From a trial and error approach in the classroom to theoretically well-grounded whole school reading projects – the author’s journey into picturebooks offers insights into their potential and limitations as teaching tools. A recording of a reading sequence will be discussed, revealing a classic’s linguistic, affective, social, cognitive and cultural value in the EFL classroom. The focus will then shift towards more recent books which address current issues in a child-appropriate way and allow for cross-curricular learning and teaching. Results of a research project on the preferences of primary English teachers concerning picturebooks are presented, criteria for the selection of picturebooks derived and suggestions for the choice of suitable picturebooks made.

Picturebooks are a popular medium in the primary EFL classroom (cf. e.g. BIG-Kreis 2015: 27, 29). They are used to motivate children to learn the foreign language, to introduce new words and linguistic structures, to foster listening comprehension and to initiate intercultural learning (cf. e.g. Elsner 2010: 119; Frisch 2015: 224f.; Kolb & Schocker 2021: 126ff.). Storytelling already played an important role in early concepts of English lessons. The main focus is on language learning. The question arises as to whether this focus does justice to the picture book medium.

Up to now, little is known about whether English picturebooks can be used as an introduction to  literary learning. In particular the relationship between the verbal and the visual text seems to provide fruitful learning opportunities (c.f. Mourao 2017). Based on a theoretical model (Alter & Frisch 2018; Diehr & Surkamp 2015), the LiLePic project (Literary Learning with Young EFL Learners through picturebooks) investigates the extent to which picturebooks can contribute to the development of literary competence, which principles should be taken into account in English lessons and which tasks can promote literary competence development.

In our presentation, we will introduce the project using a selected picture book (The Cloud by Hannah Cumming) and describe the potential for promoting literary learning and its implications for teaching practice.

References:

Alter, Grit & Frisch, Stefanie (2018). Literarisches Lernen schon in der Grundschule? The Potential of Picture Books." In: Grundschule Englisch. 63.2-5.

BIG-Kreis (2015). Der Lernstand im Englischunterricht am Ende von Klasse 4: Ergebnisse der BIG Studie. München: Domino Verlag.

Cumming, Hannah (2010). The Cloud. Child's Play International Ltd

Diehr, Bärbel & Surkamp, Carola (2015). "Die Entwicklung literaturbezogener Kompetenzen in der Sekundarstufe I: Modellierung, Abschlussprofil und Evaluation". In: Hallet, Wolfgang/ Surkamp, Carola/ Krämer, Ulrich (eds.). Literaturkompetenzen Englisch. Modellierung - Curriculum - Unterrichtsbeispiele. Hannover: Friedrich. 21-40.

Elsner, Daniela (2010). Englisch in der Grundschule unterrichten: Grundlagen, Methoden, Praxisbeispiele (1. Aufl.). Oldenbourg.

Frisch, Stefanie 2015. "Worlds of words and pictures. Schmökern in englischsprachigen Bilderbüchern." In: Dehn, Mechthild/Merklinger, Daniela (Hrsg.). Erzählen - Vorlesen - Zum Schmökern anregen. Frankfurt: Grundschulverband. 223-232.

Kolb, Annika & Schocker, Marita (2021). Teaching English in the primary school. A task-based introduction for pre- and in-service teachers. Seelze: Klett / Kallmeyer.

Mourão, Sandie (2017). "The Picturebook in Instructed Foreign Language Learning Contexts". In: The Edinburgh Companion to Children's Literature, Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 245-262.

Biographies:

Constanze Dreßler, PhD, is a lecturer and researcher (Akademische Rätin) for Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) at the University of Wuppertal, Germany. She has worked as a full-time primary school teacher prior, during, and after covid. In her current research, she focuses on core practices of TEFL with a special focus on TBLT, bilingual education, and inclusion.

Stefanie Frisch is Professor of Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) at the University of Wuppertal, Germany. She is a member of the editorial board of the journal Grundschule Englisch [Primary English]. Her current research focusses on skills development (speaking, reading, writing; including assessment), technology-enhanced foreign language learning and teaching and bilingual education.

