, which is her hobby-horse in a zoo of other interests.

Anniken Telnes Iversen has a PhD in English Literature with a focus on the bildungsroman in English. She has worked as a translator, academic librarian and teacher. She is currently Associate Professor at Bergen University College.

English competence is rising rapidly in the Nordic countries; this book responds to the need for new types of texts and new approaches to literature studies in teacher training.

Literature for children and young adults is a main focus, including exciting new genres such as graphic novels and picturebooks. Guidance on analysing and choosing texts for classroom use and on writing is provided, as are discussions of drama and film adaptation.

Combining theoretical research-based insights with practical pedagogic strategies for the classroom, this book amply meets the needs of the English teacher training and school curriculum.

Presenting contemporary literature as well as children’s poetry and Shakespeare, this book will be essential reading for teacher training students of English and TEFL teachers at all levels in the school system. All 10 chapters draw on up-to-date research in their fields.

“THIS IS THE BOOK I HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR ALL MY TEACHING CAREER.” Bjørn Sørheim, Senior Lecturer, Sogn og Fjordane University College

“A RICH SOURCE OF IDEAS AND KNOWLEDGE FOR TEACHERS OF ENGLISH, WELL-WRITTEN, SCHOLARLY AND UP-TO-DATE.” Elisabeth Ibsen, Associate Professor of Foreign Language Education, University of Oslo.

Hege Emma Rimmereide is Assistant Professor of English at Bergen University College, where she teaches literature, culture studies and didactics. Her main research interests and publications are associated with children’s literature, graphic novels and reading and writing development as well as the use of ICT in EFL learning.

Tim Vicary is a teaching fellow at the Norwegian Study Centre, University of York.

He has written several textbooks for the teaching of English in Norwegian schools, and has been writing for the English Language Teaching section of Oxford University Press for many years. He has also published seven novels.

ISBN 978-82-450-1382-5

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LITERATURE for the English classroom

Andy Gordon is Senior Lecturer in English Literature at York St John University. He has many years’ experience of teaching at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels. His interests include the Gothic, science fiction and contemporary literature.

Bringing together enthusiastic scholars from Norway and the UK, this book sets out to provide a bridge between English language literature and teaching English as a foreign language (TEFL).

Anna Birketveit Gweno Williams (eds.)

AUTHORS

Anna Birketveit and Gweno Williams (eds.)

LITERATURE for the English classroom THEORY INTO PRACTICE

EDITORS

Anna Birketveit is Associate Professor of English at Bergen University College. She has many years of experience as an English teacher and teacher trainer. Her main fields of teaching and research are children’s literature and EFL. A particular interest is the field of picturebooks.

Gweno Williams is Professor of English at York St John University and Visiting Professor at the Norwegian Study Centre at the University of York, where she has given regular guest lectures for more than 20 years.

She has been awarded a British National Teaching Fellowship, and is passionate about interactive and dynamic ways of studying literature at all levels.

NB!

Literature for the English Classroom

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Anna Birketveit and Gweno Williams (eds.)

Literature for the English Classroom Theory into Practice

Copyright © 2013 by Vigmostad & Bjørke AS All Rights Reserved 4. printrun 2018 ISBN: 978-82-450-1382-5 Graphic production: John Grieg, Bergen Cover design by Fagbokforlaget Cover photo: Siv Birgitta Systad, Mediesenteret ved Høgskolen i Bergen Typeset by Laboremus Oslo AS © Illustrations: From Princess Smartypants by Babette Cole (Hamish Hamilton, 1986) Copyright © Babette Cole, 1986.

Reproduced by permission of Penguin Books Ltd, pp. 20–21.

From George And The Dragon by Chris Wormell. Published by Jonathan Cape, pp. 24–25; From Voices In The Park by Anthony Browne, Published by Doubleday, pp. 26 and 35–37; From The Zoo by Anthony Browne, Published by Julia MacRae, p. 29. Reprinted by permission of The Random House Group Limited.

From Where The Forest Meets The Sea, illustrations © 1988 Jeannie Baker. Reproduced by permission of Walker Books Ltd, London SE11 5HJ www.walker.co.uk, pp. 30, 40–41.

From Aaaarghh Spider! by Lydia Monks, first published in 2004 by Egmont UK Ltd, and used with permission, pp. 32– 33.

From The Incredible Book Eating Boy by Oliver Jeffers. Reprinted by permission of HarperCollins Publishers Ltd © 2006 Oliver Jeffers, pp. 42–43.

From The Wolves in the Walls, illustrations © Dave McKean 2003, text © Neil Gaiman 2003, Bloomsbury Publishing Plc., pp. 44–45.

From My Two Grannies by Floella Benjamin and Margaret Chamberlain. Copyright © Frances Lincoln Ltd. 2007, p. 46.

From The princess and the frog by the Grimm Brothers, New York NMB, 1995. Copyright Will Eisner Studios, Inc. Used with permission, pp. 140–141.

