How young preliterate children use pictures to understand a story(symposium1275)

Author(s):

Marian J.A.J. VerhallenAdriana Bus

Conference:

ECER 2009

Network:

9. Assessment, Evaluation, Testing and Measurement

Format:

Symposium Paper

Session Information

09 SES 05 A, The Acquisition of Language Competencies of Children (Age 4-15) with Social and Migrational Disparities: Results of Empirical Studies (Part 1)

Symposium: The Acquisition of Language Competencies of Children (Age 4-15) with Social and Migrational Disparities: Results of Empirical Studies (PART I), continued in 09 SES 06 A

Time:

2009-09-29

08:30-10:00

Room:

HG, HS 50

Chair:

Inge Blatt

Discussant:

Andreas Voss

Contribution

The main aim of this study was to test how young children use visual informations in picture storybooks to understand a story. Twenty-five kindergartners, from low-income families, learning Dutch as a second language participated in this study. Each child listened four times to an oral rendition of a digitized picture storybook while the accompanying pictures were shown on a computer screen. Five books were used and counterbalanced over children and repetitions. Eye movements were registered during book reading with the Tobii 1750 eye tracking system. All visual depictions of words in the story text were defined as areas of interest (AOIs) , these visual elements in illustrations play a role in the story. In addition to AOIs, visual elements, not in the story text (nonAOIs), were also defined. The number and duration of fixations on both type of visual elements were calculated. In line with the assumption that children coordinate words and phrases with visual images, children fixated more often and longer on AOIs than on elements in pictures not mentioned in the story text. However, within AOIs, human figures received far more attention meaning that autonomous processing takes place independent of the oral text as information source.

Method

Expected Outcomes

References

Eberhard, K.M., Spivey-Knowlton, M.J., Sedivy, J.C., & Tanenhaus, M.K. (1995). Eye movements as a window into real-time spoken language comprehension in natural contexts. Journal of Psycholinguistic Research, 24, 409-436. Evans, M.A., & Saint-Aubin, J. (2005). What children are looking at during shared storybook reading. Psychological Science, 16, 913-920. Carney, R.N., & Levin, J.R. (2002). Pictorial illustrations still improve students’ learning from text. Educational Psychology Review, 14, 5-26. Henderson, J.M., Brockmole, J.R., Castelhano, M.S., & Mack, M. (2007). Visual saliency does not account for eye movements during visual search in real-world scenes. In R.P.G. Gompel (Eds.) Eye Movements: A Window on Mind and Brain (pp. 537-562). Amsterdam: Elsevier. Mar, R. A. (2004). The neuropsychology of narrative: story comprehension, story production and their interrelation. Neuropsychologia, 42, 1414-1434. Simcock, G., & DeLoache, J. (2006). Get the picture? The effects of iconicity on toddlers reenactment from picture books. Developmental Psychology, 43, 1352-1357. van der Geest, J.N., Kemner, C., Camfferman, G., Verbaten, M.N., & van Engeland, H. (2002). Looking at images with human figures: comparison between autistic and normal children. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 32, 69-75.

Author Information

Marian J.A.J. Verhallen

Leiden University, Netherlands

Faculteit der Sociale Wetenschappen, Instituut Pedagogische Wetenschappen, Orthopedagogiek

Leiden

157

Adriana Bus

Leiden University, The Netherlands

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