THE DEVELOPMENTOFA UNI TOF PRE-WRITI NG ACTIVITIESAIMED AT DEVELOPING ANDENHANCING
STORYSCHEMAAWARENESSASANAIDTO WRITI NG
STORIES AT THE ELEMENTARYLEVEL IN NEWFOUNDLAND
by
@MO!lY Ramjattan, Dip.Ed.,B.A . Hons., M.A.
Athesis submittedto the School of Gradua teStudies in partial fulfillment of the requirements
forthe deqr-eeof Master of Education
Depart".mentofCur r i c u l u m and In str u c t i o n Memorialun i ve r s ity ofNe wf o undl and
1991
St.John's NeWfoundland
...
NalionalorCanadaLlbfary BibliolhCqucnaliQnalcdo"'''''''
The autho rhasgranted an irrevocable non- exclusivelicenceallowingtheNationalUbrary 01canadatoreproduce ,klan.distribute or sell copiesof hlslher thesisby any meansandin anyform orfannat,makingthisthesisavailable to Interes ted persons.
The authorretains ownershipofthecopyright in h1s1her thesis. Neither thethesisI\Of substantialextractsfromitmaybeprintedOf otherwisereprod ucedwithouthislherper- mission.
L'aute ur aeccordeunolic enc e irrevocable01 nonexclusiveperm e llan t aIa BibiiolhCqUC naucneteOUCanada dereprodulre.preter.
distribu erouvend re descopie sde sameso
dequelquementereatSOUS ouelouorom e que cosoilpour mettre desexemo ra'rosdo ce ttethese
a
la disposition desperso nnc s toteressees.L'auleurconserveIapropri~tedu droitd'euteur quiprotege saIt\Elosc.NiIatheseoi des exee te subslanliels decelle-cine doivcnl ~lre imprimcsouautrementreprodui ls sans son au lorisalion.
ISSII 0-315-6~26 6 -3
Canada
I.BSTRA CT
The pur pos e of this study wa s to prepare an act i v i ty uni t aimed at deve lo pi ngst o ry schemaawa r e ness in stude nts inthe elementa r ygrades inNew ~ o u n d l a n d.
The conc ept i on ofthe unit arose out of a ne e d for pl acing grea ter emphasis on the pre-writi ng phas e as i t re lat e s tonarra tive writing inthe el ementa r y gra des. An exa mination of the~program cur r en t ly inuse inthe te a c hing of La ng uage Artsat the elemen tar y level re veal ed tha t there was a la ck of pr e-wri t i ng activities aimed spe cific a lly at de v e lo pi ng st ory sche ma awarenes s as a preparationforna r r a t i ve writing.
A reviewof the literaturewasthen undertakenin Par t I ofthis stUdy. Such a rev i ewwas aimedat an examin ation of the followi ngtopic s rele va nt to the developme nt of the un it in Part II: ageneraldiscus s ionoflite r arymodel s ,a definition of storygrammar, theuseof story grammarin the cl a s sroo m as a basis to r developing storyschema awarenes s, knowledgeof the elementary child'sdevelopment,andof th e te a c hi ng - l ea rni ng environment conducive to theele me ntar y ch ild's perfo rma nce .
An exami na t ionofthefol kand fairytal e s as a resource for developi ngstoryschemaaware nesswas thenco nduc t e d. A rati onale for using the fol k and fairy tales as re s o ur ce mat e ri al sfor elementarystudents wa s presen ted. Elementsof
i i
the folk and fairy tales to be highlighted in the unit in Part II were discussed.
'reb ets model was chosen as the model for the development of the unit of pre-writing activities in Part II. Taba's eight steps outlined in this model were briefly noted and applied to the unit, one step at a time. A bibliography related to Part I is provided at the end of Part I.
Part II of the study consists of the actual instructional unit comprising individual and group activities, each withspecific objectivesand procedures for the teacher to follow. A bibliographY of resources specifically related to the instructional unit is presented at the end of Part II.
iii
ACK " OWLEDGEMENTS
I wish totha nku~-. L.Brown, Supervisor of this study for hisassistance, encourageme nt andadv ice.