From Jeff Smith, Bone: Out from Boneville. New York: Graphix, Scholastic © Scholastic Press, 2005, pp. 144–145.

From Coraline. Text copyright © 2002, 2009 by Neil Gaiman. Illustration copyright © 2008 P. Craig Russel.

Used by permission of HarperCollins Publishers, p. 147.

From Brian Selznick. The Invention of Hugo Cabret: A Novel in Words and Pictures. New York: Scholastic Press, © Scholastic Press, p. 148.

From The Savage written by David Almond, illustrated by Dave McKean Illustrations © 2008 David McKean. Reproduced by permission of Walker Books Ltd, London SE11 5HJ www.walker.co.uk, pp. 150–153.

From The Avengers. Michael Brian Bendis and John Romita Jr. (Ill). New York: Marvel, © Marvel, pp. 156–157.

Inquiries about this text can be directed to: Fagbokforlaget Kanalveien 51 5068 Bergen Tel.: 55 38 88 00 Fax: 55 38 88 01 e-mail: fagbokforlaget@fagbokforlaget.no www.fagbokforlaget.no All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

Contents

Introduction

...................................................................

7

..................................................................

17

SECTION I 1

Picturebooks ANNA BIRKETVEIT

2

Children´s poetry

.......................................................... 55

TURID HUSABØ

3

Graded readers and the joys of extensive reading ....................................................

77

TIM VICARY

4

Fairy tales

...................................................................... 93

ANNA BIRKETVEIT

5

Creative approaches to drama in the English classroom .................................................

GWENO WILLIAMS

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115

6 | Contents

6

Graphic novels in EFL learning

................................. 131

HEGE EMMA RIMMEREIDE

7

Novels for teenage readers

....................................... 163

GWENO WILLIAMS

8

The interface between literature and film

.............. 191

ANDREW GORDON

SECTION II 9

Reading novels and short stories

............................. 211

ANNIKEN TELNES IVERSEN

10

Reading and writing: Intertwined branches

........... 235

BARBARA BLAIR

Index

............................................................................... 255

Introduction

The main aim of this book is to inspire present and future teachers to draw creatively on a wide range of authentic English language literature as classroom material, in order to provide reading choices from a rich array of texts catering for learners’ differing interests and abilities. We firmly believe that learners who encounter a variety of texts which engage and enthuse them are much more likely to be motivated to continue as active independent lifelong readers.

Indeed, motivation has become an increasingly important factor in recent EFL (English as a foreign language) research (DĂśrnyei, 1998:117). We also hope that this book will be of interest to those responsible for school libraries, who can draw on the numerous examples suggested throughout. This book is the result of many years of collaboration between the editors in providing EFL in-service courses and resources for teachers and teacher training students.

All the contributors to the book draw on up-to-date research in their fields.

Literature undoubtedly carries its own rewards and pleasures. Human beings crave stories, to fulfil an innate need to imagine other places and other lives. Stories are all around, often unrecognised. News or media items, for example, are often presented in narrative form, focusing on personalities and their exploits as a means of engaging readers and listeners. Such narratives can even fall into very traditional patterns, with a hero and an antagonist, a conflict or a complication, a rise and often a fall, too, moving towards the satisfaction of a resolution. Penne (2010:151–152) identifies this as the basis of narrative desire, a fundamental value of this book. Quality literary texts engage the reader, tell stories and offer psychological insights. They open up imaginative perspectives, interrogate values and assumptions, and lead to enhanced understanding of global cultures and differences.

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8 | Introduction

The use of children’s and young adults’ literature in the English classroom is emphasised throughout the Knowledge Promotion (LK06) which is the 2006 Norwegian national curriculum. The English Subject Curriculum requires that after year 2, “the pupil shall be able to participate in English child culture and children’s literature using words, pictures, music and movement”, and after year 4, “join in nursery rhymes, songs and stories in English, express thoughts and emotions in the encounter with English-language literature and child culture, and prepare oral and written texts” inspired by these. Aims intensify after year 7 to include the ability to “read and talk about English-language literature for children and young people from various media and genres”, “to compare characters and content in a selection of children’s books” and “to express him or herself creatively, inspired by English literature from various genres and media”. After year 10, learners are expected to be able to “read and discuss a representative selection of literary texts from the genres poetry, short stories, novels and drama from the English-speaking world”. They should also be able to discuss their own written texts “inspired by literature and art”. Additionally, they should be able to “describe theme and composition in texts and visual expression”. After year 1 and year 2 in upper secondary school, the competence aims include film and more advanced literary studies.

The national guidelines for English 1 in teacher training education (GLU 1–7 and 5–10) conform with these aims in stating that the student training to be an English teacher should have knowledge about lifestyles and forms of cultural expression in English-speaking countries, as portrayed in texts for children and young adults. Genre knowledge and academic writing skills are emphasised, as is knowledge about how to guide learners in producing their own texts, including multimodal texts. Students of English 2 are also expected to be familiar with critical and analytical approaches to literature and other types of texts. This book sets out to address the requirements of LK06 and the national guidelines for teacher training, in order to provide teacher training students with a broad base for acquiring the required range of knowledge.

