‘Reading’ picture stories

Explorations in Picture Story Tasks of the LESLLA Learner

Susanna Strube, Radboud University Nijmegen, The Netherlands, svenemastrube@casema.nl

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