Analysis of Level 10- First Draft

Analysis of Language in Level 10

This text is a past tense narrative from the first person; however, the dialogue is in the 1^st person present tense. As this story is a very fictitious and abstract mythical tale from a specific culture, it requires the reader to engage more fully and use their imaginations more. Previously, the stories have had a focus on events and situations that are relatable to children, for example, walking a dog or dressing up for a party. As this text is not based on reality, it requires the child to create their own images using the adjectives and verbs to paint the pictures in their minds. There is an extensive use of personification in this text as the animals are being portrayed to do human actions like ‘read’ and ‘mutter’.

There is an average of 13.9 words per sentence in this text, with 8 words being 3 or more syllables. There are also certain words like ‘burnous’ and ‘frolic’ that are only two syllables but are still unfamiliar vocabulary and therefore may increase the difficulty of this text. Despite this, the Gunning Fog Index produced a fairly accurate estimate that the average child would need 7.144 years of school education to be able to read and understand this text fully.

Jerome Bruner (1957) believes it aids and encourages children learning to speak, read and write to have visual aids and pictures, which he called ‘Iconic aid’. This stage is usually for children aged between 1-6 years old and after the age of 7 the images are simply to reinforce and help the children gain a better and more detailed understanding. By this level however, there are very few pictures, with this page having no illustrations, only text. This encourages them to use their own imaginations to interpret the text and make the story come alive in their own minds. In order to do this they require an understanding of the different adjectives and verbs being used. Also, by this age, they will likely have their own style of writing or be learning how to join their handwriting and will find it easier to understand serif fonts than they would have in previous years. 

Analysis of Level 9- First Draft

Analysis of Language in Level 9

The majority of the text is in past tense but it contains sections of both the conditional and future tenses. This is concordant with the development and steady incline in difficulty expected at this level. Despite the anomalous result for the previous level, the Gunning Fog Index rates this piece at 5.938, which is fairly accurate in relation to the reading level of the average child at that stage of their school education.

There are 9 words with 3 or more syllables and an average of 12.5 words per sentence. While these statistics follow the expected increase in complexity that I expected by this point, it is the language features and techniques used in this text that make it more challenging for young readers. The introduction of features such as italics to emphasise certain words within phrases changes the possible meanings of a sentence and clarifies how a child should read the word in terms or intonation and emphasis. Similarly, ellipsis is used to show a pause in the sentence. In this case, the use of the ellipsis blurs the lines between spoken and written language as the self-aware repair in the narrator’s choice of words, from ‘great’ to ‘amazing’, follows the character’s train of thought as though he were speaking directly to the reader.

This text also contains words that have difficult phonological structures, for example, ‘wheezy’. Particularly the phoneme ‘wh-‘, which is uncommon in words other than the ‘wh- inquisitives’, (ie. Where, what, when). Also, as British language tends to use a letter ‘s’ instead of ‘z’ in words like organise/organize, that is also a grapheme that British children are less familiar with. The Ginn’s New Reading 360 collection of reading books are published in England and are distributed in Britain too, meaning that they use the British spellings and rules. 

Analysis of Level 8- First draft

Analysis of Language in Level 8

While level 8 is again written primarily in the past tense, there is an instance of the conditional tense being used. The conditional tense is said in a paper by Debra Pepler of York University to be ‘rare in the speech of children younger than 6 or 7 years’ and is therefore still a new concept to children reading at this level, especially considering that children advance quicker in their speech sophistication than their reading. Because there is not a definite ‘if’ or ‘then’ statement, but a sentence that says ‘When he got into a mess, Granny helped him…’, it could be taken to mean an example of a past event rather than a routine occurrence/ situation.

There is a definite progression for the previous level in terms of the lexical choices and the complexity of the sentence and word structures. While the previous example contained no words with 3 or more syllables, this passage contains 8. A major contributor to this word count is the name ‘Joshua’ which, as well as containing three syllables, is difficult in terms of phonology, particularly in regard to the vowel sound at the end of the name. The sentences are also considerably longer than in the previous example with an average of 13.2 words per sentence. This is due to the use of complex sentences and more frequent use of conjunctions like ‘and’, as well as commas to add clauses of detail.

I again utilised the Gunning Fog Index with this extract, however I received an anomalous answer of 9.317, almost a 6 year jump from the previous result of 3.4. I believe that while a good tool for referral, there are certain features of the index that are not always accurate. For example, some words that contain 3 or more syllables, like ‘everything’, are common words that children will recognise and know. Similarly, there are words with fewer syllables that may be more abstract or have complicated sounds that this index wouldn’t notice.

At this level, the font is still sans-serif and easy to read as it contains none of the embellishments of the serif fonts. However, only a third of the page was consumed by the illustration which insinuates more of a focus on the text than the pictures. 

Analysis of Level 7- First draft

Analysis of Language in Level 7

The concept of time is foreign or at least not very familiar to children at the age synonymous with level 7 reading books. I think it is this concept that drives the authors of the stories to write in the past tense. Also, the majority of stories in general are written in the past tense, and so it is a format that children tend to be familiar with, in regards to stories. Similarly, there are no words in this extract that have more than two syllables, acknowledging the simple lexical choices necessary  for children to be able to pronounce the words and have encountered the words or separate phonemes before. The names ‘Sam’ and ‘Tess’ are easy to say and have no complicated vowel sounds or consonant clusters, as well as being fairly common and recognisable.