LK06 foregrounds reading and writing as two of the five basic skills integrated into all school subjects. Good reading and writing skills go hand in hand (as discussed in Chapter 10). Reading strategies are often classified into two broad groups: the bottom-up approach, also called intensive reading, and the top-down approach, also called extensive reading. Traditionally, L2 reading has been reading for detail, focusing on individual words and the sentence level – the bottom-up approach. According to Wray, focusing on individual words rather than sequences makes the language seem more manageable and

Introduction | 9

may give a feeling of control. However, this approach can neglect the fact that words “belong together, and do not necessarily need separating” (2002: 12).

The bottom-up approach also implies that the writer has coded the text, and the reader’s purpose is to decode a pre-determined meaning. A top-down model conceptualises reading differently. Through a process of prediction and inference, words and phrases are processed by the reader. Prior semantic, pragmatic, syntactic and discourse knowledge is drawn upon in the reader’s ongoing meaning-making. (See Chapter 3 for further discussion of extensive reading.)

It is common to distinguish between schemata and script in top-down reading strategies. The former refers to the background knowledge needed to fill “the gaps” in the text. The latter refers to the temporal sequencing of a text or the patterns of cause and effect. These are often not explicit as the reader knows the script and therefore knows what to expect.

Although reader response theory is used mainly in the teaching of L1 literature, it ties in with schemata theory (Simensen, 1998: 90). According to Iser (1980), the meaning of a literary work lies “halfway” between the text and the meaning-making of the text. A text includes certain “correlations”, and these work together to form expectations in the reader. These expectations are modified as the reader reads on at the same time as a process of retrospection takes place with a modification of what has already been read (1980: 52–54).

An important consequence of reader response, script and schemata theories is the need to provide the reader with choice and high-interest reading material. Only then can the reader draw on his or her background knowledge, engage with the texts, fill the gaps and, most importantly, enjoy reading.

Indeed, teacher and learner choice is one of the underpinning values of this book. We hope the examples and pedagogic strategies suggested throughout will help teachers to become increasingly independent and resourceful in their choice of texts, in turn encouraging learners to become enthusiastic and self-motivated readers of English language literature.

Twenty-first century society is increasingly visual, requiring competence in reading multimodal texts. According to Kress & Van Leeuwen (2001: 2), the multi-literacy of interpreting the whole message in text-image relations is an important textual practice to master, as an integral aspect of contemporary society. Accordingly, this book devotes several chapters to classroom use of newer visual genres such as picturebooks, graphic novels and film.

There are huge benefits in using authentic literature in foreign language learning, not least the provision of rich, varied, useful and realistic language input. Classroom engagement with authentic texts can offer a brief but effective experience of immersion language learning, enabling the learner to take

10 | Introduction

a “language bath” – considered highly effective for foreign language learning. Through extensive reading, the learner is exposed to large amounts of language and will come across the same vocabulary and expressions many times but in changing contexts. This is very beneficial as frequency of exposure is an important factor for language learning (Nation, 2001 and Schmitt, 2010). Research (Al-Homoud & Schmitt, 2009; Bell, 2001; Cho & Krashen, 1994; Elley, 1991; Hafiz & Tudor, 1989; Janopoulos, 1986; Elley and Mangubhai, 1983) shows a significant correlation between the amount of extensive reading and effective language learning. A recent pilot project on extensive reading of picturebooks and illustrated books carried out in a class of Norwegian 11-year-olds showed a clear improvement in L2 writing with regard to storybuilding skills and length of texts (Birketveit and Rimmereide, 2012).

Too often, however, EFL teaching strategies in Norwegian schools have tended to rely heavily and almost exclusively on traditional coursebooks, without further reading material (Drew et al., 2007: 30). Coursebooks typically consist of various types of shorter texts (dialogues, facts, poems, letters or extracts from stories), various grammar points and exercises related to vocabulary, content, oral practice and grammar. There is a real danger that these shorter texts will not develop extensive reading skills. Hellekjær (2005) and Ibsen (2008) claim that learners of English are too used to reading for detail and that students’ extensive reading skills need strengthening for later life. Yet perhaps a far more serious shortcoming is that coursebooks can frustrate learners through the use of extracts, denying access to closure and failing to fulfil narrative desire. Reading is simply not fun when you never get to know what happens! Arguably, the practice of using extracts as reading material may be one of the reasons why many learners, especially boys, have relatively poor reading skills and low motivation for reading books.

