Perceptions about Literacy in Primary School Student Drawings

The aim of this study is to reveal the perceptions of primary school second grade students about literacy through their drawings and face to face interviews. Phenomenological research among qualitative research patterns was used and descriptive phenomenology, one of the phenomenological research types was used in the research implementation process. The research group of the study consists of 17 students studying at 2nd grade. The research data includes student drawings about literacy, interviews about the drawings and interviews independent from the drawings about literacy perceptions. According to the study results, the students see literacy studies as the studies that should be done in classroom. It has been concluded that the students used objects about reading in their drawings; in other words, the students assign meaning mostly to reading rather than writing when the concept of literacy is expressed.

___

  • Ahi, B.; Cingi, M. A. & Kıldan, A. O. (2016). Examining 48-60 months old children’s perceptions about teacher concept by analyzing their drawings. Elementary Education Online, 15/1, 77-90.
  • Aktas, B. C. (2010). Investigating primary school students’ perceptions regarding “teacher” through their drawings. International Journal of Learning, 17/8, 409-425.
  • Amabile, T. M. (1985). Motivation and creativity: Effects of motivational orientation on creative writers. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 48/2, 393-399.
  • Aykaç, N. (2012). Perceptions of the teacher and teaching process in the drawings of elementary school students. Education and Science, 37 /164,298-315.
  • Alvermann, D.E.; Moon, J.S. & Hagood, M.C. (1999). Popular culture in the classroom: Teaching and researching critical media literacy. Newark, DE: International Reading Association.
  • Anning, A. & Ring, K. (2004). Making sense of children’s drawings. New York: Open University.
  • Aram, D. (2005). The continuity in children’s literacy achievements: A longitudinal perspective from kindergarten to second grade. First Language, 25/3, 259–289.
  • Artut, K. (2002). Art education theories and methods. Ankara: Anı Publishing.
  • Bağcı, H. (2007). A study on the attitudes of the Turkish teacher candidates towards the writing lessons and the writing skills. Unpublished doctorate dissertation. Gazi University, Institue of Educational Sciences, Ankara.
  • Bayat, N. (2014). The effect of the process writing approach on writing success and anxiety. Educational Sciences: Theory and Practice, 14/3, 1133-1141.
  • Beach, S. A. & Ward, A. (2013). Insights into engaged literacy learning: stories of literate identity. Journal of Research in Childhood Education, 27/ 2, 239–255.
  • Bindman, S. W.; Skibbe, L. E.; Hindman, A. H.; Aram, D. & Morrison, F. J. (2014). Parental writing support and preschoolers’ early literacy, language, and fine motor skills. Early childhood research quarterly, 29/4, 614-624.
  • Blair, R. & Savage, R. (2006). Name writing but not environmentalprint recognition is related to letter-sound knowledge and phonological awareness in pre-readers. Reading and Writing, 19, 991–1016.
  • Bloodgood, J. W. (1999). What’s in a name? Children’s name writing and literacy acquisition. Reading Research Quarterly, 34, 342–367.
  • Buldu, M. (2006). Young children’s perceptions of scientists: A preliminary study. Educational Research, 48/1, 121-132.
  • Burnett, C. & Merchant, G. (2011). “Is there a space for critical literacy in the context of social media?”, English Teaching, 10/1, 41.
  • Christensen, Larry B.; Johnson, R. Burke, & Turner, Lisa A. (2015). Research methods, design, and analysis. Boston: Pearson.
  • Corkery, C. (2005). Literacy narratives and confidence building in the writing classroom. Journal of Basic Writing, 24/1, 48-67.
  • Cox, M. V. (2013). Children's drawings of the human figure. Hillsdale: Lawrence Erlbaum.
  • Cressy, D. (2006). Literacy and the social order: reading and writing in Tudor and Stuart England. London: Cambridge University Press.
  • Creswell, J. W. (2012). Educational Research. Boston: Pearson.
  • Culham, R. (2010). Traits of writing: The complete guide for middle school. New York: Scholastic.
