Comprehension Issues due to Cultural Differences in Children's Literature

     When looking at children's books to be used in a classroom with English language learners it is important to preview the books to determine if there may be content that will possibly be difficult for these students to comprehend due to cultural differences.

     Some of the content that we are able to comprehend while reading comes from what we already know through our personal experiences, knowledge of the world, knowledge of our own culture and the society in which we live.  "Schema theory, applied to reading, proposes that effective readers likewise draw on particular kinds of culturally acquired knowledge to guide and influence the comprehension process" (Gibbons, 2002, p. 79).  These bits of knowledge that are present in our heads allow us as readers to interact and connect with what we are reading.  Furthermore, Luke and Freebody (1990) suggest that successful readers take on four different roles as they read and that they need the appropriate resources in order to be effective code breakers, text participants, text users and text analysts. An effective code breaker needs to know the basics of letter-sound relationships and concepts of print including which way we open a book, where we start reading and the direction in which we read and turn the pages.  An effective text participant uses their prior knowledge to connect with what they are reading.  An effective text user is able to be a successful reader in many different social contexts from reading at home with a parent to reading at school with a peer.  An effective text analyst realizes that they must read critically using inference to gain understanding while knowing each text is written from the author's view point (Gibbons, 2002).  Obviously, if there are gaps in any of these areas a reader will have a more difficult time comprehending a text.

     In order to offer our English language learners opportunities to be successful readers, we must set them up for success.  We must assess what they already know in order to help them with what they don't know.  Teachers must address these needs before reading so that when the students read they have strategies to deal with the unfamiliar.  Gibbons (2002) states, "the challenge for the teacher is to build up the knowledge and understandings that are relevant to the text the children will read, so that by the time the reader interacts with the text, the text will not be so unfamiliar" (p. 83).  If students are linguistically and culturally challenged they are forced to rely on other strategies to gain meaning from what they are reading.  Struggling readers read word by word while analyzing individual letter sounds in an attempt to comprehend.  This intense focus takes them away from trying to gain meaning from the text as a whole making it nearly impossible to understand a story.  "As schema theory suggests, if students come to the text with a sense of what they will be reading about, reading becomes a much easier task because they have more resources to draw on" (Gibbons, 2002, p. 85).


 

Book cover

                  
     The story, The Three Snow Bears by Jan Brett, is an Eskimo version of Goldilocks and the Three Bears.  The story follows the same sequence except replaces forest bears with polar bears, a cabin with an igloo and chairs with snow boots.  In previewing the story, it became clear that English language learners may have some difficulty comprehending the story due to the following components:
1.  The Arctic way of life represented in the story
2.  Challenging vocabulary words such as Aloo-ki, huskies, igloo, adrift, current.
3.  The pages are busy and may cause additional confusion.
4.  The illustrations bordering the page follow other parts of the story and don't match what is happening on that page so cannot be used as cues for understanding.

Confusing Illustrations

     In order to help ELLs conquer some of these potential difficulties it would be very important to set them up for success before reading the book.  Gibbons (2002) points out that, "what the teacher does before a book is read is an extremely important part of the overall plan for using it with the class" (p. 83).  A preview of the text through a picture walk or even a partial read aloud to activate background knowledge would be a great way to introduce the book.  The whole class or a small group could participate in a discussion about the Arctic to further activate background knowledge. A semantic map could be used for a visual of this brainstorming session.  A preview would also allow for some of the more challenging vocabulary words to be introduced before they are encountered within the story.  The teacher would also need to take some time to point out the layout of the illustrations within the book so ELLs don't feel overwhelmed by the pages.  This would allow the students to focus on the text and main illustrations on the pages so that they could be used as visual cues.  To further comprehension of the story, ELLs could take note of words, concepts and sentences that they don't understand as they read.  These could be discussed later with a partner or with the teacher.

Book Cover

     With Halloween right around the corner, I also decided to take a look at the book Hallo-Wiener by Dav Pilkey.  This is a story about a wiener dog named Oscar that is teased by all the other dogs in the neighborhood because he dresses up as a hot dog for Halloween.  At the end of the night, Oscar ends up rescuing the neighborhood dogs from some neighborhood cats.  Potential components of the story that could cause comprehension problems for ELLs include:
1.  The celebration of Halloween and the tradition of trick-or-treating.
2.  Challenging vocabulary words such as ornery, frankfurter, obedience, sausage and daydreamed.
3.  The idea of animals as characters in a story that talk and act like people.
4.  The humor in the story in lines such as, "Then Oscar showed up, looking quite frank."    



Humorous illustration


I would use many of the same strategies mentioned for The Three Snow Bears with a focus on Halloween and the traditions surrounding the holiday.  The story preview would focus on Halloween, trick-or-treating and costumes.  As a class we would share cultural traditions and discuss similarities and differences.  This would allow students to make some initial connections to the text.  It would be very important for ELLs to have an understanding of the Halloween so that they could approach the story with an idea of the big picture.  "Because learners will have some sense of overall meaning, they are likely to be able to comprehend more linguistically challenging language than they might otherwise be able to comprehend" (Gibbons, 2002, p.85).  A picture walk and simple telling of the story would also serve to activate background knowledge and discuss the humor in the story.  This would also be a great time to discuss the challenging vocabulary in the book.

References

Brett, J. (2007).  The three snow bears. New York, NY: Scholastic.

Pilkey, D. (1995). The hallo-wiener. New York, NY: Scholastic.