The Enhancement of Children’s Reading Comprehension Through a Picture Book Approach

Abstract： Reading is a fundamental language skills and childrens reading comprehension lays the foundation for the development of overall quality. The picture book serves as a suitable reading materials to enhance childrens reading comprehension. Picture book reading plays an essential role in improve childrens observation， thinking ability， and imagination.

Key Words： Childrens reading comprehension， the picture book， reading ability， thinking ability

1 Introduction

Reading is a fundamental language skills which serves as an important communication means. In the language learning process， reading plays such an important role that it lays basis for childrens learning about and understanding the world. It is agreed that the picture book can be a ribbon to connect reading materials to childrens reading ability. A picture book is a book form with colorful pictures and interesting stories. Original English picture books presents authentic English reading materials combined with attractive pictures and language suitable for childrens reading levels. The development of the picture book has a history of more than one hundred years， but its development in China is a current affair， and its influence on childrens reading education and cultivation have been gradually accepted and paid great attention to.

2 The Picture Book and Childrens Reading Comprehension

The picture book serves as a useful and reliable reading materials to cultivate childrens reading comprehension. Such books can arouse childrens reading interest， its natural， vivid， and authentic language style helping to develop learners English reading ability， and its pictures assisting children to understand the stories.

2.1 Delimitation of the Picture Book and Childrens Reading Comprehension

The picture book refers to a book form particularly suitable for Childrens reading and appreciation. We hold that English picture books are childrens reading material in countries where English serves as a mother tongue. Picture books rely on pictures and English words to tell stories， and they take children as the the reading subject and meets childrens psychological cognition as well as reading comprehension ability.

Reading is defined as a complicated process involving a series of psychological processes where sensation， motor behavior， motivation， attention， emotion， cognition and memory are included （Keith， 2000）. Frank （1998） holds that “Childrens reading represents one of the most interesting and cognitively complex systems and， as such， has a great deal to teach us about cognition in general”. Childrens reading comprehension， according to Ying Lingsu （2010）， mainly includes cognitive analyzing ability， aesthetic and beauty-appreciation ability， and associative thinking ability.

2.2 Characteristics of the Picture Book

Childrens picture books shows various characteristics， including the children quality， agreement on pictures and passages， authenticity of linguistic data.

The first one is its children quality. The content of childrens picture book is a direct of indirect reflection on childrens life. Childrens picture tends to understand the world in the story according to childrens living experiences， and when reading， children tend to become happy or sad in accordance with the protagonists emotion and experiences. The second feature is its agreement on pictures and passages. Another essential feature of the English picture book is the authenticity of linguistic data. The English picture books are childrens reading material particular for English as the the first language countries. And thus， their language complies with the natives thinking and expressing habit， and is authentic and genuine.

3 The Application of the Picture Book in Childrens Reading Comprehension

The application of the picture book to cultivating childrens reading comprehension involve four stages， i.e.pre-reading stage， a general input of the picture book， detailed reading of the picture book， and the post-reading stage for reading the picture book.

3.1 Pre-Reading Stage for Reading the Picture Book

The pre-reading stage refers to activities that are taken before the reading of the picture book. These activities aims to arouse learners reading interest and initiative， to stimulate childrens background knowledge， and lay a good basis for reading the picture book. Such activities can involve games， cover reading， appreciation of videos， ect.

Childrens learning can be easily affiliated by emotion， and the time period to focus their attention is relatively short. Thus， some related games before the reading assist to draw childrens attention to the reading of the picture books. The cover reading means reading to learn about major information on the picture book. The cover of the picture book usually involve much important information， such as titles， figures， authors， etc. Through reading the cover， children are able to acquire some basic information about the picture book， and to learn about the characteristics of the picture books.

3.2 The General Input of the Picture Book

The General input of the picture book means providing a compete input of the pictures and content of the picture book and providing a compete context for children to learn about the development of the plot in an authentic and natural story context. This can be realized by teachers reading aloud for children， childrens reading by themselves.

Teachers can read aloud for children and give vivid performance through expression， body language according to their own understanding of the picture book. Through watching and listening to teachers performance and reading， children will have a general impression about the protagonist， which contributes to the understanding of the picture book. Another effective reading method is to ask children to read independently and to get some basis information. Children can read with the help of the pictures to understand the logical relationship between the pictures， the main content of the story and then answer the two questions.

3.3 Detailed Reading of the Picture Book

A detailed reading of the picture book is the process to carefully read the pictures and the words in the picture books. This process should focus on the cultivation of childrens reading skills.