There are an average number of 8.5 words per sentence with a mainly simple sentence structure, however, there are some sentences like ‘She was big and brown and bouncy and she loved to go for walks.’ which are compound sentences that use conjunctions. This particular sentence also displays the rule of three by including three adjectives to describe the dog, further adding to the language features included with alliteration of the letter ‘b’. The first sentence in the story uses a transitive verb structure, which in certain contexts could be a difficult concept for children at this reading level. However, as the sentence is one that describes an action that most children are familiar with ‘taking [the dog] for a walk’ it is acceptable, in this case, to assume that the child will understand how to formulate that sentence.

When a child is first learning how to speak, they tend to begin with nouns and by the time they are around 5 or 6, they are adjectives and verbs competently. As they learn to read in the early stages, I image the content of their reading books focusses more on the nouns as this will be what they are the most familiar with. By level 7, it would seem that they are focussing more on the adjectives and verbs which is shown in this passage through the extensive use of verbs like ‘run’, ‘jump’ and ‘race’ and simple adjectives like ‘big’ and ‘brown’.

I used the Gunning Fog Index to gain an approximate age/ number of years in school that a child will require in order to understand and be able to read the story. In this case, I found that a child would require 3.4 years of school education to be at a suitable level for this, which is concordant with the age of children in the class that I visited who were reading at this level as they were at the beginning of Yr4.

The page itself is very appealing to children and formatted in a way that makes the reading experience easier for younger children. Roughly two thirds of the page is filled with the illustration which acts as a visual aid for the children to associate with the words. Also, the typography is simple, using a sans-serif and large print font.

Methodology- 157 Words

I have selected a page from one book in Levels 7, 8, 9 and 10 of the Ginn’s New Reading 360 collection. From here, I have analysed each page, looking at the language to see how it develops. In particular, I have looked at; the semantic choices, grammar, pragmatics, graphology, phonology and lexical frameworks. In terms of the graphology, I have split each of the pages into 9 quadrants to determine the percentage of each page that is filled by illustrations instead of writing. In order to get fair results, I have done this with each page in the story that the example page has come from. In a similar fashion, I have looked at the average number of words per sentence, as well as the general number of syllables per word. With all my data collected, I grouped the results in order to determine whether there was an increase in features that suggested a higher difficulty. 

Introduction- 95 Words

I am going to analyse the different levels of reading skill in a selection of books from Ginn’s New Reading 360 collection. I expect to see an increase in the complexity of the language, structure and grammar. Also, the page will be dominated more by writing than illustration as the levels progress in difficulty. Similarly, I expect to see an escalation in terms of the complexity and sophistication of the semantic choices and that the new vocabulary being introduced with be more advanced in terms of phonology as well as the word structure and purpose.

My Hypothesis

When I analyse the different levels of reading skill in the selection of books I have chosen from the Reading 360 collection, I expect to see an increase in the complexity of the language, structure and grammar. Also, an increase in the length of the stories as the levels go upwards and that the page will place more importance on the writing rather than the pictures as the levels progress in difficulty. Similarly, I expect to see an escalation in terms of the complexity and sophistication of the vocabulary and that the new vocabulary being introduced with be more advanced in terms of phonology as well as the word structure and purpose.

Reading Books

Children's Reading Books- Reading 360 from LaurenOram

New Question

My new question is:

How does the use of language in children's educational reading books develop between levels 7 and 10?

I will be looking at a selection of reading books from the Reading 360 collection, looking specifically at:

• the complexity of the sentences
• the length of the story
• the ratio of picture to story
• the vocabulary and the syllables
• the type of word
• the lexical and semantic fields
• the phonology and sounds 

Question Change

After evaluating what I have been looking at so far in my research, my teacher and I have come to the conclusion that my question focuses more on the child's opinions and feelings rather than the language used. In order to bring the focus of my research back to the language, I have decided to change my question. Instead of looking at children's books and the descriptive language in that, I am now going to be looking into how the language in children's educational reading books develops as they progress through the different reading levels. I will look into the grammar, use of nouns and adjectives, varying sentence structure and tenses and seeing how the progress through the levels. Further information and a final question to follow.

Audience Research Results

I visited a local primary school, not the one I will take my experiment to, and asked them a few questions about what they liked in stories and for certain cultural references. From my research, it seems like children like to have a child (someone like them) as the main character and they like animal side-kicks that can speak. When I asked further questions into the side-kick, the children told me that they liked dogs because they are loyal companions and they have strong friendships with their own pets.
When asked their favourite stories, I was told that the works of Julia Donaldson (the author of The Gruffalo) and Roald Dahl where among some of the best.
From this evidence, I think I should follow their choice in regards to the protagonist and their dog side-kick. Donaldson and Dahl use a lot of rhyme and focus on the rhythm a lot too and therefore I will write a story that rhymes and one that doesn't.

