Name: Hannah Gookstetter

TCH_LRN 339 Text Analysis

Assignment Description & Directions: For your selected textbook chapter, (1) identify the
text’s key ideas, concepts or events, (2) reflect on experiences or knowledge that would help
students connect these to their lives, (3) identify potential barriers to student understanding
(particularly language use and culture); (4) determine which aspects of text content and structure
are most likely to interfere with comprehension. USE COURSE RESOURCES whenever
possible to answer the questions, and cite or quote those resources in APA when possible.

Reference Citation in APA format (visit the Purdue OWL website or the Resources module on
Canvas for help):
Tunnel, M.O., Jacobs, J.S., Young, T.A., & Bryan, G. (2016). How to Recognize a Well-
Illustrated Book. In M.D. Fossel (Eds.) Children’s Literature Briefly (pp. 35-46). Upper Saddle
River, NJ: Pearson.
Task 1: Key concept identification

A. List major concepts, ideas, and/or events from the text. Briefly explain each bullet point.
 Visual Literacy: Visual literacy is the ability to make sense of images (Tunnel, Jacobs,
Young, & Bryan, 2016, p.35). Children are very visually aware, but this awareness is
dulled by teachers over the course of a child’s school career. It is the job of teachers to
heighten our students’ visual awareness. This can be done by viewing and analyzing the
illustrations of picture books.
 Functions of Illustrations in Picture Books: Picture books are comprised of a series of
illustrations that tell a story, the art in them may function in a multitude of ways (Jacobs
et al., 2016, p. 37-38). These functions include the following: establishing setting,
defining and developing characters, reinforcing text, providing a different viewpoint,
extending and developing the plot, providing interesting asides, and establishing mood.
 Style and Media in Picture Book Illustrations: The illustrations that make up picture
books consist of various artistic styles and types of media used to create them. Artistic
style ranges from realistic to extremely abstract and includes realism, surrealism,
expressionism, impressionism, and naïve. There are two categories of media that
illustrators use: painterly and graphic (Jacobs et al., 2016, p. 40-41). Painterly forms of
media consist of common art materials like paint, pencils, and makers. This type of media
is typically applied directly to a canvas, paper, or another surface, which makes it
different from graphic media (Jacobs et al., 2016, p.40). When creating graphic media,
artists typically create the artwork somewhere else before applying it to the final surface
(Jacobs et al., 2016, p. 40). Graphic media is created by utilizing woodcuts, collages,
scratchboards, or pictures.
 Visual Elements: Incorporated into picture book illustrations just like in the artwork
hanging in a museum are the visual elements of design. The visual elements of design are
line, shape, color, texture, and composition. Line plays a role in what a picture
communicates (Jacobs et al., 2016, p. 41). It is also used to direct the reader’s eye. Shape
is used to create a two-dimensional form of an object (Jacobs et al., 2016, 42). Color is

1
 used to create mood in the illustrations, texture is utilized to create depth, and
composition unifies all of the objects featured in an illustration.
 Additional Illustration Criteria: “Quality picture book art is individual and unique;”
the elements of action and detail come through and give the illustrations individuality
(Jacobs et al., 2016, 43). Action in illustrations moves the story along and is used to
create tension. Good illustrations will do this, subtly or obviously. Good illustrations have
a lot of depth to them, which provides the reader with details that the text does not
convey or provide. Detail can also be obvious or subtle, but they enhance the visual
appeal of the illustration and add to the story.