For all these reasons, we argue that coursebooks are no longer sufficient as the only teaching material in English classrooms, particularly given the advances in and sophistication of the level of learners’ competencies in English, both in creating language and in comprehension. We also argue that currently too few school libraries are equipped with a good selection of books in English which can exploit the constant advantageous exposure of learners to English, enabling them to cope with longer texts in English. Some teachers may lack the confidence to use authentic texts, due to a general lack of knowledge about suitable literary texts in English. This book aims to help and encourage present and future teachers of English, as well as librarians, to develop the confidence to go beyond the coursebook and actively engage with authentic English language literature. Teacher reliance on a coursebook,

Introduction | 11

starting on the first page and continuing chapter by chapter, lesson by lesson, can quickly render English repetitive and predictable. By contrast, we encourage the idea that English is a school subject with a vast potential for variation, underpinned by a wide variety of engaging, exciting and wonderful stories and genres to choose from. Present and future teachers of English are fortunate that writing for children is currently in a particularly rich and prolific phase, offering them an unparalleled choice of authentic material.

This book is organised in two sections. Section I, the longer, consists of chapters discussing various genres and texts and their classroom potential.

With some overlap, the first chapters deal with genres mainly for younger learners, whereas the successive chapters focus mainly on older learners.

Each chapter aims to give some theoretical background to the genre, with examples, and to provide a toolkit for analysis. In addition, pedagogy and didactic ideas for the language classroom are discussed. Section II focuses on improving teacher training students’ own academic skills.

Section I comprises Chapters 1–8. In Chapter 1, Anna Birketveit discusses why picturebooks are one of the most exciting and innovative types of authentic EFL literature teachers can use. Verbal text and image interaction on every double-spread assist and engage the reader. A new set of analytical concepts typical of picturebooks are introduced and ideas for the classroom presented.

In Chapter 2, Turid Husabø discusses and defines children’s poetry and suggests that exploring the pleasures of poetry implies exploring oneself. A historical overview of children’s poetry in England is given and the chapter provides an abundance of ideas for the use of poetry in the classroom.

Chapter 3, by Tim Vicary, discusses graded readers from the point of view of a successful, award-winning author. The chapter explains the value of graded readers in the EFL classroom and emphasises the benefits of an extensive reading approach.

Chapter 4, by Anna Birketveit, presents fairy tales and discusses why they are very suitable for the English language classroom. The origins, contents and messages of the tales are discussed, showing how the tales often reflected the circumstances of their tellers. Patterns used in fairy tales are examined, and ideas for presenting fairy tales in a classroom setting are discussed, including a cross-curricular project on English and orienteering.

Chapter 5, by Gweno Williams, deals with drama and teaching Shakespeare in the EFL classroom. Advantages and benefits of dramatic activity for all age ranges are discussed, along with some recommended resources and guidelines for introducing students to selected plays by Shakespeare.

12 | Introduction

Chapter 6, by Hege Emma Rimmereide, discusses the new and exciting genre of graphic novels. These texts are fun and motivating, developing the new concept of literacy which involves decoding images as well as words.

The genre’s distinctive features and examples of texts and didactic ideas are discussed, and the concept of creating literary circles is explained. Lists of which texts to read at which level are given.

Chapter 7, by Gweno Williams, presents a wide range of examples of quality authentic contemporary fiction for teenagers which teachers can use in the classroom to stimulate and engage young people as willing and enthusiastic readers. A variety of interactive pedagogic approaches are also discussed.

Chapter 8, by Andrew Gordon, discusses the interface between literature and film with particular reference to film adaptations of literary texts. Information about ways of reading and understanding film as a genre is provided, together with detailed commentary on three key example films.

Section II comprises Chapters 9–10. Chapter 9, by Anniken Telnes Iversen, deals with analysing short stories and novels. Fiction is seen as a chance to explore other worlds; different academic approaches to fiction as well as analytical concepts and tools are described. Different genres and narrative strategies are discussed using various examples.

Chapter 10, by Barbara Blair, addresses effective writing and discusses how reading and writing are mutually supportive processes. The chapter provides useful guidance about the writing of academic essays. The different stages in the writing process and academic writing conventions are discussed, and the building blocks of paragraphs are outlined.

English in Scandinavian countries Competencies in English are steadily rising throughout Scandinavia (as well as elsewhere in the world), as learners begin to study English at ever-younger ages, whilst simultaneously experiencing extensive exposure to Englishmedium communication, including online and social media. Swedish and Danish learners experience constant daily exposure to English, through, for example, TV programs which are not dubbed. The Swedish and Danish national curricula for English in school include very similar aims to the Norwegian LK06. The Swedish curriculum highlights the importance of speaking, reading and writing skills as well as cultural understanding and reflection. Children’s literature and genres are specified for years 1–6, such as nursery rhymes, songs and dramatizations; for years 7–9, literary texts can comprise texts for young people as well as adults. Likewise in the Danish cur-

Introduction | 13

riculum for English, reading and writing skills and strategies are emphasized, together with intercultural awareness and understanding and knowledge about different types of texts.

Whilst it is beyond the scope of this current volume to discuss these curriculum aims in detail, the editors hope that this volume will inspire and interest TEFL teachers and teacher training students in all the Scandinavian countries.