  • Dağlıoğlu, E. (2011). A comparative study of teacher figures in 5 to 7 year old children’s drawings. Education and Science, 36/160, 144-157.
  • Dyson, A. H. (2001). Where are the childhoods in childhood literacy? An axploration in outer (school) space. Journal of Early Childhood Literacy, 1, 9-39.
  • Ehri, L. C., & Roberts, T. (2006). The roots of learning to read and write: Acquisition of letters and phonemic awareness. In D. K. Dickinson & S. B. Neuman (Eds.), Handbook of early literacy research (Vol. 2, pp. 113–131). New York: Guilford Press.
  • Einarsdottir, J.; Dockett, S. & Perry, B. (2009). Making meaning: Children’s perspectives expressed through drawings. Early Child Development and Care, 179/2, 217-232.
  • Ersoy, A. F. (2016). Phenomenology. In A. Saban ve A. Ersoy (Eds.), Qualitative research desing in educaitonal research, Ankara: Anı Publishing.
  • Ersoy, A. & Türkkan, B. (2009). Perceptions about Internet in elementary school children’s drawings. Elementary Education Online, 8/1, 57-73.
  • Fairbairn, S. B. & Fox, J. (2009). Inclusive achievement testing for linguistically and culturally diverse test takers: Essential considerations for test developers and decision makers. Educational Measurement: Issues and Practice, 28/1, 10-24.
  • Fargas-Malet, M.; McSherry, D.; Larkin, E. & Robinson, C. (2010). Research with children: methodological issues and innovative techniques. Journal of Early Childhood Research, 8/2, 175-192.
  • Freeman, N. (1976). Chıldrens drawings–cogntive aspects. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 17/4, 345-350.
  • Gardner, H. (1980). Artful scribbles: The signifince of children’s drawings. New York: Basic Books.
  • Gerde, H.K.; Bingham, G.R. & Wasik, B.A. (2012). Writing in childhood classrooms: Guidance for best practices. Early Chıldhood Educatıon Journal, 40/6, 351-359.
  • Graves, D. H. (1983). Writing: Teachers and children at work. Exeter, NH: Heinemann.
  • Hague, E. (2001). Nationalty and childrens’ drawings – pictures ‘about Scotland’ by primary school children in Edinburg, Scotland and Syracuse, New York State. The Scottish Geographical Magazine, 117 (2), 77-99.
  • Halmatov, S. (2016). Child Picture Analysis and Psychological Tests. Ankara: Pegem A Publishing.
  • Harrison, L. J.; Clarke, L. & Ungerer, J. A. (2007). Children's drawings provide a new perspective on teacher– child relationship quality and school adjustment. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 22/1, 55-71.
  • Aydemir, Z.; Öztürk, E. & Horzum, M. B. (2013). The effect of reading from screen on the 5th grade elementary students’ level of reading comprehension on informative and narrative type of texts. Educational Sciences: Theory & Practice, 13/4, 2263-2276.
  • Karadayıoğlu, M. & Karadağ, Ö. (2010). Examining the written expressions of prımary school graders as regard to their choıce of topics. Mustafa Kemal University Journal of Social Sciences Institute, 7/13, 192-207.
  • Karatay, H. (2011). Process based writing models: Planned writing and evaluation. Ankara: Pegem A Publishing.
  • Kearns, L. (2011). High-stakes standardized testing and marginalized youth: An examination of the impact on those who fail. Canadian Journal of Education, 34/2, 112-130.
  • Kellogg, R.T. (2008). Training writing skills: A cognitive developmental perspective. Journal of writing research, 1 (1), 1-26.
  • Kendrick, M. & McKay, R. (2002). Uncovering literacy narratives through children's drawings. Canadian Journal of Education, 27/1, 45-60. Kızıltepe, Z. (2015). Content analysis. In Fatma Nevra Seggie and Yasemin Bayyurt (Eds.), Qualitative research method, technique, analysis and approaches. Ankara: Anı Publishing.