I have atsc appreciatedthe encourage mentand assistance of manycolleaguesduringthis undertaking.
iv
TABLE OF CON'I'EHTS
PARTI CHA PTERONE
NATURE OFTHE STUDY Int rod uc tio n Th eProb lem . . •. Need fo rthest udy ,
Purposeof the Stud y Limi tation s of the Study Des i g n ofthe Study . •
CHAPTER TWO • • • • • • • • • • • 7
REVIEW OF THERELAT EDLITERATURE 7
Introd uction •. • • . . • • . • 7
Literat ureas a Modelfor Wr iti ng • •• 7 Li teraryModels : AGene r a l Discussio n 7 Story Grammar--A Definition • ••• • • • 14 sto r y Grammar inthe Classroom: A Basis fo r
Devel opingstory Schemaevarene e s . . . 19 The Elementa ry child •• . . . • ••• • • . 29
TheTeac hi ng -L e a r ni ngznvironaent;Cond uc ive to theElementaryChild'sPerfo r mance 35
Summa r y •• • •• • • • • • •• 39
CHA PT ER THREE ' . . ' . . . . . . 40
THEFOLl< AND FAI R Y TALESASA RESOURCEFOR DEVELOPINGSTORY
SCHEMA AWARENESS • • • • • • 40
Introd uc t i o n . • . • • •••• • 40 Rationalefor Using Folk andFairy
Tal e s • • . •• . • ••. • • 40
Elements of th e Folk and Fairy Ta l e sto be Highlightedin the
Acti vity Uni t . • . • . •• . 47
Summa ry •• •• •• • • •• . •• 64
CHAPTERFOUR • •• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 66 ASPECTS OFTEACHI NG- L EARNING THEORY ANDCURRICULUM
DEVELOPMENT TOBECONSIDEREDIN DEVELO PING THEUNIT • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 66 Introducti on . • • •• •• • • • • • • • • • • 66 Dev e l o p i ngth eUn i t •• •• ••• . •. •• • • 66 TheTaba Model fo rthe Developme nt ofa
Teaching-LearningUnit • • •• •• •• • . • 67 Apply ing 'rec e-sModel to the un i t of pre-Writing
Acti vit i e s • . • . • •. . • • • •• •• 71 Summa r y •• • • •• •• •. •• •• • ••• • • 78
Tab l e of Contents(c on tinued)
CHAPTER FI VE . . • . • . • . • SUMMARY ANDRECOMME NDATIONS BIBLI OGRAPHY • • • • . • •
PARTII
""
81
TABLEorCONTENTS 89
Introducti~ ntoth e Teacher 90
The St r uctureof theUn it 95
Exp1a na tio nof the Uni t • . 95
Gene ra l Go al s of the Uni t . 'l(.
Folk andFa iry Tales as Re s o ur c e s for the unre 97
ACTIVIT I ES 99
StoryBeginning • • • • •• • . • eo
Story Endi ng
Use ofDetailin creatin gIma g ery TheUse of Ha gic and Fantasy Us eof Ve rs eand Refrai n Ch a r acter izatio n Logica lSequence of Even ts
10.
111 121 12 9
136 141 RESOURCES SPEC IFICALLYRELAT ED TO THE TEACHINGOF
THEUNI T • • • •• • • • • •• • • • • . • • • 154
vi
CHAPl' ER ONE NATURE OFraeSTUDY
Introduction
The write r ha s cometounde r sta nd the value of a sound theo r e tical background to the planning of inst r uct ional activitiesfor students at anyle vel andin anysubje ct;are a.
Mo r e specifically, the writer 's exposure to re s e arch and litera ture in the field of writ i ng overthe past few years ha s createdanawareness of thevalueof suchknowkedqe in the developmentof instructionalexperiencesthatprecedethe actual writing of astor y.
St ude ntsat the ele mentary le vel are of ten re qui r e d to pr oduce stories wi t hout ade quateexposur e towell writt e n stories and to activiti es that highligh t the eleme ntsof storygr amma r inthe s e stories.
The wr iter , beingawa re of the interre lated ness betwee n pre-vrIting activiLies and the deve l opment of writ in g abi 11ty,ha s decided toexa minethe folk andf3.irytalesin an at temptto deve lop aunitof pre-writingact i v i ti e sgea red towardsthe elementarych ild'swriti ngdev e l o pment. Suc han ins tr uc tiona l unit will take int o conside ration the el ementar y child 'sintel lect ua l dev elopment,as wellas hi s or hersoc i a l and language de velopme nt . The uni t will be pr a cticalinnat ur e and as such willbedesigne d for us ein Ne wfou nd l a ndschoolsat the elemen t a ry level.
The Pro b l e.
The~programis the one presentlyprescribed by the Oupartmentof Education in Newfo und ]andfor us e at the primaryand eleme ntaryleve lsinLa ngua ge Arts. This program is an improvement ove r past ones 1n that it addresses the areas of readi ng, wri ting , li s t e ning and spe aki ng . It also seeks to int e gr ate these fou r aspectsby usinga thematic approach. However ,the writi ngcompon en t of th i s program is lackinginthe area of pre - writingactiviti es as theyrela te specifically to the dev elopme nt of story schema aware ness prior toengaging inthe writingof stories.
