Study of The Fourth-Grade Students'''' Interpretation of the Themes in Picture Books Written By Leo Lionni

• Main Authors: Jen-Chuan Lin, 林禎川
• Other Authors: Shu-Yan You
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2002
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/25581265110427031191

碩士 === 國立嘉義大學 === 國民教育研究所 === 90 === The study is for understanding how the fourth-grade children interpret the themes of the Picture Books written by Leo Lionni and provided as the reference for teachers, parents and following researchers. The study is based on the qualitative method and the objects of it are the fourth-grade children. After reading those Picture Books, the Chinese translation of the eight of the Picture Books written by Leo Lionni , the children had to not only write down what they thought and how they felt on their reading sheets, but also had an interview with the researcher to talk about their thinking and feeling. In this way, the data and information were collected. The major findings of this study are as following. First, do children think if there is any theme in the Picture Books written by Leo Lionni? Most children think there is some theme (themes) in each of the Picture Books written by Leo Lionni. Among the eight works of Leo Lionni, children hold identical views on “IT’S MINE”; all of them think the work has some theme in it. Even seventy percent of children, the lowest percentage, think “MATTHEW’S　DREAM” has some theme in it. For those children who didn’t interpret themes, they didn’t think there are not themes in Leo Lionni’s works, but they couldn’t have clear cognition about the themes so that they couldn’t completely express their thinking and feeling. In general, it is not difficult for children to interpret Leo Lionni’s works from their own perspectives. Second, how many themes do children find in each of these works? In general, more than 50 percent of children think there is only one theme in each of Leo Lionni’s works. In “MATTHEW’S DREAM” and “A COLOR OF HIS OWN”, the highest percentage of children think there is only one theme in each of the two. However, in “AN EXTRAORDINARY EGG”, 50 percent of children think there is one theme in it and 50 percent of children don’t. Third, children’s interpretations of the themes in Picture Books written by Leo Lionni are very divergent, which is very special in comparison with those children’s reading with less words. In the eight works, at least, there are six types of children’s interpretation of themes (in “SWIMMY” and “MATTHEW’S DREAM”); at most, there are fifteen (in “AN EXTRAORDINARY EGG”). Fourth, the following are the main themes of children’s interpretations: “IT’S MINE” — Avoid quarrels and get on well with each other. “SWIMMY” — Cooperate harmoniously with others. “MATTHEW’S DREAM” — Ideal and hope. “ALEXANDER THE WIND-UP MOUSE” — Friendship. “FREDERICK” — 1. Help others 2. Make efforts. “A COLOR OF HIS OWN” — 1. Colors 2. Accept oneself. “AN EXTRAORDINARY EGG” — 1. Friendship 2. Keep silent before knowing the truth 3. Travel to enlarge our own field 4. Don’t take away others’ things casually 5. Don’t tease others “LITTLE BLUE AND LITTLE YELLOW” — 1. Friendship 2. Filial Piety Fifth, the following are the specialties of children’s interpretation of the themes in Leo Lionni’s works: 1.Children pay the closest attention to the theme of “friendship.” 2.Their interpretation presents the bright side of human nature and moral lessons. 3.In “FREDERICK” and “A COLOR OF HIS OWN”, children have opposite views so that their interpretations are influenced. According to the study, the researcher makes some suggestions for the creators of story-book teaching and Picture Books, the parents who share reading with children, and other researchers.