B. List supporting concepts, ideas, and/or events. Briefly explain each bullet point.
Functions of Illustrations in Picture Books:
 Establish Setting: Art in picture books is a natural place for creating setting (Jacobs et
al., 2016, p. 38). For example, time periods in historical stories or specific cultural
settings are brought to life by illustrations in a way that words cannot bring them to life
(Jacobs et al., 2016, p. 38). Illustrations bring settings to life and create imagery.
 Define and Develop Characters: Illustrations allow the characters of a story to come to
life. This function is especially important in the case of wordless picture books because
there is no text available to advance character development. The illustrations are solely
responsible for the definition and development of characters.
 Reinforce Text: Illustrations are intended to reinforce text. This is a common function in
nonfiction books: the diagrams and charts in nonfiction books support their respective
text. They ultimately assist the reader in better understanding what the text is stating.
 Provide a Different Viewpoint: Sometimes illustrations are responsible for telling a
story that is different from the one the text is telling. By doing this, illustrations are
providing a new perspective to the story.
 Extend or Develop the Plot: Illustrations advance the plot of a story. They provide
details that the words do not.
 Provide Interesting Asides: Illustrations provide the reader with asides, subplots, and
details that are mentioned nowhere in the text. These details add more interest to a book
and will be easily picked up by young readers.
 Establish Mood: Another function of illustrations is to establish mood. Mood can easily
be determined by analyzing the colors utilized in the illustrations.
Style and Media in Picture Books
 Realism: Realism is a representational style of media that attempts to reproduce how
objects and people in nature truly appear (Jacobs et al., 2016, p. 40).
 Surrealism: Surrealism is the abstract version of realism. “It represents the working of
the unconscious mind by creating a dreamlike state” (Jacobs et al., 2016, p. 40).
 Expressionism: What the style of expressionism does is it attempts to give “objective
expression to inner experience” (Jacobs et al., 2016, p. 40). This is done by employing
bright colors and disproportionate figures.
 Impressionism: Emphasizing light, movement, and color over details, is a more abstract
style of illustrations.
 Naïve: An example of a naïve style piece of artwork would be one that is intentionally
made to look like a child has created it. Naïve style is childlike and because of this, it
lacks perspective and a sense of proportion (Jacobs et al., 2016, p. 40).
2
  Painterly Media: Painterly media involves the use of common art materials: paint,
pencil, ink, oil paints, chalk, markers, and crayons. Typically, painterly media is applied
directly to another surface.
 Graphic Media: Graphic media is typically created elsewhere prior to it being applied to
a final surface (Jacobs et al., 2016, p. 40-41). This type of media involves the use of
woodcuts, collages, or even photography to create artwork.
Visual Elements
 Line: Lines are either curved or straight. How lines are used in illustrations often plays a
major role in what it is communicating (Jacobs et al., 2016, p. 41). Vertical lines create a
static look while horizontal lines suggest tranquility or order (Jacobs et al., 2016, p. 41).
Line is also often used to direct the reader’s eye through illustrations.
 Shape: “Shape is the two-dimensional form representing an object” (Jacobs et al., 2016,
p. 42). They can be similar or complex; abstract or easily identifiable. Typically, curved
shapes are used to create things that are found in nature, while angular shapes are used to
create objects constructed by humans (Jacobs et al., 2016, p. 42).
 Color: Color consists of many traits – hue, value, and saturation – that are all very
important in illustrations. Color establishes mood in illustrations.
o Hue: The color itself. Hues are categorized as either cool or warm.
o Value: Value is how light or dark a color is. Value is created by adding black or
white to a color. This is what is typically used to manipulate the mood of an
illustration.
o Saturation: Saturation refers to how bright or dull a color is.
 Texture: Texture is “a tactile impression communicated by the artist” (Jacobs et al.,
2016, p. 42). Texture gives illustrations depth.
 Composition: Composition is what unifies all of the elements that make up an
illustration. Objects may be distributed evenly – symmetrically – throughout a page or
unevenly – asymmetrically.
o Object Dominance: Object dominance is a tactic used by artists to ensure that
certain objects in an image are more dominant than others. This is controlled
typically by increasing or decreasing the size and brightness of objects.
Additional Illustration Criteria
 Depicting Action: Action in picture books is important because the illustrations that they
consist of are responsible for moving the story along (Jacobs et al., 2016, p. 43). Action
in illustrations can be subtle or obvious. They can also create tension by foreshadowing
action that is going to occur later in the story (Jacobs et al., 2016, p. 43).
 Creating Depth and Detail: Illustrations allow artists the opportunity to add depth to
work. Additionally, they provide artists with the opportunity to express their individuality.
Adding extensive amounts of detail in illustrations requires a lot of research. Detail in
illustrations can also be seen in the use of perspective. Just like action, detail can be both
subtle or obvious.
 Care Given to Bookmaking: Bookmaking requires a lot of care and a heightened
awareness of detail. One must be clever when constructing books. For example, in clever
bookmaking, the size and shape of books may match the story line (Jacobs et al., 2016, p.
45). Extensive attention to detail adds visual appeal to a book.
________________________________________________________________________

