The Influence of Illustrations in Literary Texts on Children's Reading Comprehension

Research Article
Open access

The Influence of Illustrations in Literary Texts on Children's Reading Comprehension

Xichen Sun 1*
  • 1 Beijing Institute of Technology    
  • *corresponding author 1120200152@bit.edu.cn
Published on 20 November 2023 | https://doi.org/10.54254/2753-7048/22/20230311
LNEP Vol.22
ISSN (Print): 2753-7056
ISSN (Online): 2753-7048
ISBN (Print): 978-1-83558-123-0
ISBN (Online): 978-1-83558-124-7

Abstract

This study investigates the influence of illustrations in children’s literature on reading comprehension. The research addresses the existing lack of standardized experimental designs in the field and focuses on enhanceable aspects, such as excluding previously exposed subjects, fixing reading time for students, selecting high-quality classic children’s literature texts, conducting the experiment within real classroom settings, and observing students’ attention span during reading. The subjects consist of fifth-grade students from representative elementary schools in urban and rural areas in China. The experimental materials include different book types: mere text, text with original illustrations, and text with secondary illustrations. Through multiple-choice questionnaire and data on reading comprehension scores, preference, willingness to continue reading, and distraction levels, the study aims to provide valuable insights for educators, authors, and publishers to enhance children’s literary engagement and comprehension. The results of the study suggest that the presence of illustrations and differences in the quality of illustrations do not significantly affect children’s reading comprehension but do influence children’s first impressions and choices when selecting books. The results provide useful insights for children’s book publishers and children’s book illustrators when providing illustrations for children’s books.

Keywords:

illustrations in literary texts, children, reading comprehension

Sun,X. (2023). The Influence of Illustrations in Literary Texts on Children's Reading Comprehension. Lecture Notes in Education Psychology and Public Media,22,204-212.
Export citation

References

[1]. Süner, A. (2020). On the Contribution of Tenniel’s Illustrations to the Reading of the Alice Books. Children’s Literature in Education, 51, 41-62.

[2]. Smith, V. (2015). The Woman Who Drew Narnia: Through the Wardrobe with Pauline Baynes. Horn Book Magazine, 91(5), 48–53.

[3]. Coleman, Kelsi. “History, Methods, and Psychology of Illustrations in Children’s Literature.” (2023).

[4]. Krohn, L. S. (2022). “ Visual Bridging” to and from Literary Texts: A Theoretical Analysis (Doctoral dissertation, Oklahoma State University).

[5]. Brookshire, J., Scharff, L. F., & Moses, L. E. (2002). The influence of illustrations on children’s book preferences and comprehension. Reading psychology, 23(4), 323-339.

[6]. Greenhoot, A. F., Beyer, A. M., & Curtis, J. (2014). More than pretty pictures? How illustrations affect parent-child story reading and children’s story recall. Frontiers in psychology, 5, 738.

[7]. O’Keefe, E. J., & Solman, R. T. (1987). The influence of illustrations on children’s comprehension of written stories. Journal of Reading Behavior, 19(4), 353-377.

[8]. Guo, D.B., et al. “Do you get the picture? A meta-analysis of the effect of graphics on reading comprehension.” AERA Open 6.1 (2020): 2332858420901696.

[9]. Vekiri, I. (2002). What is the value of graphical displays in learning?. Educational psychology review, 14, 261-312.

[10]. Lewis, C. S. (1956). Surprised by joy: The shape of my early life. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.


Cite this article

Sun,X. (2023). The Influence of Illustrations in Literary Texts on Children's Reading Comprehension. Lecture Notes in Education Psychology and Public Media,22,204-212.

Data availability

The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study will be available from the authors upon reasonable request.

Disclaimer/Publisher's Note

The statements, opinions and data contained in all publications are solely those of the individual author(s) and contributor(s) and not of EWA Publishing and/or the editor(s). EWA Publishing and/or the editor(s) disclaim responsibility for any injury to people or property resulting from any ideas, methods, instructions or products referred to in the content.

About volume

Volume title: Proceedings of the International Conference on Global Politics and Socio-Humanities

ISBN:978-1-83558-123-0(Print) / 978-1-83558-124-7(Online)
Editor:Enrique Mallen, Javier Cifuentes-Faura
Conference website: https://www.icgpsh.org/
Conference date: 13 October 2023
Series: Lecture Notes in Education Psychology and Public Media
Volume number: Vol.22
ISSN:2753-7048(Print) / 2753-7056(Online)

© 2024 by the author(s). Licensee EWA Publishing, Oxford, UK. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license. Authors who publish this series agree to the following terms:
1. Authors retain copyright and grant the series right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgment of the work's authorship and initial publication in this series.
2. Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the series's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgment of its initial publication in this series.
3. Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See Open access policy for details).

References

[1]. Süner, A. (2020). On the Contribution of Tenniel’s Illustrations to the Reading of the Alice Books. Children’s Literature in Education, 51, 41-62.

[2]. Smith, V. (2015). The Woman Who Drew Narnia: Through the Wardrobe with Pauline Baynes. Horn Book Magazine, 91(5), 48–53.

[3]. Coleman, Kelsi. “History, Methods, and Psychology of Illustrations in Children’s Literature.” (2023).

[4]. Krohn, L. S. (2022). “ Visual Bridging” to and from Literary Texts: A Theoretical Analysis (Doctoral dissertation, Oklahoma State University).

[5]. Brookshire, J., Scharff, L. F., & Moses, L. E. (2002). The influence of illustrations on children’s book preferences and comprehension. Reading psychology, 23(4), 323-339.

[6]. Greenhoot, A. F., Beyer, A. M., & Curtis, J. (2014). More than pretty pictures? How illustrations affect parent-child story reading and children’s story recall. Frontiers in psychology, 5, 738.

[7]. O’Keefe, E. J., & Solman, R. T. (1987). The influence of illustrations on children’s comprehension of written stories. Journal of Reading Behavior, 19(4), 353-377.

[8]. Guo, D.B., et al. “Do you get the picture? A meta-analysis of the effect of graphics on reading comprehension.” AERA Open 6.1 (2020): 2332858420901696.

[9]. Vekiri, I. (2002). What is the value of graphical displays in learning?. Educational psychology review, 14, 261-312.

[10]. Lewis, C. S. (1956). Surprised by joy: The shape of my early life. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.