Acknowledgements Gweno Williams would like to thank her colleagues at the Norwegian Study Centre, Andy Gordon, Helen Gilroy, Lesley Clark and Liz Savage for their support for her work.

Anna Birketveit would like to thank her colleagues at the English department and in the research group, Samansette kunstuttrykk, at Bergen University College (HiB) for encouragement and contributions to the book.

She would also like to thank Maria Turøy, Andreas Konningen, Pernille Løfblad and Benedicte Lie (English students at HiB 2013) for appearing in the cover photographs.

References Al-Homoud, F. & Schmitt, N. (2009). Extensive Reading in a Challenging Environment: A Comparison of Extensive and Intensive Reading Approaches in Saudi Arabia. Language Teaching Research, 13, 383–401.

Bell, T. (2001). Extensive Reading: Speed and Comprehension. The Reading Matrix, 1.

Birketveit, A. & Rimmereide, H. E. (2012). Does Reading Stories Enhance Language Learning?

In Hasselgren, A., Drew, I. & Sørheim, B. (eds). The Young Language Learner: Research-based Insights into Teaching and Learning. Bergen: Fagbokforlaget.

Cho, K. S., & Krashen, S. (1994). Acquisition of Vocabulary from the Sweet Valley High Kids Series: Adult ESL Acquisition. Journal of Reading,37, 662–667.

Dörnyei, Z. (1998). Motivation in Second and Foreign Language Learning. In Language Teaching, 31, 117–135.

Drew, I., Oostdam, R. & van Toorenburg, H. (2007). Teachers’ Experiences and Perceptions of Primary EFL in Norway and the Netherlands: A Comparative Study. In European Journal of Teacher Education, 30/3, 319–341.

Elley, W. B., & Mangubhai, F. (1983). The Impact of Reading on Second Language Learning. In Reading Research Quarterly, 19, 53–67.

Elley, W. (1991). Acquiring Literacy in a Second Language: The Effect of Book-based Programmes.

Language Learning, 41, 375–411.

Hafiz, F. M. & Tudor, I. (1989). Extensive Reading and the Development of Language Skills in an L2. In ELT Journal, 43, 4–13.

14 | Introduction

Hellekjær, G. O. (2005). The Acid Test. Does Upper Secondary EFL Instruction Effectively Prepare Norwegian Students for the Reading of English Textbooks at Colleges and Universities? Oslo: Doctoral thesis at the Faculty of Educational Sciences, University of Oslo.

Ibsen, E. B. (2008). ‘Engelsk i norsk skole – går det bra?’ In Språk og språkundervisning 2/2008.

Iser, W. (1980). ‘The Reading Process: A Phenomenological Approach’. In Tompkins, J. P. (ed.).

Reader-response: From Formalism to Post-Structuralism Criticism. Baltimore and London: The John Hopkins University Press, 50–69.

Janopoulos, M. (1986). The Relationship of Pleasure Reading and Second Language Writing Proficiency. In TESOL Quarterly, 20 (4), 763–768.

Kress, G. & van Leeuwen. T. (2001). Multimodal Discourse: Modes and Media of Contemporary Communication. London: Hodder Education.

Läroplan för grundskolan,förskoleklassen och fritidshemmet 2011, retrieved 4 June, 2013 from http://www.skolverket.se/lagar-och-regler/laroplaner-1.147973 Nation, I. S. P. (2001). Learning Vocabulary in Another Language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Penne, S. (2010). Litteratur og film I klasserommet. Didaktikk for ungdomstrinnet og videregående skole. Oslo: Universitetsforlaget.

Schmitt, N. (2010). Researching Vocabulary: A Vocabulary Research Manual. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

Simensen, A. M. (1998). Teaching a Foreign Language. Principles and Procedures. Bergen: Fagbokforlaget.

Wray, A. (2002). Formulaic Language and the Lexicon. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

[START KAP]

SECTION I

1

Picturebooks Anna Birketveit

Introduction Picturebooks are largely an undiscovered treasure trove in EFL despite the fact that they are one of the most exciting and innovative types of authentic texts teachers can use. By telling stories just as much through pictures as through verbal text, they open the door to multiple constructions of meaning, and engage and challenge readers across the boundaries of age and reading skill. They draw on and develop learners’ graphic as well as verbal skills and thus meet the requirements of the new understanding of literacy (see chapter on graphic novels).

The EFL potential of picturebooks lies in the fact that they have the merits of authentic texts but not their drawbacks. Firstly, by using picturebooks where the decoding of meaning is assisted by numerous pictures, the EFL teacher has access to authentic English without worrying about the learner coming across too many unfamiliar words. Schmitt (2010: 32) claims that readers need to know 98–99 % of the words in a text to be able to access its meaning, which clearly posits a challenge for the EFL teacher when using authentic verbal texts. In picturebooks, the pictures are just as important as the verbal text in conveying meaning. As the verbal text of picturebooks tends to be quite short, readers are not put off by the longer texts usually found in authentic books. Thus, when reading picturebooks the EFL learner is assisted both by the pictures and by texts of manageable length. Moreover, picturebooks truly provide visual support for weak or reluctant readers. The learners have a choice in their meaning-making; they can rely mostly on the pictures or mostly on the verbal text or go back and forth between the two according

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18 | Anna Birketveit

to where their cognitive strength lies. Thus, picturebooks are excellent material for differentiation.