Ma ny stude nts,especiallythosewhohave not be e nwidely exp o sed to lite r a t ur e, and thos e who exper ience lang ua ge d~fici ts in writing and other ar eas, view writ i ng as a aiffi cu lt and boring ta sk . Bef or e taking pencil to paper st uden ts need to havesomeidea abo utthe conten tand form of whattheyare going to wri teana uf wha t the fini she d prod uct s hcuLd look like.
As te a c hers begi n to understandtheimporta nce of pr e - writing act ivi ties as they rel ate to the writi ngpr oc e s s , they wil lal l otmor e time in the classroom totheundertak ing of suchece Ivtcies, Teache rs needto be bet te r info r me d of the value of using liter ar y mode l s crea tive ly. and of the nature of child developme nt as it re l ates to writing developme nt. suchinformat i o nca n be use f ul in ens u ri ngtha t
tea chers mai nta i n a more posi t i ve att itude towar ds help ing st ude nts approach the ta s k of wr it ing with interest and confide nc e.
Need for the study
Teac he rs are ful ly awa re tha t there are diff erence s amon gthe reading andwriting abilities of child r e ninany one cieserccs , Teachersobserve that whilesome chi ldre n ha ve a greater capa city to lea r n incide nta lly and int ui tively, othe rs have tobe le ad ina mor e step-by- s t e!l fas hion towa r rts acc omplishi ng goals .
'rt ie pre-wri ting pha s e is an intri nsic ste p in the writing pr oc e s s . The questi on maybe as ke d: How many teac hers ar eawa r e ofthi stothe exte ntthattheypract ise it? The writer's expe r ienc e leads he r tobelie ve tha t the pr-e-wt-LtLnqst a ge is not gi ve nthe emphasis it deser ve s.
Ch i! d r E>n need experienceswhich will sha pe and feedthe piece of writing they are expected to produce. Be f ore teachers canprovide suc h activitie stheythems e l ve s need the theoretical background fromwhich to work.
Teachersnee dto unde rs ta nd the sign if i canc eof re search findings as they relate to the preparation of pre-writing activities and to inf orma tio n on children and theirlearni ng enviro nment . The y also need exampl e s of howtoapply the practices implie d by suc h research to develop pre-writing
activi tiestha t build on the elementarychild's developing conceptof ee c ey,
f.Urposeofth e St ud y
Th e first purpose of this study is to summarize the resul tsof re se arc h on the use of liter a ture as a model for
writing~ also , to pr esent information on the elementary
child's developmentand onthe t.eae nfnq-Leerru nq enviro nment conduciveto the elementarychi l dIs performance. The study willalsoexaminethe appropriatenessoffolk and fa iry tales as a resource for teachingstory grammar .
The second purpose of th i s study is to develop an instructiona l unit of pre-wri ting ac t i vi t i e s aimed at enhanc i ng elementary studen tsI awa reness of story SChema. The objectivesof theuni t areas follows:
1. St ude nts will furt her dev elop and ext e nd their appreciationofthe fol k and fairy tales.
2. stude nts wil l developanint e re s t instories in ge neral. J. seuc ene e wil l develop a knowledge ot st ory grammar
elements as theyocc urin the folk and fairy tal es.
4. Stude nts wi ll develop an aware nessofhow story grammar el e ments combine in the folkand fair ytales to produce a literar y experience.
5. Students wi ll develop anabi lityto independentl ycreate elementsof storygrammar.
6. St ud e nts will develop confidenc ein even tua lly produ ci ng stories of the i rown .
Li. itationsoftheStudy
A st udyof greate rscope would spa n the whol e range of writingfrolllpre-tlr iting activitiestothe writingpr oce s s, the edi t-ingproc e s s , and fina ll y the eval uati on of written pi ec e s.
Thisst ud y is limitedin scope inthat it focuseson ly on the pre-writi ng st a g e . It pro vide sres e arch informati on spec i f i c a lly reldted to the development ofa unitof pre- writingac t ivit i e s aimedat devel op ing storysc he ma awaren e ss inelementary students. I tpresents an instruct i o nal unit cove ring only the pre-writing phase as it relate s to nar r a tive wr i t i ng deve lopmen t in theelemen t a ry grades .
