Children’s picture books are typical combinations of image modality and text modality. Reading well-illustrated picture books will help to develop children’s early literacy skills, which will in turn impact their subsequent academic de-velopment and socialization. From the perspective of multimodal discourse analysis and based on the Systemic Functional Grammar and Visual Narrative Theory, the study took the language-learning-focused picture book set level 4 of Oxford Reading Tree as an example and analyzed how interpersonal meanings are constructed in it. Through the analysis of mood, modality, and person systems in the verbal mode, focalization, pathos, and ambience in the visual mode, and the two relations of elaboration and extension between pic-tures and words, the study deciphers the ways of constructing pictorial-text re-lations in picture books and provides insightful implications for parents and teachers to do picture book reading with children effectively while improving their language skills and especially the narrative macrostructure.
Cite this paper
Wang, J. and Yin, J. (2024). The Interpersonal Meaning Analysis of Children’s Language-Learning-Focused Picture Books: From a Multimodal Discourse Analysis Perspective. Open Access Library Journal, 11, e1659. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/oalib.1111659.
Debaryshe, B.D. (1993) Joint Picture-Book Reading Correlates of Early Oral Language Skill. Journal of Child Language, 20, 455-461. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0305000900008370
Lepola, J., Kajamies, A., Laakkonen, E. and Niemi, P. (2020) Vocabulary, Metacognitive Knowledge and Task Orientation as Predictors of Narrative Picture Book Comprehension: From Preschool to Grade 3. Reading and Writing, 33, 1351-1373. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11145-019-10010-7
Purpura, D.J., Schmitt, S.A., Napoli, A.R., Dobbs-Oates, J., King, Y.A., Hornburg, C.B. and Rolan, E. (2021) Engaging Caregivers and Children in Picture Books: A Family-Implemented Mathematical Language Intervention. Journal of Educational Psychology, 113, 1338-1353. https://doi.org/10.1037/edu0000662
Splinter, S.E., Eynde, E., Wauters, E., Depaepe, F., Verschaffel, L. and Torbeyns, J. (2023) Children’s Picture Books: A Systematic Analysis of Features in the Domain of Mathematics. Early Education and Development, 34, 1254-1273. https://doi.org/10.1080/10409289.2022.2094161
Li, Q. (2012) Picture Books: An Analysis of the Educational Value of Picture Book Reading for Young Children. Education and Teaching Forum, No. 15, 188-189.
Horst, J.S. and Houston-Price, C. (2015) An Open Book: What and How Young Children Learn from Picture and Story Books. Frontiers in Psychology, 6, Article No. 1719. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2015.01719
Mapley, H. (2015) In Search of Disability: A Critical Discourse Analysis of a Key Stage 1 Guided Reading Scheme. Disability & Society, 30, 896-909. https://doi.org/10.1080/09687599.2015.1034847
Karemaker, A., Pitchford, N.J. and O’Malley, C. (2010) Enhanced Recognition of Written Words and Enjoyment of Reading in Struggling Beginner Readers through Whole-Word Multimedia Software. Computers & Education, 54, 199-208. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2009.07.018
Ramsook, K.A., Welsh, J.A. and Bierman, K.L. (2020) What You Say, and How You Say It: Preschoolers’ Growth in Vocabulary and Communication Skills Differentially Predict Kindergarten Academic Achievement and Self-Regulation. Social Development, 29, 783-800. https://doi.org/10.1111/sode.12425
Ferretti, L.K. and Bub, K.L. (2017) Family Routines and School Readiness during the Transition to Kindergarten. Early Education and Development, 28, 59-77.
Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China (2012) Notification of the Ministry of Education on the Issuance of the Guidelines for the Learning and Development of Children Aged 3-6 Years. http://www.moe.gov.cn/srcsite/A06/s3327/201210/t20121009_143254.html
Weninger, C. (2021) Multimodality in Critical Language Textbook Analysis. Language, Culture and Curriculum, 34, 133-146. https://doi.org/10.1080/10409289.2016.1195671
Shin, D.S., Cimasko, T. and Yi, Y. (2020) Development of Metalanguage for Multimodal Composing: A Case Study of an L2 Writer’s Design of Multimedia Texts. Journal of Second Language Writing, 47, Article ID: 100714. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jslw.2020.100714
Xiao, H.Z., Zhang, W. and Mo, R. (2023) A Multidimensional Alignment Sustainability Model for Language Development: Evidence from L1 and L2 Semio-Semantic and Semio-Pragmatic Markers. Language Sciences, 100, Article ID: 101572. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.langsci.2023.101572
Zappavigna, M. (2016) Social Media Photography: Construing Subjectivity in Instagram Images. Visual Communication, 15, 271-292. https://doi.org/10.1177/1470357216643220
Cui, D. (2016) Beyond “Connected Presence”: Multimedia Mobile Instant Messaging in Close Relationship Management. Mobile Media & Communication, 4, 19-36. https://doi.org/10.1177/2050157915583925
Wang, M., Guo, W. and Dong, Q. (2022) Profiling High School Students’ Multimodal Posting in a Digital Literacy SPOC and Examining Teachers’ and Students’ Perceptions. Interactive Learning Environments, 32, 994-1011. https://doi.org/10.1080/10494820.2022.2107678
Querol-Julián, M. and Fortanet-Gómez, I. (2012) Multimodal Evaluation in Academic Discussion Sessions: How Do Presenters Act and React? English for Specific Purposes, 31, 271-283. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.esp.2012.06.001
Yuan, C. (2019) A Battlefield or a Lecture Hall? A Contrastive Multimodal Discourse Analysis of Courtroom Trials. Social Semiotics, 29, 645-669. https://doi.org/10.1080/10350330.2018.1504653
Lirola, M.M. (2022) Compositional and Interpersonal Analysis of the Picture Book Stella Brings the Family: Deconstructing Affection. Onomázein, No. 55, 1-23. https://doi.org/10.7764/onomazein.55.01
Elorza, I. (2023) Gender-Inclusive Picture Books in the Classroom: A Multimodal Analysis of Male Subjective Agencies. Linguistics and Education, 78, Article ID: 101242. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.linged.2023.101242
Zhao, X.F. and Li, X.W. (2016) Multimodal Metonymy-Metaphor Representation of ANGER in Narrative Picturebooks: A Perspective of Cognitive Poetics. Foreign Language Education, No. 1, 10-14.