3
Task 2: Experience and knowledge

A. List 3 experiences that would help your students connect key concepts to their lives. Explain.
 Have students create their own piece of artwork: For an introductory art unit at the
beginning of the school year, I could introduce the various art materials and how they are
utilized. Each lesson in the unit could focus on a specific art material, how to use it, and
what iconic art pieces have been created with that art material. To wrap up each lesson, I
would have the students create their own piece of artwork using that art material. Each
lesson could span the course of a week. For younger students, I could focus on more
basic art materials – pencils, markers, crayons, water color – and for older students I
could focus on more advance materials like oil pastels, charcoal, and acrylic paints.
Younger students could create artwork by making a collage, whereas older students could
create artwork using scratchboard.
 Have students create their own illustrations/books: To teach students the functions of
illustrations and the importance of quality illustrations in books, I could have students
write and illustrate their own books. Rather than just having them create these books for
their own pleasure, I could have students write and illustrate books for younger students.
For example, eighth grade age students could author books for second grade students. By
doing this, the students would learn the importance and functions of quality illustrations
because the illustrations they create have to be able to contribute the story they wrote in a
way that makes sense for another set of eyes other than their own.
 Have students identify visual elements in illustrations: The concept of visual elements
that make up an illustration and other artwork is a topic that could be its own unit. Unlike
the first experience described above, each lesson could only take a day, because no
creation of artwork would be necessary. Each lesson would include an explanation of one
of the visual elements of illustrations – line, shape, color, texture, composition. In
addition, the lesson would also include examples of the visual element. After an overview
of the visual element, students would be asked to identify the visual element that is being
focused on for that lesson in picture book illustrations. Perhaps, this could be done by
using a worksheet in order to facilitate this activity. Then, students would be asked to
identify uses of the visual element of focus in their own artwork to further display their
comprehension of the topic. For example, when teaching about color, I could ask my
students how a few pieces of artwork make them feel. Then, I would explain to them that
color is responsible for creating mood or how you feel when you look at an image. We
would then look at a variety of images and discuss the colors used in them. Next, I would
have them individually look at artwork and work on a worksheet focusing on how color
creates mood in images. Finally, I would have them look at their previous creations to see
how they have created mood in their pieces.

B. List 3 pieces of knowledge that would help your students connect key concepts to their lives.
Explain.
 What visual elements are: It would be important for students to know what visual
elements are because visual elements are not something that students are aware of unless
they take an art class, which is not typically offered to them until they are much older. By
knowing the visual elements – what they are and how to use them – students will be able
to make improvements in their artwork and create artwork that they are proud of. They

4
 will be able to notice the visual elements in their own pieces and others’ pieces. Overall,
knowing what the visual elements are and how they are used will make students more
visually literate, which can impact them for the rest of their school careers and lives.
 How artwork is created: If students are aware of the process behind creating a quality
piece of artwork or a quality illustration, students will learn to better appreciate art.
Behind a piece of artwork is countless hours of research and time spent actually crafting a
piece of art. In addition to being more appreciative of artwork, if students are aware of
how artwork is created, they will be better able to identify what was employed to create
the artwork, the art materials, which in turn makes them more visual literate and aware.
 What the purpose of illustrations are: When students understand that illustrations do
more than provide the reader with something to look at, they will better understand the
importance of illustrations to the progression of a story. By understanding the purpose of
illustrations, students will be able to notice how certain elements of a story are developed
via the illustrations and how the illustrations add elements to story that the text is
incapable of explaining. When students can identify the purposes of an illustration, they
become more visually literate and aware. They will also pay more attention to the
illustrations and images in books rather than just skipping past them.
________________________________________________________________________

Task 3: Barrier identification

Answer these questions as specific as possible:

 Is the material presented in a register that students are familiar with, or is it more or less
formal than they are used to? Give examples.