Design of the Study
This study wi llbedivi de dintotwo par ts. Part I will co nta i n chapte r s I-V. Cha pte r II of this studywillbe a revi ew ot the rel ated literature. It will discuss the literatu re under twomajor headings: Lite ra tureas a Model for Writ ing, and TheElement a r y child. The firs t he a ding , Litera ture as a Model for writing, will deal with the following: (i) a gene ra l discussionof literarymode ls; (11 )
a definiti on of sto ry gra lllmar ; !lii) st o r y graillma r in the class room . The se c ond majorhe ad i ng ,The Eleme nt a ry Child , willbebr ok e n down as follows: (i ) intellectual,socialand lang uage de v e l op ment;(i i ) the teaching-lea r ningenv i r o nme nt conducive to the elementarychild'sperforlll8nce.
Cha pte r III will bedivided into two sect ions. The first secti on wil l pre s en t a rationale for us ing fol k and fairy tales as a resource forpr e -w r iting activiti es. The se c o nd section wil ldi s cussthesto r y grammar eleme nt sof the fol k and fairy tal e s tobe taughtin the act ivityuni t.
Chapter IVwill exami ne Ta ba's mode l for curri cu lum deve lopment and will apply Taba's mode l to the ins t r uc t ional1 unit tobedevelope d in PartII.
Chapt er v will conta i n a summary of the Inror-eacLon presentedinPa rtI, aswe l l as recommendationsari s i ng out of suc hinformation.
Par t II ofthe study wil l comprisean int rod uctio nto ttl.!tea c her, an outli ne of the struct ure of the unit , an exp l a na t ion of the uni t , anda rat i on a l e for using the fo l k and fairytale s asre s ourc esfor...e instruc tion a l unit.
REVIEMOPTHERELATEDLI T ERAnJRE
Int r CJdYGtic n
Thi scha pt erwi ll prese nt a rev iew ofthelite r a t u reas itre l a t e s tothetop i c ofthis the sis. Itwillbedivided int o two major se cti ons: (i ) Literature as a Model for Writing; (i iiThe Elem e nt a r ych ild. The first sec t i o n will open witha discus s ion oflite rary mode lsas they affectthe deve l o pmentof writingcompete ncy. Thiswillbe followedby a de f i nit i o n of st o ry gra mmar inc luding examples of the la t t er. The useofst or.y gr a mmar intheclassroom asabasis forde velopi ng!!tory scneaeawarene s sintheele mentarychild willthe n be examinedinthe finalpart ofthi s secti on .
The seco nd sec tion, The Elelle ntar y Chi ld, wi llde al , fir st l y, withinte llectual, socia l,andlangua gede velopmen t as it re l ate stothe elementary child. Thiswi llbefollowed by a discus sion of the teac hi ng-lu rn i n!} enviro nment conduci ve totheelement a rychild' sperf o rman ce.
Iit.eratureasa Modelforwriting
li teraryModels· AGene ral~
Rese arch on the use of 11te r ary mode ls re veals that whil e someautho r s expr ess reserva tionsabo u t worki ng from acde La, others ind icat ethat instruct ional procedur esusing
modelsca n be put in pla ce to enhanceand dev elopchildren's readi ngand writingabilities.
Some writers ar gu e that it is diff i cu lt to crea t ean aware nessof stor ysc hema thr ou gh for malins truc ti o n. Smith (198 3 ) ma i nta ins that wr1te rs cannot le arn to write "by dil ige nt attention toin struc t i o nand prac tice "(p.558). He bel ieve sthat:
Writing requ i r es an eno r mous fund of specia lized knowl edg e whi c h canno t be acq u i r e d from Lect.uraa , textbo ok s . drill , tri al ander ro r,or evenfromthe exercise ofwriti ngitse lf. (p. 558) He notes that even the most mundanete xts incl ude a va s t number of co nventi o ns of a complexit y whi ch could ne ver be or ga niz e d into formal instruc ti ona l pr ocedures .
Flanigan (196 0) pointsouttha t an approachto writing which begins with the use of a product mode l can be problemat ic intha t thefocus insu c han approa ch isnot on a feltneed,aproblem,or an idea. Ins t e a d the focus ison a formorstructu r e that hasto be followe d . He argues:
seueenes do not beg in with their concerns or their int erest s; thE'!y be gin with a compl etE'! st r uc t ur e. ThE'!
structuredomi na t e s andfigu ring out its partsor shapebec omesthe problemtobe solved. (p. 214).
Mearns(1958) alsocautionsagainstthe ha r mf ul effects of imit at i o n and theus e of models. He is concerne d that students would SUbstitutewhat theyhad re ad or heard for the real experiencenecessaryforeff e c t ive writ ing.