  • Lodge, C. (2007). Regarding learning: Children’s drawings of learning in the classroom. Learning Environments Research, 10, 145-156.
  • Luke, C. (2000). New literacies in teacher education, Journal of adolescent & Adult literacy, 43/5, 424-435.
  • Malchiodi, C. A. (1998). Understanding children's drawings. New York: Guilford Press.
  • Margolis, H. & McCabe, P. P. (2006). Motivating struggling readers in an era of mandated instructional practices. Reading Psychology, 27/5, 435-455.
  • McCarthey, S. J. (2001). Identity construction in elementary readers and writers. ReadingResearch Quarterly, 36/2, 122-151.
  • McKay, R. & Kendrick, M.E. (2001). Children draw their images of reading and writing. Language Arts, 78/6, 529-533.
  • Merriam, S. (1998). Qualitative research and case study applications in education. San Francisco: Jossey- Bass.
  • Miles, M. & Huberman, A. (1994). Qualitative data analysis. London: Sage.
  • Oğuz, A. (2007). Have you ever seen a scientist? Procedings of VI. National Symposium on Classroom Teacher Education. (pp.43-48). Ankara: Nobel Publishing.
  • Özel, M. (2012). Children's images of scientists: Does grade level make a difference?. Educational Sciences: Theory and Practice, 12/4, 3187-3198.
  • Özsoy, S. (2012). Investigating elementary school students’ perceptions about environment through their drawings. Educational Sciences: Theory and Practice, 12/2, 1117-1139.
  • Özsoy, S. & Ahi, B. (2014). Elementary schools students’ perceptions of the future environment through artwork. Educational Sciences: Theory and Practice, 14/4, 1557-1582.
  • Pajares, F. (2003). Self-efficacy beliefs, motivation, and achievement in writing: A review of the literature. Reading &Writing Quarterly, 19/2, 139-158.
  • Punch, S. (2002). Research with children: The same or different from research with adults? Childhood, 9/3, 321-341.
  • Reiners, G. M. (2012). Understanding the differences between Husserl’s (descriptive) and Heidegger’s (interpretive) phenomenological research. Journal of Nursing Care, 1 (5), 1-3.
  • Rodari, P. (2007). Science and scientists in the drawings of European children. Journal of Science Communication, 6/3, 1-12.
  • Saracho, O. N. (1997). Using the home environment to support emergent literacy. Early Child Development and Care, 127/1, 201-216.
  • Shatil, E.; Share, D. L. & Levin, I. (2000). On the contribution of kindergarten spelling to grade 1 literacy: A longitudinal study in Hebrew. Applied Psycholinguistics, 21, 1–21.
  • Smith, F. C. (2008). Literacy identity development. Literacy Learning: The Middle Years, 16/1, 47-51.
  • Spandel, V. (2005). Creating writers: Through 6-trait writing assesment and instruction. Boston: Pearson.
  • Thomas, G. V. & Silk, A. M. (1990). An introduction to the psychology of children's drawings. New York University Press.
  • Tompkins, G. (2007). Literacy for the 21st century: Teaching reading and writing in prekindergarten through grade 4. New Jersey: Pearson Merrill Prentice.
  • Tompkins, G. (2008). Teaching writing: Balancing process and product. New Jersey: Pearson Merrill Prentice Hall.
  • Türkcan, B. (2004). Assesment of preschool children drawings through the tips on the lives of family. Proceedings of I.International Congress on Preschool Education. (pp.79-97). İstanbul: YA-PA.
  • Venger, A. (2007). Psychological picture tests: illustrated guide. Vlados Publishing.
  • Yalçın, M. & Erginer, A. (2014). Primary school students’s drawings on the perceptions of school principal. Education and Science, 39/171, 270-285.
  • Yıldırım, A. & Şimşek, H. (2005). Qualitative research methods in the social sciences. Ankara: Seçkin Publishing.
  • Yılmaz, Z., Kubiatko, M., & Topal, H. (2012). Czech children's drawing of nature. Educational Sciences: Theory and Practice, 12/4, 3111-3119.