Annika Kolb is Professor for English and English language teaching methodology at the University of Education Freiburg, Germany. Her research interests include teaching English to young learners, continuity between primary and secondary English education, teaching literature in the language classroom and the use of digital media. She is currently coordinating the Erasmus+ project INVITED (integrating primary and preschool virtual exchange projects into language teacher education).

Dr Axel Wunderlich, Head of Social Sciences at Herderschule Kassel, Germany (Oberstufengymnasium/ grammar school), teacher of English, History and Politics. He also teaches at a nearby primary school (Unterneustädter Schule). His research interests lie in cross-age cooperations between primary school and sixth form students as well as literature in the EFL classroom.

One of the greatest challenges for young learners in Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) classrooms is to acquire subject-related content in a foreign language (FL) they have limited mastery of, while at the same time learning this language (Wesche, 2001). As the acquisition of content and FL (“dual subject literacy") is at the heart of CLIL education, it is essential to integrate such training into pre-service teacher education programs. This study explored student teachers’ (N=27) learning in two CLIL seminars conducted over one year within the primary English teaching program at a university in Germany. Centered around picture books and combining the approaches of direct teaching, inquiry-based learning, and reflective practice in language teacher education, these seminars asked the trainees to plan and conduct CLIL projects (Storytelling and Gardening) with learners from two primary schools in Germany. The primary aim of this article is to explore to what extent and in what ways the student teachers used picture books and picture book-based activities to address the promotion of their learners’ "dual subject literacy" in their lesson preparation and conduct over time. The data was collected using analytic-reflective classroom audiography of teaching practices, audio recordings of the classroom discourse and the discourse during the seminars, analysis of the trainees’ term papers, and individual questionnaires. Three trainees have been selected for case studies.

Tomáš Kos holds the position of a Junior Professor at the Department of English and American Studies at the Humboldt University of Berlin. His research interests include foreign language instruction with a particular focus on peer collaborative learning among young and adolescent learners, teacher and peer mediation, CLIL, TBLT, and mixed-age and mixed-ability classroom settings.

This paper investigates how two picturebooks, Guess What I Found in Dragon Wood, written by Julia Donaldson and illustrated by David Roberts, and The Troll, written by Timothy Knapman and illustrated by Gwen Milliard, can develop affective engagement, when incorporated into lessons using the Task-based language learning framework.

When learners engage with the story, they first experience it aesthetically, which pushes them to understand it. Therefore, they focus on the information conveyed through both the text and illustrations. When the language of the story's behind their linguistic abilities, they resort to the illustrations for meaning. Through repeated exposure during the task plan, learners actively construct meaning by making connections within the picturebook, i.e. interpret the text or the illustrations, and bring in their life experience to deconstruct the information presented in the picturebook. As they express their understanding, they personalize the story, reflecting their knowledge in a way that is uniquely their own. All these steps lead learners towards developing affective engagement.

The research took place in the context of a Classroom Action Research Project, conducted online with primary school learners in Tirana (Albania). Learners engaged differently with the picturebooks, based on what they were interested in. This was visible in the connections they made to construct meaning, mainly how they interpreted the gap between the pictures and the text, as well as within the narrative itself. While expressing their understanding and knowledge, they personalized the story and used elements from the original story to support their own narrative.

The target task outcomes show that learners personalized the stories to convey their meanings, and the intricacies of their oral narrations show that the picturebooks have enhanced their linguistic, cognitive, and emotional capacities.

References:

Arizpe, Evelyn, Styles, Morag (2003). Children Reading Picturebooks: Interpreting Visual Text. Oxford & New York: Routledge.

Lewis, David (2001b). Showing and Telling: The Difference that Makes a Difference.

Reading: Literacy and Language, 35(3), 94-98.

Mourão, Sandie (2016). Picturebooks in the Primary EFL Classroom: Authentic Literature for an Authentic Response. CLELE Journal 4(1), pp.25-43.

Purcell, Joanne Marie (2018). Seeing the Light: A Cognitive Approach to the Metaphorical in Picture Books. Child Lit Educ 49, pp. 356–375.