However, the use ofli te r ary modelsgoes as far back as 3,000B.C.when the Sumerians had students keep"c c.pybook s"
toimit ate impo r t a nt wor ks . Flanigan (1 980) notesthatthe Greeks also advocated the use of models inthe pr eparationof discou rse . The Romans, too , such as Ciceroand Quintilian, stressed the ef fectivenessofgoo d models in perfec tingthe conte nt, sha pe , and styleof discourse.
Well knownleadersinthe field of composi t ionsuch as Ir msc he r (197 6 ) and Winterowd(1975 ) see modelsas essential to instructionin writing. Flanigan(1980 ) notes that many curric ulainco mpos iti onhavebeenfounded onthe assumption that "models serve th e fledgling wr i t e r better than other approaches" (p, 211).
Barth (1965 ) outlines the approachof theNort hwe ste rn composi tion CurriculumCent r e tothe use of models inthe teach ingof compos i ti on. He sta tes that extensive use is mad e of professionalmodel s. st ude ntsare aske d toimit ate these mod e ls and thereb y dev e lop the ir own repert oire at rheto ric a l devices. He describes theteaChingprocedu reas follows :
All our le s s on spr oc e ed from an ana lysis of literary models which have be e n carefully select ed to embody th e princi ples of composition wh i ch am' partic ula r le s s on ai ms to teac h . The student is led by discussiontodi s c ov e r the pri nc i p l e for hims elf and the n is asked to imitate the model . The composition pr oc e s s seems to be so SUbjective and so difficult to mast e r
'0
that we feel th i s ki nd of relia nce on mod e l s not only teaches mor e ef f e ct !vetv, but als o increases the stude n t '5 chance of success , thu s encou ragi nghim in the oftenfrus trating task ofle arn ingto write. At the same time, he is learningto be a careful, mature reader. (p . 29)
Sch iff (1978) emphasized dynamic imitation in his study of ninth-grad e stude nts. The students mani p ula ted composition models both physically andconceptually. The question posed by this researcher was as fol lows: Would st udents exposed to the above mentioned activities write essays jud g edbetterin overallquali ty th a n studentsnot so exposed? One of the main features of Schiff's (1978) expe riment wa s to take parag raphs, cut them up into sente nces, ha v e studentsmanipUlatethemand come up wit ha coh e re nt whole by put ting th e sentences in some order. Resu lts fromth i s experime n t indica tedthat the combination of mentalre o r d er i ng and phys ical manipu l at i on contributedto increased wri t i n g competency.
In his dis cuss i on of us ing mod el s for improving composi t ion , Mccampb ell (1966)arg uesthat while the use of mode ls isonly one te chni q ue for improvingthe teaching of composition, it is an aid to he l p i ng students improve the exp ress ionof the i r ideas. He also emphasizes the dynamic nat ure of imitation. Hesta tes thatwe can give studen tsa spec ific model for composi tion, hel p them analy ze the pattern s it involves, and the nhav e the minvent their own
11
ideas, to fit the pattern. He argues that wh.i Le the relationships of thought andexp r e ss io n are complex, "t he device of compos i t i o n models emphasizes patter ns of express ionrat herthan ideas"(p. 772). He believes that the pr o bl e msof con pos itionca n be lessened and th e productsof compositicnins t r uct i o ncan be improvedbyprovidingstudents withpatterns of exp ressio n.
Mc c ampbe l l (1966) advocates the USe of models for helpingstudents 1n thebr o a de r problems of organizational structure. He sees the useof modelsin teachingcomposition as an approachwhich helps to synthesize the teachingof literatureand composit i on . He outlines the most important r-eason for teachingand usingthe structura l conventions of ourlanguage:
The st r uctur al conventions of our jenquaqe are a key to understanding literature as well as improving composition. This is; most obvious in models fo r helping students in the writ ingof more specificliteraryfor ms --Haiku, Tan ka , blues,ba l l a d s, fables, etc. Each follows the same process: an inductive analysis of the mod el s followed by who l e classwriting , small group writ i ng, an d fi nall y individual writing. Butwith these literaryfo r ms, students sho uld alsodiscuss thekinds of ideastha t are related in each of the forms. Becauseconventional forms often contain a particular kind of idea, recogniti on of the fC'- ,oI is a clue to meaning. Thus , wh ill!it is true tha t semantic 1I'.<l8ning canbe divorced from structuralconventions, itis also true that in man yca s e s -- not onlyHaikuand fables, but, al so Ep.LC and Tr a g e d y- -
12 particular conventions of str uctu r e impl ypart i cu larcon ve nt i on s ofmean ing. {p, 775)
Altho ugh McCa mpbel l recogn ize s ot he r techniques fo r te ac hIngcompositio n,he emphas iz e sth e benefi tsof usi ngthe Blodel as an approachtoteachi ng cOJiposi tio nasfollows : 1. It helps simplify for the st udent the eresendccsry
comp lex taskofcomposition.
