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