Nurjona Pinguri has a background in teaching English at the primary level. She is part of the University of Education of Freiburg and holds an MA in Teaching English to Young Learners from the same institution. Her research interests include using picturebooks in the primary EFL classroom, and diversity in ELT.

Der Vortrag skizziert die narratoästhetische Analyse von Bilderbüchern aus interdisziplinärer Perspektive. Dabei wird es zunächst um die definitorische Bestimmung dieser Buchgattung gehen, um folgend ihre Entwicklung in ästhetischer, narrativer und buchgestalterischer Hinsicht nachzuzeichnen. Darauf aufbauend steht die Analyse von Bild und Text und dem Zusammenspiel der Einzelmedien als Bild-Text-Interdependenzen anhand zahlreicher Beispiele im Fokus des Vortrags.

Whereas the potential of picturebooks in primary ELT can be regarded as undisputed, the academic discourse has only recently begun to re-negotiate and re-think the value of picturebooks for intermediate and advanced learners in secondary education in more detail (Alter/Merse 2023). In our presentation, we explore this development and seek to uncover picturebooks as a new format of literature in the context of secondary ELT. We aim at furthering the discourse that transcends discursive boundaries which construct the picturebook as a stereotypically childish medium. With this in mind, we argue from a conceptual perspective how picturebooks as complex multimodal texts – in the sense of crossover/all age texts – can be legitimized for intermediate and advanced learners. Such a turn in re-thinking picturebooks seems promising because their complex designs, their mediality and multimodality as well as their thematic orientations open up new perspectives for secondary ELT, e.g., The Girl in Red by Aaron Frisch (2012) and Susan Laughs by Jeanne Willis (2011). In embracing these perspectives, we also share empirical insights into teaching scenarios in which picturebooks are negotiated with advanced learners. These insights will illustrate how picturebooks such as The Great Paper Caper by Oliver Jeffers (2008), or The House that Crack Built by Clark Taylor (1992) were, for example, used to foster complex literacies such as visual literacy, critical (media) literacy and multimodal literacy, to engage learners in literary aspects of the texts, and to address challenging social and cultural topics in learner-centred ways. In sum, the points covered in this talk will address how picturebooks could gain increasing momentum if their readerships are also envisioned with a view to secondary English language teaching.

References:

Alter, G., & Merse, T. (2023) (Eds.). Re-thinking Picturebooks for Intermediate and Advanced Learners: Perspectives for Secondary English Language Education. Narr Francke Attempto.

Grit Alter is Professor of Teaching English as a Foreign Language at the University College of Teacher Education in Innsbruck, Austria. Her research focuses on using picturebooks in primary and advanced English language teaching, diversity education, and critical pedagogy. She is currently involved in projects on textbook studies, teaching Canada, and narrative inquiry into teacher education.

Thorsten Merse is Professor of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) Education at the University of Duisburg-Essen, with a special focus on Anglophone Literatures and Cultures. In his research, he explores inter- and transcultural learning, critical diversity education, pedagogies of teaching literature (including picturebooks), and digital education in EFL.

Transmedial narratology (Reinerth & Thon 2017; Thon 2014, 2015) and comics studies (Fischer & Hatfield 2011; Horstkotte & Pedri 2011, 2017, 2022; Mikkonen 2012, 2015, 2017) in particular offer a variety of starting points for a systematic analysis of subjectivity / focalization in picturebooks. However, in picturebook studies proper this entire field of research does not seem to be a priority at all. In the massive Routledge Companion to Picturebooks (Kümmerling-Meibauer 2018) a single article is dedicated to “Picturebooks and Narratology” (Kovač 2018; see also Stephens 2010), although some of these concepts are touched upon in other contexts, such as adaptations or media studies. Often scholars prefer the more traditional terms of ‘narrative perspective’ (Nikolajeva & Scott 2006) or ‘point of view’ (Unsworth 2014). Angela Yannicopoulou’s “Focalization in Children’s Picture Books: Who Sees in Words and Pictures?” is the only paper I could find that directly engages with focalization as a theoretical concept. Why – one is inclined to ask – is there a reluctance to pursue this further?