2. It is anef f e c tI vete c hn i que for helpIng studentstobe morecreative in thei r use of languag e.
J. It actively invo l v e s studen tsin analyzi ng1an9. .ge and developi ngcrite riafor good composition .
4. It integrat.esthe studyofco mpositio n andliteratureby eXIlmin ingtherelationshipof (orlll andme a n i ng,and it le adseasilyto an inves ti g a tionof style . (p.176) Moss (1977) notes that the succ e s s of writi ng experiences depe n d sin largeparton twofactors : motiva tion and preparation. She believes that literature ca nbeusedas a ric h, natural resourceto helpchil dr ende ve lopeffective writingskills andto expand thei r capacit y fo r expressing tl'\elllsel v e scr e ae t v ery. Shestates:
Thro ug h care fu lly plan ne d experie nc es withli t erature, 'eachers can helpyoung childr en to disc; 'ar the basic lite rary elements of plot, chlra c t e r i :zation , set ti ng andst y l e ,and to respondtothe beauty of the lan g ua qe of 11ee r eeure.
These di sc o veries can, in tur n, be utilized as too l s for producing narrative. (p_537)
13
wi l c o x (1977) views good literature asprob a b l ythe best expe ri e nce fut ur e writ ers can hav e . She sees books as a means of helping ch ildrenexploreI feel, and expand their imagina tions. She notes that reading or he a d ,.", good l iteratureenables the childto appreciate bea u t i f u l imagery, rhyt hm, figur a tive speech and cadence of la ngu a ge . She notes:
Through good books prospec t ive wri t ers are int r o d uc e d to form and structure wh i c h theywill imi t a tewhen theybegi n to createth e i r ownstories and poems. Exposure to the fine wri ti ng in man y childre,~'5 books can const!tute the foundation for a young wr i t e r ' s un i q ue self-expressi on. (p. 553)
King (1980 ) points out tha t a considerable amou nt of
"ta c itle arnin g" occurs as children "pla y "with languageand create newformsandwa y s of express ingmeaning. Shest a tes:
As they (ch ildren) join in ch a nting rhymes and jingl esor repeatedl y sh a re favo u r i t epoet ryorstor i eswith adu l ts, childre n bec ome sensitive to lit erary languag ean dthe structu reof of ten- told tale s (TIliL-..1'h ree Bears, Lit t le Red
~). Th e yde v e l op a ~of th e path stories shou l d follow and a concep t about how certai n charac te rs sh ou l d behave (For exa mpl e , fo xe s an d wolv e s are bad characters). They dev e lopanint ui tivesense of story, an in ternali zed schema , in much the same wa ythe yha ve learnedth e str u c t ur e of otherkinds of discourse - -convers a t i o n, forexample . story knowled g e nea lon g been recognized as ref eeedto children 'llI earlysuccess inreading,aspropo~edby Gatesfallowing hi s classic re search in the30'a. Nowwe arebeg inn ing to see
14 its rel e v a n c e for early wri t ing. (p.
16 5 )
Alt houg h some wri t e r s such as Flanigan (19 8 0 ) ha v e expressedreservationsabout theus e of models, others have demonstra tedthat models can be used effectivelyto teach the eleme ntsof good composition. Writerssuch as Schiff (l978) haveemph asized the processofdynamicimita tionin their use of l ite rarymodels to develop wr i t i ng competencyin students.
sto ry Gr ammar--h pef!ni t i on
storygrammar refers to the structural et eeeocs of a sto r yand the relationship among thoseelements. They are structures that readers use to comprehend and recall info r mationfoundin stories. I~r i t e r swhohav e beenexposed togo o d literarymode l s will be in a positio n to usethe i r storyschena kno wledgewhencrea ti ngstoriesthems e l v e s .
Research on story grammar presents us with varied examp les of story grammar elements. These examples all describecaee qceies ofevents ,acti ons , andLn ro r-entIontha t cons titutea story andacc o un t fo r th erelat i o ns h ips among thos e ele ment s.
