This dissertation focuses on Grade 1 children's inquiry of narrative text over a three-month period. The children were read to as a group by the classroom teacher and individually by Grade 7 students, a grandparent helper, and a peer. They also read to themselves. There were ten subjects for the group context and six subjects for each other context.
The data consist of audio-tapes and field notes from the five contexts. In addition three interviews were conducted with the classroom teacher and a think-aloud procedure was carried out with six of the subjects at the conclusion of the study. The children's statements were analyzed to determine if they inquired about narrative text and to explore the nature of their inquiry. The teacher interviews were analyzed to discover the teacher's perception of her role in the children's inquiry. The results from the think-aloud procedure were compared with results from the group context to determine if the findings were similar.
A definition, description and list of skills of inquiry in the language arts was developed and applied to the children's statements to identify the statements that represented inquiry. Six categories that could be used to describe the nature of the children's inquiry statements emerged from the data. Each of these categories was made up of a variety of more specific classes.
The children made more inquiry statements in the group context than in any other context. There were individual differences in the degree to which the children inquired about narrative text, and the text, the teacher's actions and the social context influenced the children's inquiry. The children used a variety of cognitive processes to inquire about text.
The children's inquiry statements were evoked by the text, the children and the teacher. The focus of the children's inquiry statements was knowledge not explicitly evident in the text. Their statements took a variety of forms, and declaratives, not questions, were the predominant form. Although they inquired about a variety of subject matter, actions of characters and cause/effect relationships was the content of the majority of their inquiry statements. The function of most of their inquiry statements was the transmission of propositional knowledge and explanations.
This study contributes to the existing literature in several ways. First, it provides a framework for considering children's inquiry and their involvement in learning. Second, it illuminates the relationship between the child, the text and the context in children's interactions with narrative text. Third, it reveals the complex and idiosyncratic nature of children's inquiry of narrative text. / Graduate
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:uvic.ca/oai:dspace.library.uvic.ca:1828/9517 |
| Date | 26 June 2018 |
| Creators | Craig, Margaret Theresa |
| Contributors | Johnson, Terry D. |
| Source Sets | University of Victoria |
| Language | English, English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | Available to the World Wide Web |
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