Secondly, picturebooks are deeply satisfying because they give EFL readers the often underestimated pleasure of reading whole stories. As discussed in the Introduction, it is common in Norwegian classrooms to rely mainly on the material provided by coursebooks (Drew, Oostdam & Toorenburg, 2007), where extracts of stories rather than whole stories are presented as reading material. This can be off-putting and contradict how we make sense of things.

The concept of the hermeneutic circle established that we understand the parts in terms of the whole and the whole in terms of the parts, and that we go back and forth between parts and whole in our meaning-making. Rather than motivating the reader, extracts of stories may frustrate the reader in that the narrative desire (Penne, 2010) remains unfulfilled. Thirdly, the language of picturebooks was not made with EFL learners in mind, and tends to be idiomatic, rich, varied and suggestive. They are written for an audience of native speakers, and they are a far cry from the cautious, watered-down and often flat texts of EFL coursebooks.

Another very important asset of picturebooks is that children like them because many are witty and amusing and often defy reader expectations. These books possess unique potential to tell stories through different types of picturetext interaction. When pictures and text act together, the meaning is enhanced, becoming more than the sum of the individual parts. Humour often arises when a neutral verbal text has pictures that exaggerate or even contradict the verbal text. In Princess Smartypants by Babette Cole (1996), for instance, the suitor’s effort to please the princess by taking her mother shopping evokes laughter when the picture shows him stumbling under heavy shopping bags while the queen herself sails in front looking at baggy undergarments (illustration 1).

Last, but not least, picturebooks are one of the most gratifying subjects to teach as little text and ample illustrations make the texts easily accessible.

They are objects of art which can be looked at and enjoyed even without prior learner preparation. Exploring the paratext and story together with learners is very engaging. Picturebooks invite sharing, and it is in their nature to “generate talk” (Watson & Styles, 1996: 1). The learners can be encouraged to reflect on front and back covers, the title page, fonts, colours, layout, numbers and position of pictures, etc., and suggest what these aspects might add to the meaning. Award-winning authors such as the recent Children’s Laureate, Anthony Browne, borrow motifs and techniques from well-known artists. This opens up interesting possibilities for cross-curricular school projects between English and art. How satisfying it is to see the EFL learners

1 Picturebooks | 19

integrating different skills and becoming small artists themselves, creating their own picturebooks where they make everything, the pictures as well as the English text, by themselves!

Theoretical background Picturebooks are an art form that relies on the interdependence of verbal and visual representation. This is often referred to as iconotext. According to Nikolajeva and Scott (2006: 1), the main function of the pictures is to describe, whereas the main function of the verbal text is to narrate. As opposed to the situation when picturebooks first emerged in the first half of the 1900s, when pictures supported the verbal texts and were thus subordinated to the words (Anstey & Bull, 2004), the pictures today are just as important as the verbal text. According to Lewis (1990), the interplay between words and images and illustrative text makes picturebooks a supergenre. Picturebooks require readers to fill the “gaps” in the texts. According to Iser’s reader response theory (1980), discussed in the Introduction, the text is a co-construction of the author and the reader. The reader has to take active part in the meaning-making of the text, and each reader brings to the text his or her personal experience on which meaning is constructed. The complexity and multi-layered nature of many modern and postmodern picturebooks make them engaging and excellent material for creating competent readers.

It is useful to distinguish between picturebooks and illustrated books.

According to Gregersen (1974), words and pictures are equally important in picturebooks whereas the text can exist independently of the pictures in an illustrated book. Nikolajeva and Scott hold that in an illustrated book “the pictures are subordinated to the words” (2006: 8). An example is Roald Dahl’s The Witches (1983).

A picturebook must have at least one picture on each double spread (opening). If it has fewer, it is categorised as an illustrated book. How much verbal text one finds in a picture book can vary considerably. There are books which apart from the title consist exclusively of pictures, such as Tan, The Arrival (2006) (age: 12-adult), and there are picturebooks with quite a lot of verbal text such as Trivizas, The Three Little Wolves and the Big Bad Pig (1995) (age: 10–16).

As The Arrival consists of pictures only, the readers are freer to construct their own stories, whereas in The Three Little Wolves and the Big Bad Pig the story is given by the verbal text and enhanced by the funny pictures. From a language learning point of view, the verbal text extends and challenges the language skills of learners in a more demanding way than can a book with no words.

20 | Anna Birketveit

Traditionally, picturebooks have been thought of as a children’s genre, as expressed in the most commonly used definition of picturebooks: A picture book is text, illustrations, total design; an item of manufacture and a commercial product; a social, cultural, historical document; and foremost an experience for a child. As an art form it hinges on the interdependence of pictures and words, on the simultaneous display of two facing pages, and on the drama of the turning page.