Stein andGlenn's (1977) storygr ammardescribes ast o r y ascon s i s t i ng of two parts: the sl',t ting, plusone or more eptscees. The setting introduces the main cha rac ters and relates the time, place , and contex t in wh i c h the event oc c ur red. Five categori e s are su -d und er the term
15 episode. Theyare: (1) the init iatingeventwhichsets the sto ry inmotion,causing themain character to respond; (ii ) the ini tialresponse whichisthere a c t i on of thecha r a cte r tothein i t i a ti ng event: it resultsin some feeling, though t or goal that mot ivates SUbsequent behaviour; (i i i ) the attemptwhich isan overt actionorseriesofactions c.arried outto attaina goal; (i v ) theconsequencewhich isth e event or action tha t notes attainmentof thegoal or f!lilure to attain it: Iv) the reaction which is an in ternalresponse tha tdescribesthe character'sfeelings aboutthe outcome of hi s or he;-act ions.
seeni -ceeexeand Guastella(1984,p,214)used thewo r k of Stein and Gl enn (1977) and Thorndyke (1977 ) to develop their ownsto rygrammar which they appliedto "Jack and the Beansta lk "as follows:
Pigurel
story GraoarofJack andtile Ileanstalk
snrterevear:Hotber eeeeQOrteytOpdi' tMeortqeqeonthecottaqe.
16
Episodes tbat occur
setting tcsclvetheprcblees
OUteo.eot Reacti ons of Acti ons ofuin actiollS ofuin tain Tile Place Characters ctarecters characters cnaricters Horning Cott age Motller tvent Jack takescow Jackfeelssad,
JacX l,lIothertells to town unhappy, upset Jacktosell
the CO\!
.,'"
Road to Jack £'ient Jacttrades cow Jack feel s to'.n Peddlar 2.Jack.eets a for beans curious andCo. peddlarwith hopeful aoout
uqicbeans beans
Afternoon cott age Jack runt J,ld al'Hlsother Hotherfeels Hotber 3.Hotber nr.enodinner anqqdnd
threvsbeers thinks Jacltis
out',;indoll stupid
Horning Cott age Jack ['lent Jackcli.bs Jack feels Hother •.Jack bean'italk friqhtenedand
discovers ad~enturo\lS
beanstalk
'00'
Giant's Jack Event Giant's . ife Jack feelscastl e Giant'swife 5.Jacksees a gbesJacka satisfiedand
cascfeead leal carteus
~tsGiant's wife
Afternoon lru>ide Jack t'ient Jack hidesin Jad isaf raid Giant 's Giant 's.Ue 6.Jack hears theeven theGiant ;rill
castle Giant Giantcolinq see hie
(continue forall theevents otthes totj'l
SOluti ontoproblel: JackandhisloUlerh,)'/e lheqoldtopa1tl1elortqaqe
17
Olson (1984) uses some of St e i n and Glenn's (1971, p,
~59)storyqrammar categories to analyze the following story.
,I.Si~pl eStoT'firiit b story Granat Cat e90ries
setting:
Episode:
Init iat inq event
Internalresponse
Att n pt
ConsequellCe
~eaction
cnce therevas a littleyeUollkittenwhoHsedIn a big house attbeedqeoftOl/ll.
OnelOrDingKittyvasph 'lingintheyard ...!len shesaila ht bird intheepgletree.
litt yknewhOIlfine ht birds tasted Mdwanted tohave thatbird forbreakfast.
so shecrept far outontheliabof!:beapple tree ene leapedforthe bird.
Suddenly theli.bc nC'k~ a ndKitty felt herself fallinq througb t he air. She had broken tbeliJb of tbeappl e tree.
Kittyliasunhappyand~islledshe hadbeen lorl! careful.
Gordon and Braun (1983) explain storygrammars as"s e t s of rulesthat spellout how stories are typically organized"
(p.
116). They combined the story grammars developed by Stein and Glenn (19 77 ) and Thorndyke (1977) to produce a story grammar co ns i s t i ng of the fOllowing major story elements: settinq, t'1eme, plot and resolution. The plot includes five subpar-tst (i) starter event--an action or natural occurrence that ma rks a change in the st o r y18 environment and ca us e s a response in a characte r , the begl nningof aneplsode ; (i i )inner respons e--acharac t er'5 emoti on,thoug ht ,sub-qc eI or plan; (i ii1 action--theef fort plan nedto ach i eve thegoal or sUb-goal;(iv) wha t na ppe t ,-- the success or fail ure of the acti on: (v I reactio n--a fe e ling, thoug ht, or respon s e to the outcomeor earlier act ion. Gordon and Braun (1983, p , 117) pr e s e nt the fol lowin g analysisof "The OWl and the Raven"using their def inition of story qre an a r-,
Anal~sisof"The 01/1 andtheRaven'
Majorse t ti n<j (ti le ,place, characters, state) MajGrgGa l (pl an) Minor setti llCJ (the) stertereveat (actiGn) rmerresjeese fqGdll Action ReactlGn Re.actlGn ilhathappened (outcole)
Hanyyearsaqc, intilehndGftheEskilos,lived an owlanda raven.Theyeerefastfriends,TheravenhadJadeadressforthe owl dappled'';llit ea ndbl ack
andt1leGi/lplanned todGsolethinqinreturn.