In this presentation I am going to analyse Emma Yarlett’s Orion and the Dark in terms of transmedial narratology to illustrate how quickly this theory can turn into mental gymnastics with little practical value to young readers and educators, who are very much interested in exploring the subjectivity (emotions and thoughts) of characters, reading their bodies and minds. There is an obvious disconnect between what a narratological analysis can produce and a more practical approach that is needed in schools. Commenting on the subjectivity of comics characters, Kai Mikkonen (2017: 153) is quick to acknowledge that “it does not always matter who speaks or sees in the narrative [: …] What may be much more important is how the reader, or the viewer, gets optimal information about a character's consciousness: his or her motivations, thoughts, and perceptions.” Again, using Orion and the Dark as my main example, I am going to point out a few basic strategies what such a practical reading could look like (Oppolzer 2020, 2023).   

References:

Kovač, Smiljana Narančić. “Picturebooks and Narratology”. In: Bettina Kümmerling-Meibauer (ed.). The Routledge Companion to Picturebooks. London and New York: Routledge, 2018. 409-419.

Fischer, Craig & Charles Hatfield. “Teeth, Sticks, and Bricks: Calligraphy, Graphic Focalization, and Narrative Braiding in Eddie Campbell's Alec”. SubStance 40:1 (2011): 70-93.

Horstkotte, Silke. “Zooming In and Zooming Out: Panels, Frames, Sequences, and the Building of Graphic Storyworlds”. In: Daniel Stein & Jan-Noël Thon (ed.). From Comic Strips to Graphic Novels: Contributions to the Theory of Graphic Narrative. 2nd edn. Berlin: De Gruyter, 2015. 27-48.

Horstkotte, Silke & Nancy Pedri. Experiencing Visual Storyworlds: Focalization in Comics. Columbus, OH: The Ohio State University Press, 2022.

Horstkotte, Silke & Nancy Pedri. “The Body at Work: Subjectivity in Graphic Memoir”. In: Reinerth, Maike Sarah/Thon, Jan-Noël (eds.): Subjectivity across Media: Interdisciplinary and Transmedial Perspectives. New York: Routledge, 2017. 77-91.

Horstkotte, Silke & Nancy Pedri. “Focalization in Graphic Narrative”. Narrative 19:3 (2011): 330-357.

Kümmerling-Meibauer, Bettina (ed.). The Routledge Companion to Picturebooks. London and New York: Routledge, 2018.  

Mikkonen, Kai. “Focalization in Comics”. In: The Narratology of Comic Art. Routledge: New York, 2017. 150-173.

Mikkonen, Kai. “Subjectivity and Style in Graphic Narratives”. In: Daniel Stein & Jan-Noël Thon (ed.). From Comic Strips to Graphic Novels: Contributions to the Theory of Graphic Narrative. 2nd edn. Berlin: De Gruyter, 2015. 101-123.

Mikkonen, Kai. “Focalisation in Comics”. Scandinavian Journal of Comic Art 1:1 (2012): 71-95.

Nikolajeva, Maria & Carole Scott. “Narrative Perspective”. In: How Picturebooks Work. New York and London: Routledge, 2006. 117-137.

Oppolzer, Markus. “The centrality of conceptual metaphors to a reading of characters’ thoughts and feelings in Shaun Tan’s picturebooks”. In: Grit Alter & Thorsten Merse (ed.). Re-thinking Picturebooks for Intermediate and Advanced Learners: Perspectives for Secondary English Language Education. Tübingen: Narr Francke Attempto, 2023. 59-80.

Oppolzer, Markus. “Die Ausbildung visueller Lesekompetenzen: Vom Bilderbuch zum Comic”. In: Markus Engelns, Ulrike Preußer & Felix Giesa (ed.). Comics in der Schule: Theorie und Unterrichtspraxis. Berlin: Bachmann, 2020. 131-151.

Pedri. Nancy. “What’s the Matter of Seeing in Graphic Memoir?”. South Central Review 32:3 (Fall 2015): 8-29.