This material is not presented in a register that students would be familiar with. It is not more
of less formal per say because it emulates the style of a high school or middle school level
textbook; however, it is the use of discourse specific terminology that would make the text
challenging for students to understand. For example, terminology related to art – realism,
expressionism, surrealism, etc. – are not words that are commonly used in the everyday
classroom setting. Rather, these are terms that would be used in art classroom. Personally, I
was not aware of what exactly these terms meant until I read this chapter. In addition, this
textbook employs the use of a variety of titles from children’s literature as examples to
describe certain aspects and features of children’s literature. While some of the books
employed as examples are fairly common, well-known books, others are not which makes it
challenging to understand what exactly the author is attempting to convey.

 With what specific language structures or grammar might students have difficulty? Use
the Andrews’ book to explain.

Students may struggle with pedagogical grammar – the grammar typically used in textbooks
(Andrews, 2001, p. 39). Pedagogical grammar would fall into the usage, emphasis of
grammatical competence, rather than the use category, communicative competence (Andrews,
2001, p. 39). When students can read and comprehend a textbook, which utilizes pedagogical
grammar, they are showing effective language usage because they can comprehend the text and

5
understand the grammatical structures used in the text. Instructional activities like reading
textbooks and completing worksheets teach ELL students English language usage, rather than
English language use. Doing these activities does not teach ELL students how to effectively
communicate with their peers. Pedagogical grammar may get confused with descriptive
grammar, which is the ways in which language is used without there being judgements made in
regards to the social acceptability of various language uses (Andrews, 2001, p. 41). Emphasis on
pedagogical grammar may confuse ELLs on how they should and should not use English to
communicate with their peers.

 From whose point of view is the material presented? What difference might this make to
comprehension?

This textbook is written from the point of view of an educator who has a focus on literacy and
teaching reading. One can tell this because of all the specific reading terminology and all of the
strategies to get students engaged in reading. If someone who is not passionate about teaching
reading was to read this text or someone who is not a teaching student or a teacher, would have a
difficult time comprehending the text. This text is intended for teachers and future teachers,
which is why this group of people would have the easier time comprehending the text.

 What vocabulary in the materials might ELLs have trouble with? Why?

The vocabulary in this chapter that would be troubling for ELLs is the terminology used to
define the different art styles: realism, surrealism, expressionism, naïve, and impressionism.
ELLs would have trouble using this vocabulary because they are academic, subject specific
vocabulary words; words that are not commonly used in everyday life and communication. In
addition to this factor, these words are more abstract. Because they are more abstract, they are
more challenging to comprehend, which would also make these vocabulary words challenging
for ELLs. Dissimilarly, vocabulary words in this chapter that pertain to art materials – pencil,
paints, markers, crayons – are all words that ELL students would be familiar with because they
are materials used daily in the classroom. ELL students would not have as much trouble with
these words because they name objects that are easily identifiable and commonly used by the
students.

 What cultural aspects of the book might ELLs find challenging? Why?

A cultural aspect that ELLs may find challenging is the fact that all of the books employed as
examples of well-illustrated books are books that are popular or commonly used in the United
States. These books may not be ones that are commonly used or popular in an ELL student’s
home country or in their home; they may have books from their culture that are more significant.
Because of this factor, ELL students may not understand the literary merit of these popular
books, thus making it hard for them to understand why these books are well-illustrated or what
makes them so great in a general sense. In addition to this cultural aspect, ELL students may also
struggle with the different styles of artwork and the visual elements used in illustrations. They
may struggle with this aspect because there may be different styles of artwork that are popular or

6
used in their culture, rather than those that are commonly used in the United States. Visual
elements may be used differently in the student’s culture, as well.
________________________________________________________________________

Task 4: Comprehension demands

A. Based on your answers to the previous tasks, describe what kind of student might succeed
in understanding this material. Why?

