This paper presents results from a research cooperation between UK and Norway on children’s reading of iconotexts across cultures. The main research question is:

How do children from different cultures interpret the iconotext of contemporary picture books?

The more detailed research questions for this particular paper are:

-         To what extent do the children refer to the words, to the visual images, and to the interplay of words and images in their interpretations?

-         Are there differences related to culture in the responses from children in UK and Norway?

-         Are there differences in the responses from boys and girls?

The notion of “iconotext” is well known from contemporary picture book research (Hallberg 1982; Nikolajeva and Scott 2006), focusing on the interplay between images and writing. This “multimodal ensemble” (Kress 2003) could also be analysed within the framework of multimodal social semiotics (van Leeuwen 2005; Kress 2010), which adds to the analysis an interest in the social and cultural experience inscribed in the multimodal text. Our interest in the children’s responses to the texts, situates the process of reading in a cultural context (Halliday 2004). In the analysis we will relate the potential meaning of two picture books from the two countries involved to the children’s interpretation of these picture books. In an educational setting such a multimodal reception analysis contributes to the understanding of multimodal literacy: the broad array of competence in various semiotic systems relevant to reading and learning in contemporary culture. In addition, the cross-cultural aspects of the study may contribute to our understanding of the relationship between text and context.

The objectives of this research project are to develop in-depth knowledge of children’s literacy practices and interpretive strategies when presented to multimodal texts. The children investigated are beginners in the school system (7 years old), yet they may be experienced interpreters of multimodal meaning (Kress 1997). The texts (children’s books) and contexts (after school clubs) are chosen to mirror informal sites of learning. In conclusion to the analysis we will consider how the findings of the research have applications in pedagogic

practice and draw out the pedagogic implications for literacy development.

Eco, Umberto 1981: The Role of the Reader. Explorations in the Semiotics of Texts. London: Hutchinson Hallberg, Kristin 1982: Litteraturvetenskapen och bilderboksforskningen in Tidsskrift for literaturvetenskap [Journal of literary studies] 3-4/82, pp. 163-168. Stockholm University Halliday, Michael A. K. 2004: An introduction to functional grammar. Revised by Christian M.I.M. Matthiessen. London: Arnold Nikolajeva, Maria and Carole Scott 2006: How picturebooks work. New York: Routledge Jewitt, Carey (ed) 2009: The Routledge Handbook of Multimodal Analysis. London and New York: Routledge Jewitt, Carey og Gunther Kress (eds) 2003: Multimodal Literacy. New York: Peter Lang. The introductory chapter (pp 1-19) Kress, Gunther 1997: Before Writing. Rethinking Paths to Literacy. London and New York: Routledge Kress, Gunther 2003: Literacy in the New Media Age. London and New York: Routledge