Reinerth, Maike Sarah & Jan-Noël Thon (ed.). Subjectivity across Media: Interdisciplinary and Transmedial Perspectives. New York and London: Routledge, 2017.

Stephens, John. “Narratology”. In: David Rudd (ed.). The Routledge Companion to Children’s Literature. London and New York: Routledge, 2010. 51-62.

Thon, Jan-Noël. “Subjectivity across Media: On Transmedial Strategies of Subjective Representation in Contemporary Feature Films, Graphic Novels, and Computer Games”. In: Marie-Laure Ryan & Jan-Noël Thon (ed.). Storyworlds across Media: Toward a Media-Conscious Narratology. Lincoln, NE, and London: University of Nebraska Press, 2014. 67-102.

Thon, Jan-Noël. “Who’s Telling the Tale? Authors and Narrators in Graphic Narrative”. In: Daniel Stein & Jan-Noël Thon (ed.). From Comic Strips to Graphic Novels: Contributions to the Theory of Graphic Narrative. 2nd edn. Berlin: De Gruyter, 2015. 67-99.

Unsworth, Len. “Investigating Point of View in Picture Books and Animated Movie Adaptations”. In: Kerry Mallan (ed.). Picture Books and Beyond. Newtown, NSW: Primary English Teaching Association Australia, 2014. 92-107.  

Yannicopoulou, Angela. “Focalization in Children’s Picture Books: Who Sees in Words and Pictures?”. In:  Michael Cadden (ed.). Telling Children’s Stories: Narrative Theory and Children’s Literature. Lincoln, NE: Nebraska University Press. 65-85.

Yarlett, Emma. Orion and the Dark. Dorking: Templar, 2014.

Markus Oppolzer is an Associate Professor of Teaching English as a Foreign Language and Literary Studies at the Department of English and American Studies at the University of Salzburg. His research interests are visual narrative media, auto/biography and teaching literatures and cultures in secondary schools. 

Biographical picture books for young readers have in recent years flooded bookshops, often with a particular focus on “activists, artists, athletes, BIPOC, Black voices, eco heroes, LGBTQ, scientists, musicians, trailblazers, women and writers” (Kate Douglas Children and Biography: Reading and Writing Life Stories 2023: 43). What this recent trend tells us is that young readers are increasingly confronted with life narratives, but what methodological potential do these kind of picture books hold? Kate Douglas suggests that “Their goal is to take responsibility for showing children, who represent the future, an alternate past (and present) to what they might have learned in other historical texts.” (2023: 41) In what ways can teachers use this “alternate past” to teach young learners?

In this paper I will argue that biographical picture books create a valuable access point for young readers to learn about important individuals from the Anglophone world to expand their cultural knowledge, while also being tasked to reflect on individual achievements and their relevance for today’s society. This way, ESL students will encounter life narratives as first, linguistic challenges, to understand the literal words on the page, thus tackling literacy and media-related competences, and then second, the individuals’ historical and cultural influence, tackling intercultural and communication-related competences. I will use examples from the Little People, Big Dreams series (created by Maria Isabel Sánchez Vegara) to highlight the didactical potential for the ESL classroom, based on my own teaching experience in which I use a project-based approach to activate students to engage with selected individuals’ life stories from the Anglophone world as part of the school year’s focus on the USA.

Maria Juko completed her B.A. and M.Ed. in English and Biology for Secondary Education with a focus on Victorian Literature at the University of Hamburg. She is currently reworking her PhD on female self-reliance in the Long Nineteenth Century for publication and working on a monograph on graphic biographical fiction as a teacher and independent researcher in Potsdam. She researches women in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, considering novels, conduct books, and self-help literature of the period. She further examines adaptations of the period in theme park rides, comics, film and literature. She is currently editing a special issue on graphic biographical fiction for Comics Grid with Prof. Nancy Pedri.

How do you present a picturebook to catch the young learners attention? How do you involve the children as much as possible? In this workshop, participants choose from a range of picturebooks and present them trying different techniques such as shadow play, sound effects or pantomime.