Qi, F., Fauzi, T.A. and Yahaya, S.R. (2023) Representing Tradition: The Construction of Culturally-Specific Visual Narratives in Chinese Picture Books and Hand Scroll Paintings. Journal of Early Childhood Literacy. https://doi.org/10.1177/14687984231182263
Qiu, Q. (2020) Complementation of Pictures and Texts and Meaning Construction—A Study of Multimodal Discourse of Children’s Picture Books. Journal of Jiangxi Normal University (Philosophy and Social Sciences Edition), 53, 129-136.
Moya-Guijarro, A.J. (2021) The Representation of Male Characters in Three Challenging Picture Books: A Multimodal Study. Sintagma: Revista de Lingüística, 33, 101-116. https://doi.org/10.21001/sintagma.2021.33.06
Unsworth, L. and Macken-Horarik, M. (2015) Interpretive Responses to Images in Picture Books by Primary and Secondary School Students: Exploring Curriculum Expectations of a “Visual Grammatics”. English in Education, 49, 56-79. https://doi.org/10.1111/eie.12047
Guijarro, J.M. and Sanz, M.J.P. (2008) Compositional, Interpersonal and Representational Meanings in a Children’s Narrative: A Multimodal Discourse Analysis. Journal of Pragmatics, 40, 1601-1619. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2008.04.019
Stein, N.L. (1988) The Development of Children’s Storytelling Skill. In: Franklin, M.B. and Barten, S.S., Eds., Child Language: A Reader, Oxford University Press, New York, 282-297.
Heilmann, J., Miller, J.F., Nockerts, A. and Dunaway, C. (2010) Properties of the Narrative Scoring Scheme Using Narrative Retells in Young School-Age Children. American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology. 19, 154-166. https://doi.org/10.1044/1058-0360(2009/08-0024)
Khan, K.S., Hong, F., Justice, L.M., Sun, J. and Mills, A.K. (2021) Cross-Domain Associations between Mathematical and Narrative Abilities in Preschool-Aged Children. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 212, Article ID: 105233. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jecp.2021.105233
Yin, J., Ding, Y. and Fan, L. (2021) Language Ideologies, Practices, and Kindergarteners’ Narrative Macrostructure Development: Crucial Factors for Sustainable Development of Early Language Education. Sustainability, 13, Article No. 6985. https://doi.org/10.3390/su13136985
Gardner-Neblett, N., Ramos, A., De Marco, A. and Addie, A. (2023) Can I Tell You about This…? A Qualitative Approach to Understanding Teachers’ Perspectives on Children’s Oral Narrative Skills. Early Childhood Education Journal. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10643-023-01453-3
Pinto, G., Tarchi, C. and Bigozzi, L. (2018) Is Two Better than One? Comparing Children’s Narrative Competence in an Individual versus Joint Storytelling Task. Social Psychology of Education, 21, 91-109. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11218-017-9411-0
Longobardi, E., Spataro, P. and Pizzicannella, E. (2018) Handwriting, Spelling, and Narrative Competence in the Fictional Stories of Italian Primary-School Children. European Journal of Psychology of Education, 33, 277-293. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10212-017-0328-y
Khan, K.S., Logan, J., Justice, L.M., Bowles, R.P. and Piasta, S.B. (2021) The Contribution of Vocabulary, Grammar, and Phonological Awareness across a Continuum of Narrative Ability Levels in Young Children. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 64, 3489-3503. https://doi.org/10.1044/2021_JSLHR-20-00403
Rand, M.K. and Morrow, L.M. (2021) The Contribution of Play Experiences in Early Literacy: Expanding the Science of Reading. Reading Research Quarterly, 56, S239-S248. https://doi.org/10.1002/rrq.383
Gorman, B.K., Fiestas, C.E., Peña, E.D. and Clark, M.R. (2011) Creative and Stylistic Devices Employed by Children During a Storybook Narrative Task: A Cross-Cultural Study. Language Speech and Hearing Services in Schools, 42, 167-181.
https://doi.org/10.1044/0161-1461(2010/10-0052)
Petersen, D.B., Gillam, S.L., Spencer, T. and Gillam, R.B. (2010) The Effects of Literate Narrative Intervention on Children with Neurologically Based Language Impairments: An Early Stage Study. Journal of Speech Language and Hearing Research, 53, 961-981. https://doi.org/10.1044/1092-4388(2009/09-0001)
Schick, A.R., Scarola, L., Niño, S. and Melzi, G. (2023) Beyond the Written Word: The Role of Text on Preschool Teachers’ Book Sharing Styles. Journal of Early Childhood Literacy, 23, 445-469. https://doi.org/10.1177/1468798420985168
Montag, J.L., Jones, M.N. and Smith, L.B. (2015) The Words Children Hear: Picture Books and the Statistics for Language Learning. Psychological Science, 26, 1489-1496. https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797615594361
Feng, D.Z. (2015) New Development of Visual Grammar: A Framework for Visual Narrative Analysis Based on Picture Books. Foreign Language Education, 36, 23-27.