Pictures in the books are full of details which are deliberately designed by the authors. Some pictures reveals the figures character and psychology， and some are the suspense designed to indicate the development of the story. Strengthening the careful reading of the pictures helps to develop children thinking ability， stimulate their imagination and improve their emotional experience.The words in the picture books helps to accumulate vocabulary and learn to read， which provides a good way to cultivate the fundamental English reading quality. To get a better understanding of the picture book， children have to understand the words of the picture book and there comes the need for reading.

3.4 Post-Reading Stage for Reading the Picture Book

The post-reading stage aims to help children strengthen and internalize the knowledge， improve their language skills， and share the reading feelings and experiences.

Practicing activities， like speaking， are encouraged to enhance what has been learned from reading the picture books. For example， after reading Brown Bear， Brown Bear， What do you see？， teachers can ask children to make up a ballad independently， and to think imaginatively to guess what the brown bear see later. By such reading extension activities， students can get the knowledge enhanced in the process of speaking and practicing， their feelings and emotions being improved， and the bridge between life and reading being set up.

4 The Influence of the Picture Book Reading on Childrens Reading Comprehension

The picture book reading lays a solid basis for childrens written language learning， which helps to improve childrens reading comprehension ability， broaden childrens cultural background knowledge， widen their horizon. Picture book reading immerse children in an authentic language context and stimulates childrens imagination as well as thinking ability， which promotes childrens emotion and socialization. Picture books have simple wording， delicate pictures， and flexible format which comply with childrens reading characteristics and habit at an early reading stage. Since picture language in the picture books are far more direct than words on common books， picture books comply with childrens imaginal thinking and can arouse childrens reading enthusiasm.

4.1 Enhancement of Childrens Observation

In a good picture book， there exist various details. A good picture book allows the pictures to tell the stories. Reading the picture book helps to cultivate and develop childrens observation.

The essential reading difference between adults and children lies in the reading habit. Adults tend to focus on the words first while childrens attention tends to focus on the pictures first， and sometimes their attention is only on the pictures rather than the words. Hence， in reading the picture book， children will carefully observe the relationship between the words and pictures and their observation becomes discerning and sharp-eyed. Most adults fail to form the ability to observe minute and subtle differences in pictures， while children are born with observing ability and such an ability gets advanced through proper reading. The picture book reading contributes to the development of the childrens observation and give rise to the cultivation of childrens ability to realize the subtle difference and become sharp-eyed.

4.2 Enhancement of Childrens Thinking Ability

In the process of picture book reading， childrens thinking ability gradually grows with the advancement of the observation and the accumulation of knowledge and emotional experiences. From a general view， the story in the picture book is a continuity. However， the pictures on each pages are relatively independent. The connection and understanding of these independent individuals require a variety of thinking abilities， including analysis， comprehension， abstraction， generalization， deduction， ect. In this process， childrens thinking ability gets improved.

Written language is a series of abstract signs which are not specific and vivid. In order to make those signs concrete and perceivable， picture books are employed to provide children with a concrete aesthetic experience. Picture book reading helps to improve childrens aesthetic experience. After reading a certain amount of picture literature， children will accumulate certain aesthetic reading experience which allows children to comprehend the beauty from the outside appearance to the inner connotation.

4.3 Enhancement of Childrens Imagination

The discovery of a colourful world from a book depends mostly on readers imagination. Picture books can stimulate childrens imagination， and contributes to the cultivation of childrens creativity. As the special book form， picture books stress the internal relation between words and pictures.

Different from other books， pictures in the picture book presents a strong narrative ability. These pictures are not mere assistance to illustrate the text. Some classic and excellent picture books even present no word but mere pictures. The reading of these picture books aims to allow children to think imaginatively and creatively so that their inner imagination can be stimulated and the creativity can be explored. Each picture book presents a different world for children. With rich reading experiences and more imaginal materials， childrens imagination can be enriched and more creative.

5. Conclusion

English reading comprehension plays an fundamental role in childrens overall development. Picture readign serves as an effective means to cultivate childrens reading comprehension and thinking ability. Picture reading teaching can be realized in four main stages. The pre-reading stages are supposed to organize activities， including games， cover reading， appreciation of videos， to arouse childrens reading interest and initiatives. Picture book reading provides a vital access for children to get an overall improvement. Reading picture books also bring about the improvement of childrens imagination.

References

[1]Keith， E. Stanovich. Progress in Understanding Reading. The Guilford Press， 2000.

[2]Frank B. May. Reading as Communication， To help Children Write and Read. Sydney： Ashton Scholastic. 1998

作者簡介

郑菲（1987-），女，浙江农林大学，助教，硕士研究生，2011届研究生。