Grit Bergner, primary classroom teacher (German, Maths, Science, Art) for more than twenty years, now lecturer at Martin Luther University Halle, MA in TEYL (University of York), PhD (Erfurt University)

Im Fokus steht das Bilderbuch Mixed. A Colorful Story vom Autor und Illustrator Arree Chung, das im Jahr 2019 denChildren‘s Book Award erhalten hat. Im Workshop soll zunächst der Frage nachgegangen werden, auf der Grundlage welcher Kriterien bestimmt werden kann, wann ein Bilderbuch für den Fremdsprachenunterricht (in der Grundschule) geeignet ist. Wir werden uns das Buch vorlesen lassen und anschließend, je nach Anzahl der Teilnehmenden, unter verschiedenen Gesichtspunkten analysieren (Inhalt, Bild-Text-Verhältnis, verwendete Sprache, Erzählweise, Typographie). In einem weiteren Schritt sollen Aktivitäten für die vorbereitende Phase (pre-storytelling), die Hauptphase (while-storytelling) und die nachbereitende Phase (post-storytelling) (Elsner 2010: 122-126) in Gruppen entwickelt und Lernziele formuliert werden. Der Workshop ist schulstufenübergreifend angelegt und die Zielgruppen können, je nach Zusammensetzung der TeilnehmerInnen, SchülerInnen der Jahrgangsstufe 4, 5 oder 6 sein.

References:

Chung, Arree (2018): Mixed. A Colorful Story. New York: Henry Holt and Company.

Elsner, Daniela (2010): Englisch in der Grundschule unterrichten: Grundlagen, Methoden, Praxisbeispiele. München: Oldenbourg-Schulbuchverlag.

Steffi Morkötter ist Professorin für Fremdsprachendidaktik mit den Schwerpunkten Englisch und Französisch an der Universität Rostock. Nach ihrem Lehramtsstudium der Fächer Englisch, Französisch und Italienisch, ihrer Promotion und Unterrichtstätigkeit habilitierte sie sich zum Thema einer Förderung von Sprachlernkompetenz zu Beginn der Sekundarstufe durch Interkomprehension.

Textlosen Bilderbüchern wird im Fachdiskurs häufig eine besonders aktivierende und involvierende Wirkung auf die Rezipient*innen zugesprochen; die fehlende Textebene lade dazu ein, sich als Ko- Produzent*in an der Sinn- und Bedeutungskonstruktion zu beteiligen (Krichel 2020: 68). Für den (Fremd-)Sprachenunterricht liegt es folglich nahe, wordless bzw. silent books insbesondere zur Förderung produktiver Sprachfertigkeiten (speaking, writing) einzusetzen.

Allerdings ist ein solches Vorhaben weder ein Selbstläufer, noch wird es automatisch den z.T. hochkomplexen Bedeutungswelten textloser Bilderbücher gerecht: Geht der Textproduktion keine gründliche Analyse (z.B. im Sinne des transnarratologischen Analysemodells von Krichel 2020) voraus und wird sie nicht von zielgruppengerechtem scaffolding begleitet, so wird sie willkürlich, ziellos und ggf. überfordernd. Verbleibt die Spracharbeit auf der Ebene des skill-Training, werden wertvolle Chancen zur Förderung einer critical visual literacy verpasst, die Newfield (2011) zufolge ein “reading against rather than reading with the visual text” (82) erfordert und sowohl für Mechanismen der Positionierung als auch soziopolitische Konsequenzen semiotischer Entscheidungen in visuellen Texten sensibilisiert.

In diesem Workshop wird mit einer Auswahl an textlosen Bilderbüchern gearbeitet, die sich aufgrund ihrer hohen Komplexität, gemessen z.B. an Krichel (2020), für den Englischunterricht ab der Jahrgangsstufe 7/8 eignen. Anschließend an einen kurzen Impulsvortrag sind die Teilnehmenden eingeladen, arbeitsteilig Lernaufgaben zu den Büchern zu erproben und gemeinsam zu reflektieren.