(Bader, 1976: 1)

It is still the case that many picturebooks are for young children, and have little text and accompanying pictures. Here the goal is often to teach the child something, such as opposites, numbers or the names of clothes or animals. One such book is Carle, The Very Hungry Caterpillar (1974), where

Illustration 1: From Princess Smartypants (1996) by Babette Cole

1 Picturebooks | 21

the little caterpillar literally eats its way through different fruits on different days of the week, emerging as a beautiful butterfly in the end. However, due to social and cultural developments and huge technological improvements, we are now living in a world that increasingly values and relies on the visual. Thus, in the past few decades, picturebooks have undergone considerable development, with regard to both content and form, blurring the boundaries between books for children and adults, and making the notion that picturebooks are exclusively for young people difficult to maintain (Anstey & Bull, 2004). Thus humorous picturebooks, for example, where the illustrations in particular often exaggerate or serve as a counterpoint to the verbal text, will appeal to older children, and some of them to young adults. Princess Smartypants is an example of such a text. Regardless of what the princess’s suitors try to do to win her heart, as shown through amusing

Illustration 2: From Princess Smartypants (1996) by Babette Cole

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exaggerations in the illustrations, she rejects them all. Her notion of living happily ever after is shown in the last illustration, where she lies on a sunbed with a fizzy drink, surrounded by all her pets (illustration 2). This reversed fairy tale of a modern, mischievous princess questions traditional female roles and looks at the notion of being a princess with irony. This picturebook and others will be discussed in more detail below.

Today, there are picturebooks that one could argue are not for children at all, but rather for young adults and adults. Shaun Tan says about his own picturebooks that “they are not created with children in mind, but rather a general audience. I see each book as an experiment in visual and written narrative, part of an ongoing exploration of this fascinating literary form” (Tan, 2012). The Wolves in the Walls (Gaiman, 2004) is a picturebook that is scary both in content and form and is not really intended for children. The story is told through nightmarish descriptions and dramatic images that enhance the story as well as help the reader and EFL learner decode the story.

Picturebooks can include any genre, such as fairy tales, information books, nursery rhymes, pop-up books, comics, newspapers and nonsense. As picturebooks traditionally tend to be based on fairy tales, they have retained a subversive element often expressed in a mismatch or counterpoint between words and pictures. The first British picturebook to truly explore this element was Hutchins, Rosie’s Walk (1968), which on the surface seems to be a story of a hen walking about the farm calmly and happily and coming back home in time for dinner unaware of any danger. The pictures however, show the fox chasing her on every picture, culminating in his crashing into a beehive and being chased over the hills. Studying the illustrations, we see that we are dealing with two stories in counterpoint: the hen’s and the fox’s.

Picturebooks can help stretch and challenge the EFL learner and give valuable and authentic language and culture input. Both reluctant and eager readers will benefit and feel challenged by this genre. Firstly, the many different types of picturebooks make them interesting at many levels in school and for readers across age groups. As Hestenes (2009) points out, picturebooks for young children are often based on fairy tales and repetition, which appeals to children but also functions well for foreign language learning where frequency is seen as a very influential factor in acquiring new vocabulary (Schmitt, 2010). Picturebooks for young children often aim at teaching specific vocabulary such as numbers, the days of the week or the names of fruits. This is also the kind of vocabulary EFL beginners first start learning.

Secondly, through extensive reading of authentic picturebooks, pupils can increase their vocabulary and acquire narrative skills as shown in a study by

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Birketveit and Rimmereide (2012) carried out in an EFL class of Norwegian 11-year-olds.

Authentic picturebooks for older children (9+) usually have more complex texts than traditional Norwegian EFL coursebooks for this age range.

For example, one of the picturebook texts discussed later in this chapter, George and the Dragon (Wormell, 2003/2002) (illlustration 3), actually uses the astonishing number of 19 different adjectives in the course of quite a short (281 words) verbal text. This is a very high number compared to a traditional coursebook text such as “Giant Soup” (Stairs 6, 2007) which has 425 words but uses only 9 different adjectives. In the first text there are many low-frequency adjectives that most likely will be new and thus stretch the learner, whereas the coursebook text almost exclusively uses high-frequency adjectives (big, hot, cold, warm, no good, better), which the learners are likely to know anyway. Without a doubt, the high lexical density of authentic picturebooks in general provides much more stimulating and challenging language input for the EFL learner than traditional coursebook texts tend to do.

Additionally, picturebooks also meet the aims of LK06 regarding encounters with and reading of English-language literature and child culture. In particular, they provide learners with visual learning material, and as such they meet the aims after year 2, year 7 and year 10. Moreover, good picturebooks are objects of art and can inspire discussions and reactions to art, which is a competence aim after year 10.

