The purpose of the study is to investigate the picture book
preferences of grade four Aboriginal students, to discover what books
have the greatest appeal and to determine which specific factors
influence their choices. The study took place at an inner city elementary
school with a high population of Aboriginal students located in the heart
of the Canadian prairies.
Experienced educators know that the majority of Aboriginal
chidlren come to school with little or no exposure to books. Studies have
shown that the ability or lack of ability to read at grade level is a strong
indicator of future academic success. Teachers and librarians have little
information available to assist them in choosing literature that will be of
interest to Aboriginal students and motivate them to read and through
practice improve their reading skills. Provincial governments are looking
for research that addresses the needs of this growing population.
Twelve grade four Aboriginal students participated in the study,
seven boys and five girls. The students viewed forty-five books that were
divided into three sets of fifteen and chose one book from each set to
read and respond to through writing and/or drawing. After the book
selection and response sessions were complete, the researcher
interviewed each child to determine the one book they would most want
to take home.
The study concludes that: 1) Students preferred to read picture
books portraying Aboriginal characters that reflected their own image; 2)
Students transposed the urban and rural settings in the Aboriginal
books to make relevant connections with their lives; 3) Aboriginal books
portraying Aboriginal characters was the genre with the greatest appeal;
4) Students preferred vivid realistic illustrations; 5) Students background
experience frequently determined their preferences in books and also
increased their motivation to read; 5) Realistic pictures with minimal
amounts of text held great appeal for boys selecting information books.
It is hoped that the study will assist teachers and librarians in
selecting literature that will be of interest to Aboriginal students
encouraging them to read more and by improving their reading skills
raise the level of their general academic achievement.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:BVAU.2429/11472 |
| Date | 05 1900 |
| Creators | Boyle, Erin Elizabeth O'Byrne |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Relation | UBC Retrospective Theses Digitization Project [http://www.library.ubc.ca/archives/retro_theses/] |
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