Die Lernaufgaben fokussieren Kompetenzen des (dialogischen) Sprechens und (kollaborativen) Schreibens und wurden von den Workshopleiterinnen, z.T. basierend auf universitären und außerschulischen Vermittlungserfahrungen, im Sinne eines handlungsorientierten Fremdsprachenunterrichts konzipiert. Zugleich sind sie um die Förderung von critical visual literacy bemüht, indem sie – orientiert u.A. an Louloudi (2023) – Herangehensweisen des critical literacy- Ansatzes bzw. der social justice education nutzen.

References:

Krichel, Anne (2020). Textlose Bilderbücher. Visuelle Narrationsstrukturen und erzähldidaktische Konzeptionen für die Grundschule. Waxmann.

Louloudi, Eleni (2023). (Re-)Envisioning picturebooks for social justice education in advanced audiences: A critical literacy perspective from Canada. In: Alter, Grit & Merse, Thorsten. Re-thinking picturebooks for intermediate and advanced learners: Perspectives for secondary English language education.

Gunter Narr Verlag. 133-154.

Newfield, Denise (2011). From visual literacy to critical visual literacy: An analysis of educational materials.

English Teaching: Practice and Critique 10(1), 81-94.

Anne Hirschfelder arbeitet als Dozentin/Lehrbeauftragte in der Fachdidaktik Englisch der Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin und als selbständige Literaturpädagogin mit Kindern, Jugendlichen und Erwachsenen. Ihre Schwerpunkte liegen in der Arbeit mit Comics/Graphic Novels und der kinderrechtsbasierten Leseförderung.

Dr. Katrin Schultze ist wissenschaftliche Mitarbeiterin in der Fachdidaktik Englisch der Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin und bietet dort seit einigen Semestern mit Begeisterung Lehrveranstaltungen zu Picturebooks & Storytelling an. Zu ihren weiteren Arbeitsschwerpunkten gehören Fragen der professionellen Identitätsbildung von Lehrkräften und Lehrkräftebildner*innen sowie der Themenbereich Argumentieren, Debattieren und Demokratiebildung im Englischunterricht.

Nach welchen Kriterien wählen Lehrkräfte Unterrichtslektüre aus? Ein Blick auf Befragungen von Lehrkräften zeigt, dass vor allem drei Begründungsmuster herangezogen werden: Erziehung durch Literatur, Erziehung zur Literatur und die gemeinsame Kommunikation über Literatur als Ziel (vgl. Ritter/Ritter 2019: 30). In einem Forschungsprojekt zeigen Ritter und Ritter (2014) weiterhin auf, dass bei den gewohnten Auswahlkriterien für (Bilder-)Bücher im Unterricht vor allem ein thematischer Zugriff im Fokus steht und nicht literarästhetische Bildungspotenziale. Bücher, die die Lehrkräfte bei der Lektüre persönlich fasziniert haben, wurden anschließend nicht unbedingt als Unterrichtslektüre gewählt, vor allem dann nicht, wenn pädagogische Überzeugungen die Auswahl leiteten (vgl. Ritter/Ritter 2019: 39). Dies mag verwundern, denn Ziel des Lese- und Literaturunterrichts ist in der Primarstufe in besonderem Maße die Förderung von Lesefreude durch Vorlesen und eigenes Lesen, dem „eine besondere Bedeutung zu[kommt}, denn der zunehmend selbstbestimmte Umgang mit Literatur ist wichtige Quelle für die Welt-