The kind of student that might succeed in understanding this material would be a student who
is more of the artistic type because they would be familiar with how to use the art materials
mentioned in the chapter and the artistic styles, too. In addition to this, an older student,
perhaps high school or even middle school aged, would have an easier time understanding
this text because they may have taken more art classes that may have taught them about the
different artistic styles and materials. In addition to these aspects, a student who is very
familiar or fluent in the English language would succeed in understanding this chapter of the
textbook because the text in the book consists of a variety of sentence structures that may be
confusing to students who are unfamiliar with the English language. In general, this textbook
is intended to be utilized by college students, so a student with a higher reading level or an
older student can succeed in understanding this material.

B. Based on your answers to the previous tasks, describe what kind of student might fail in
understanding this material. Why?

A student who may fail in understanding the material in this chapter would be a student who
is unfamiliar with children’s literature or popular children’s books because various books,
popular and unpopular, from children’s literature are employed as examples of well-
illustrated books throughout the chapter. If a student is unfamiliar with these texts, they may
not understand what the qualities of a well-illustrated book are and look like. Additionally, an
ELL student may fail to understand the material in the chapter because of the academic
language used throughout the chapter. Aside from the language used, an ELL student may
struggle to understand the material because books that are “well-illustrated” or popular in
their culture may be different than those in our culture. Because of this, they may not
understand why these books are “well-illustrated” or may not understand the examples at all
because they are unfamiliar with books that are popular in the United States.

________________________________________________________________________

Reflection:

What might you as the teacher do to help students who face challenges with the material you
selected? List at least 3 strategies that might help, who they might be helpful for, and how you
could tell (assess) whether they helped. Be specific.

 Small Group/Whole Class Discussion: One strategy I could use to help students better
understand the material I am teaching would be to have small group discussions that would

7
 progress to whole class discussions. First, I would provide each small group with the same
piece of artwork for them to discuss. By providing each group with a copy of the piece of
artwork at their table, they are able to view the piece up close and handle it so they can
analyze the different elements and the style of the piece. Then, as a small group, the students
would discuss what style they think the piece is and why in addition to discussing the visual
elements of the piece are and where they can see them in the piece. After the small group
discussions, I would call the class back together and have a whole class discussion about the
artwork. I would go around to each table and ask them what they think the style is and ask
them to provide reasoning why. After this, I would share my ideas on what I think the style
is. We would then proceed as a class to a discussion about the visual elements of the piece. I
would ask each table to identify one of the visual elements. During this time, the student
identifying the visual element could come up in front of the class and point out the element to
the other students so they understand what he or she is observing. Small group and whole
class discussion allow students to observe what their peers are understanding, which in turn
helps the student better understand the content he or she has been struggling to grasp. In
addition, discussions with their peers are not in academic language, therefore it may be easier
for struggling students to understand what their peers are saying rather than the teacher.
 Thematic Word Chart: A thematic word chart could be used to display words pertaining to
a unit on a very visible wall in the classroom. In regards to the chapter I analyzed, a thematic
word chart would consist of words that name art materials, artistic styles, and visual
elements. Overall, the thematic word chart would be art themed. The words would be
categorized by what the word is: an art material, artistic style, or a visual element. A new
word would be added every time the class learns a new word in a lesson, rather than posting
up all of the words at one time, which may be overwhelming to the students. Pictures would
accompany the words on the wall to make the words more recognizable to students. A
thematic word chart is a resource that is always accessible to students while they are in the
classroom. They can reference it during discussions, lessons, and independent writing times
to figure out what word they are trying to think of or to make sense of what words they are
struggling with are.
 Reference Books: Similar to ABC books where students would write in words they learn
categorized by letters of the alphabet, reference books would allow students access to the
words they learn at any time they want: at home or at school. Reference books would be
subject and unit specific. Each page of one of these reference books would be intended for
one word and would provide students with a space to write the word, draw a picture of what
the word means, and potentially write notes about the word. Anything that would help a
student better understand a vocabulary word could be included on the pages of these
reference books. These books should be available to students at all times so they can
reference them whenever they need to. They should be allowed to be take home or there
needs to be two copies of the books: one for school and one for home. Reference books are a
resource for students to use when they are writing or during discussions to look up words
they do not understand or cannot remember.

Other Works Cited

Andrews, L. (2001). Linguistics for L2 Teachers. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.