The dual audience Traditionally, picturebooks were created with an intended audience of adults reading the books to children. Picturebooks, more than any other narratives for children, tend to address dual audiences. The concept of dual address was established by Wall (1991) and refers to texts that address both the young and the adult reader. There will be meanings constructed both by the child and the adult reader. They understand and notice things differently, but each is an “expert” reader at his or her level. Thus, books that appear simple may actually turn out to be quite complex content-wise, and can thus appeal to more mature EFL learners without seeming too childish. Anthony Browne, who is both a writer and an illustrator, and was appointed British Children’s Laureate in 2009, writes for dual audiences.

His picturebooks have recurring themes and distinctive leitmotifs such as gorillas, brick walls, rainbows and anthropomorphic tree trunks. Moreover, he borrows abundantly from the surrealist painter René Magritte. In Voices in the Park (2001), for instance, hats appear as lamp posts and sym-

Illus the D

24 | Anna Birketveit

Illustration 3: From George and the Dragon (2003) by Chris Wormwell

bols of power throughout the story. The surreal aspects of the story are further underlined by trees which, on closer examination, turn out to be giant fruits or berries, or trees floating in the air, thus underlining the dog’s energy as it races through the park.

Wash discusses how Browne’s picturebooks demand coauthoring from the young reader as well as the adult. In Voices in the Park, “(t)he young reader

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can respond to the visual jokes which the author has scattered throughout the text, but must then puzzle over their contribution to the narrative. The adult reader can enjoy the somewhat humorous references to class in the stereotyped names of the characters, and then reflect on the impact on the global narrative� (1993: 17).

Illus Voic

Barbara Blair has been employed at Bergen University College since 2002. She has worked in the English Department in the literature/ culture discipline. Her focus has been on intercultural communication and didactics, including innovative methods such as Storyline and Photo Story. In recent years she has developed a course in Academic Writing for the staff and MA students at the college.

Turid Husabø is Assistent Professor at Sogn og Fjordane University College (HISF). Years of experience as a teacher, including the teaching of literature and didactics at HISF, have convinced her of the huge potential of extensive reading, which is her hobby-horse in a zoo of other interests.

Anniken Telnes Iversen has a PhD in English Literature with a focus on the bildungsroman in English. She has worked as a translator, academic librarian and teacher. She is currently Associate Professor at Bergen University College.

English competence is rising rapidly in the Nordic countries; this book responds to the need for new types of texts and new approaches to literature studies in teacher training.

Literature for children and young adults is a main focus, including exciting new genres such as graphic novels and picturebooks. Guidance on analysing and choosing texts for classroom use and on writing is provided, as are discussions of drama and film adaptation.

Combining theoretical research-based insights with practical pedagogic strategies for the classroom, this book amply meets the needs of the English teacher training and school curriculum.

Presenting contemporary literature as well as children’s poetry and Shakespeare, this book will be essential reading for teacher training students of English and TEFL teachers at all levels in the school system. All 10 chapters draw on up-to-date research in their fields.

“THIS IS THE BOOK I HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR ALL MY TEACHING CAREER.” Bjørn Sørheim, Senior Lecturer, Sogn og Fjordane University College

“A RICH SOURCE OF IDEAS AND KNOWLEDGE FOR TEACHERS OF ENGLISH, WELL-WRITTEN, SCHOLARLY AND UP-TO-DATE.” Elisabeth Ibsen, Associate Professor of Foreign Language Education, University of Oslo.

Hege Emma Rimmereide is Assistant Professor of English at Bergen University College, where she teaches literature, culture studies and didactics. Her main research interests and publications are associated with children’s literature, graphic novels and reading and writing development as well as the use of ICT in EFL learning.

Tim Vicary is a teaching fellow at the Norwegian Study Centre, University of York.

He has written several textbooks for the teaching of English in Norwegian schools, and has been writing for the English Language Teaching section of Oxford University Press for many years. He has also published seven novels.

ISBN 978-82-450-1382-5

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LITERATURE for the English classroom

Andy Gordon is Senior Lecturer in English Literature at York St John University. He has many years’ experience of teaching at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels. His interests include the Gothic, science fiction and contemporary literature.

Bringing together enthusiastic scholars from Norway and the UK, this book sets out to provide a bridge between English language literature and teaching English as a foreign language (TEFL).

Anna Birketveit Gweno Williams (eds.)

AUTHORS

Anna Birketveit and Gweno Williams (eds.)

LITERATURE for the English classroom THEORY INTO PRACTICE

EDITORS

Anna Birketveit is Associate Professor of English at Bergen University College. She has many years of experience as an English teacher and teacher trainer. Her main fields of teaching and research are children’s literature and EFL. A particular interest is the field of picturebooks.

Gweno Williams is Professor of English at York St John University and Visiting Professor at the Norwegian Study Centre at the University of York, where she has given regular guest lectures for more than 20 years.

She has been awarded a British National Teaching Fellowship, and is passionate about interactive and dynamic ways of studying literature at all levels.