, Selbst- und Spracherfahrung der Schülerinnen und Schüler.“ (KMK 2022: 6). Aus diesem Grund möchten wir einen Workshop zu zwei Bilderbüchern des kanadischen Autors und Illustrators Jon Klassen anbieten, die zwar definitiv keine Erziehung durch Literatur ermöglichen, jedoch dafür Freude an der Lektüre garantieren und großes literarästhetisches Potenzial haben. Die Bücher wirken auf den ersten Blick simpel: Die Bilder sind sehr abstrakt, weisen wenige Details auf und sind farblich eher blass gehalten. Die Textebene zeichnet sich durch kurze, syntaktisch einfache, parataktische Sätze mit einfacher Wortwahl aus. Jedoch verbergen sich hinter dieser zunächst schlicht anmutenden Fassade zwei hochkomische Texte mit vielfältigen Potenzialen hinsichtlich literarischen Lernens: Bild- und Textebene bieten in This Is Not My Hat zwei unterschiedliche Perspektiven an, die miteinander in Beziehung gesetzt werden müssen. Beide Bilderbücher enden (relativ) offen und eröffnen dadurch Räume für Interpretationen. In unserem ca. 90-minütigen Workshop möchten wir beide Bilderbücher zunächst in Gruppen anhand der Bilderbuchanalyse nach Kurwinkel (2017) und Staiger (2022) analysieren, um anschließend literaturdidaktische Potenziale unter Nutzung des BOLIVE-Modells (Boelmann/König 2021) herauszuarbeiten. Dabei liegt der Analysefokus vor allem auf dem intermodalen Zusammenspiel von Bild- und Textebene.

References:

Boelmann, Jan M.; König, Lisa (2021): Literarische Kompetenz messen, literarische Bildung fördern. Das BOLIVE-Modell. Baltmannsweiler: Schneider Hohengehren.

Klassen, Jon (2011): I Want My Hat Back. Somerville: Candlewick Press.

Klassen, Jon (2012): This Is Not My Hat. Somerville: Candlewick Press.

KMK (2022): Bildungsstandards für das Fach Deutsch Primarstufe. (Fassung vom 23.06.2022). Sekretariat der Ständigen Konferenz der Kultusminister der Länder in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland.
https://www.kmk.org/fileadmin/Dateien/veroeffentlichungen_beschluesse/2022/2022_06_23-Bista-Primarbereich-Deutsch.pdf [Stand: 07.09.2024].

Kurwinkel, Tobias (2017): Bilderbuchanalyse. Narrativik – Ästhetik – Didaktik. Tübingen: Francke.

Ritter, Alexandra; Ritter, Michael (2014): Zwischen vermeintlichen Stühlen. Einstellungen und beliefs von Grundschullehrer(inne)n im Kontext literarischer Lernprozesse mit Bilderbüchern. In: Scherer, Gabriela; Volz, Steffen; Wiprächtiger- Geppert, Maja (Hg.): Bilderbuch und literar-ästhetische Bildung. Aktuelle Forschungsperspektiven. Trier: WVT, S. 141-154.

Ritter, Alexandra; Ritter, Michael (2019): Von der Bilderbuchauswahl zur Umsetzung im Unterricht. Eine Studie zu Überzeugungen von Grundschullehrer*innen. In: Heins, Jochen; Jantzen, Christoph (Hg.): Kinderliteratur unterrichten. Vielfältige Perspektiven auf den Literaturunterricht in der Grundschule. München: kopaed, S. 25-42.

Staiger, Michael (2022): Kategorien der Bilderbuchanalyse – ein sechsdimensionales Modell. In: Dammers, Ben; Krichel, Anne; Staiger, Michael (Hg.): Das Bilderbuch. Theoretische Grundlagen und analytische Zugänge. Berlin: Metzler, S. 3-28.

Lisa Ingermann, (M.A.), ist seit 2017 wissenschaftliche Mitarbeiterin für Didaktik der deutschen Sprache und Literatur für die Primarstufe an der Universität Rostock. Forschungsschwerpunkte: Literarästhetisches Lernen in Text-Bild-Verbünden, Nationalsozialismus in der Kinder- und Jugendliteratur (vor allem im Comic) sowie Wechselwirkungen zwischen Literaturunterricht und Sprachreflexion.

Maike Rettmann, M.A., ist wissenschaftliche Mitarbeiterin im Bereich Didaktik der deutschen  Sprache  und  Literatur  für  die  Primarstufe  an  der  Universität  Rostock, Schreibberaterin an der Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf sowie Lehrassistentin an der Ameos-Klinik Aschersleben. Ihre Forschungsschwerpunkte sind Bilderbücher, Theorie(n) der Metapher, Herta Müller, Anne Duden sowie literatur- und filmwissenschaftliche Alter(n)sforschung.