Exploring children’s understandings of gender using critical literacy in a reading club
- Authors: Jansen, Lincoln Lee , Surname, name
- Date: 2024-12
- Subjects: Book clubs (Discussion groups) -- South Africa , Literacy -- Study and teaching (Elementary) , Literacy -- Study and teaching (Middle school)
- Language: English
- Type: Doctoral theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/68333 , vital:76976
- Description: School literacy practices have always favoured traditional, gender stereotypical portrayals of characters in books. These portrayals are not troublesome as it helps children build a sense of identity. However, these portrayals often fail to represent people in more diverse ways and thus does not reflect how societies have progressed. These narrow portrayals are also often limiting and do not take into consideration people’s personal interests which can lead to them being ostracised and marginalised. The People’s Republic of China is the context for this study where traditional, conservative views are upheld about ways of being and doing for males and females. This is a qualitative study within the interpretivist paradigm which recognised the individual perceptions of participants within their specific sociocultural context. By establishing a reading club as a Third Space for literacy engagement, this study sought to explore how grade 2 learners at a school in Beijing, China responded to traditional and diverse portrayals of characters in books. This study regarded the establishment of a reading club as an empowering practice as it allowed a safe space for the participants to freely share their deliberations about ways of being in the world. Coupled with critical literacy as a practice, participants took a critical stance in instances of gender bias and injustices and in doing so, allowed them to accentuate their morality. Findings of this study suggest that the Chinese participants had very flexible ideas about ways of being and doing in the world as long as these did not conflict with their understandings of the law. Participants also upheld that gender performances and gendered behaviour are open to all with impunity. The findings of this study also highlight the importance of providing diverse literature to children as this helps them to deal with, and examine, issues they might not ordinarily encounter in a safe way and in doing so, expand their worldviews and cultivate empathy. , Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Education, School of Primary Schooling, 2024
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- Date Issued: 2024-12
Using a reading club to help grade 4 boys, in the kingdom of Saudi Arabia, to position themselves as readers
- Authors: Jansen, Lincoln Lee
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Boys -- Books and reading -- Saudi Arabia , Reading -- Sex differences -- Saudi Arabia Book clubs (Discussion groups) -- Saudi Arabia Group reading -- Saudi Arabia Reading (Elementary) -- Saudi Arabia
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/42285 , vital:36642
- Description: Widespread research exists about the challenges of getting boys to read and the gap in reading performance between boys and girls. Using a case study design within a qualitative approach, this study investigated whether engagement in a reading club could help boys in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to position themselves as readers. The literature review examined factors that hindered or advanced reading and the reading development of boys, particular in the Arab-Muslim context. Two theoretical frameworks underpin this study: Social Learning Theory which allowed for reading engagement of a social nature and Third Space Theory which enabled this engagement bringing together the in and out of school literacy practices. Grade 4 students at a school in Saudi Arabia were invited to partake in a 45 minute after-school reading club for 12 consecutive weeks. Participatory Visual Methodologies and a Reflective journal were used to generate data. Participants were asked to make drawings to express how they felt about reading in different languages and drawings to express how they felt about reading English books in a reading club. Drawings accompanied by verbal feedback along with the reflective journal notes were analysed using thematic analysis. Results from this study showed that a reading club serving as a socially supportive space does help boys in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to position themselves as readers.
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- Date Issued: 2019