Features Typical To Children's Stories

From analysing existing children's stories like Julia Donaldson's The Gruffalo and Elmer by David McKee and also research into general methods of descriptive writing for children, I have found that the following features of language are some of ones more frequently and effectively used to engage with the reader;

1. Alliteration is often used, especially when describing physical features and surroundings, as well as in the character's names. This makes the names easier to remember and identify, especially since the names tend to be in relation to their character's personality or characteristics. In terms of phonology, alliteration is used because it is both fun for the children to say and hear. Repeated use of specific consonant and vowel sounds teaches then how to make the noise themselves for future use in everyday language.
2. Following along with the previous point, characters, particularly the main characters, tend to have a certain distinguishing feature that separates them from the rest of the story's characters. In the sake of Elmer, it was the fact that he was patchwork coloured instead of regular elephant grey colour. Children, it would seem, like to have main characters or heroes that are underdogs or in some way like them. Therefore, size is often used as a distinguishing feature, in The Gruffalo, the main character was a little, brown, mouse. Little makes the character seem less important or likely to be the hero. Brown is a very simple and dull colour and being a mouse connotes that the character is quiet or shy in some way. Because of all this, the reader wants the mouse to win/be successful.
3. The use of repetition allows the child to become familiar with the story, enabling them to join in and interact with the story-teller. Repetition of certain utterances and phrases can become a chorus of some sort, especially is the book rhymes and has a rhythm. Children like the beat of rhythms, perhaps because the steady beat reminds them of the sound of their mother's heartbeat and soothes them. 
4. As well as written features, it is important to remember things like intonation and voice alteration. One of the first ways children learn to communicate is through the intonation of one or two word utterances. When written, italics are an indication of words that require particular emphasis. Character's voices are often described at some point during the story, giving the reader the freedom to change their voice to suit the description, making the character more recognisable and entertaining. Therefore, it goes without saying that dialogue is a very important feature.

Annotations of Published Children's Stories

1. Elmer

2. The Gruffalo

Past Experiments

This video is very similar to my experiment. From this though, I see that I need to make sure that the difference between the two stories is really obvious and quite extreme. The two stories here are fairly similar. I reckon there should be minimal adjectives in the first story and they should be much clearer. Also, I plan to tell the stories on a one-to-one basis with the children.

Popular Children's Books

According to a search on Amazon.co.uk, these books are very popular with children between 5-11;


The Tiger Who Came to Tea- By Judith Kerr
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Tiger-Who-Came-Tea/dp/0007215991/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1411558209&sr=1-3


The Gruffalo- By Julia Donaldson
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Gruffalo-Julia-Donaldson/dp/0333710932/ref=sr_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1411558353&sr=1-4


The Very Hungry Caterpillar- By Eric Carle
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Very-Hungry-Caterpillar-Eric-Carle/dp/0140569324/ref=pd_rhf_se_s_cp_5_P3HC?ie=UTF8&refRID=0EPRHMY3HZ9AK3FM7XV6


Elmer- By David McKee
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Elmer-David-McKee/dp/1842707310/ref=pd_sim_b_4?ie=UTF8&refRID=0PFCJMFCVR1W7YWA7R4K


There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly- By Pam Adams
http://www.amazon.co.uk/There-Swallowed-Classic-Books-Holes/dp/0859537277/ref=pd_rhf_se_s_cp_1_0RCW?ie=UTF8&refRID=0CAHEKY5NRMY8SMAN04

Farmer Duck- By Martin Waddell
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Farmer-Duck-Martin-Waddell/dp/074453660X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1411727671&sr=8-1&keywords=farmer+duck


I focussed more specifically on picture style books with a very definite storyline. They are relatively short and rely on features such as repetition, alliteration and imagery to make the stories gripping. These are the example I am going to base my preliminary research and devised stories on.

Coursework Question

How is descriptive language used in children's stories and how does it affect the child's listening experience?

-I will analyse a selection of children's stories from the past decade and make a note of the descriptive language (eg. alliteration, onomatopoeia, metaphors, similes etc) used most often.
-From there, I will write two stories with the exact same plot but one will be full of the descriptive language that is frequently used and the other will not. I am going to write the story myself because I don't want the children to recognise the story as one they read/are read as this may effect their answers based on their familiarity with the story and its language.
-I will take this to a group of children aged between 7 and 9, prepared to take it to other, possibly younger or older, children should I not get the responses I need.
-First, I will read them the story without the descriptive language and then the one with it. I will then ask them which story they preferred and why, what was it about the stories that they particularly like?
- This will be done on a one on one basis so that the children do not change their language based on the replies of the others they are with. They could copy answers from each other or change their opinions based on what their friends say.
-I will then support my results with scientific proof from theorists and papers etc. or compare their results to mine should they differ.

Possible Questions

1. Gender

How gender affects the topic of conversation from LaurenOram

2. CLA

 

Child language acquisition from LaurenOram

 I decided not to do either of these questions as they both were too focused on the more psychological side rather than the linguistics. I have taken the ideas I have explored here and developed them to form my new question.