Oneday,
the01/1 Jade a pair ofbootsofshalebcnererthernenand then OOljantowe awllite dress.
Bei/antedtiM!raventotryon the dresstobesureit fitprGperl1· Ilut when helias aboutto tryit on,
theravenkept hopplnqdboutand'o'ould notstandsti11. rhe revee continued tGhoparOWld until
theoi/l gotso angry
thathepouredlIilhOItheInpaUover the raven.sincethat tile t!leravenhas beenblackallever.
19 Theexamples of sto ry gramma r pr e s en t e d above offera vari ety of approaches frollwhi c hto choose . Inse l ectingan example, thete a ch e rca n decidewhat is mostap pr opria t e for hisor her st udents. The teacher ma yeve n want to mod i fy an example to bette r sui t theact ivit y at hand.
sto ry G!JI!!!!!Ia rintheCl ass roo" " A Bas i s to roeyelopi n gsto ry Schema Awarenes s
Research stU dies have exa mined the eff ectivene s s of using sto rygrammar act ivi t i e s inthecteesrccn tofurt her the elementa r y child's awarene s s of story sche ma. In some st ud i e s, child re n part ici pa tedinana lyz ioqstories on the basisot storygt·&mmar; inothers . they put tog e t h er story partsba s e d onthe structureprovidedbysto r y gr ammar;and instillothers, they exaefned th e storiescreatedbythe ir peersonthe bas is of st ory graJlmar elements.
Thorndyke (197 7)di d someofthe early re s e arc h on story sc he mathe o r i es. He assesse dthe effectof varying the plot struc tureon a person'smemory for astory. His SUbject s read a passage th~t exemplified one of four possible struc t ur es : "story ,narrati ve--a ft e rth e me,narrative - -not the me , descri pt ion". The conte nt of the stori eswas al ways the same . The subj ects we r e later asked to recall the pas sa ge in written fo rm. Results showed th a t as story st r uc tur e de c r ease d,the pe r c en tag eof recallals odecrea s ed andthele ngth of the summar iz atio n dec r e a s ed . The s e re sults
20 su p ported Thorndyke's pred i c t i on that stories wi th an ideal structure wouldbe easie r tore ca l l.
Ken n eth lind Yet ttl Goodman (1983 ) note that thereare impor ta nt way sinwh i c h readinginflue nces writ ing. Children use inwr i tingwhatthey observe in reading. In order to benefit from reading, the Goodmans mainta in tha t ch il d re n must rea d li ke wr i te r s. "They must build a sense of the forms, co nv e nt i on s , styles and cultural constraints of wri t ten te xts as the y becom e more pr-o f LcLent;and flexible reade rs"(p. 591). Child re nmus t also, they say, exp e r i men t withwriting since itis only whe nthey tr yto createwritte n lang uagethat their observation focuseson how"formserves functi o n". They also emphasize that write rsmust re a d and re-rea d dur ingwriting, pa r t i c ul a r l y as textsget longerand the i r pur po s e s mo r e comp l ex. The y must be cons tant lyawar e of the re a der and as suchmust ensur e that the appropria te forms , stylesand conventi o ns areused.
Whaley (198 1a) exami ned rea ders ' ex pectations , us ing thi r d. sixthand eleventh grad e r s of average or aboveaverage readingability. Shehadthe m rea d st ories andpredictwha t should occur next. Three of the stories qLven to the SUbjectswe r e incomplete and threeweremi s s i ng partswh i ch the subjec ts were to supp ly. Whaley jUdged reade rs' expe ctat ions of the setting, be ginni ng, rea c t i o n, attempt , ou tcome and ending. Whaley di s c ov e r e d that individual
21 re spon s e s suppo r ted the hypo thesisthat readersdoin de e d use a set of rules for expectingparticu la r st r uc tural elemen ts and sequencesof elements in brief stories.
Whal e y (198 1b)suggeststhat certai nactivitiescould be developedto bringstory parts and causalrela tio ns hipsamong events to students 'at ten tio n. She notes,fo r Lnsee n c e,tha t teacherscanuse predictionexercises similar to theone used byhe r inthe experimentdescribedabove. Insuch exerctees whi c h she terms "aacrc-c tcae",whol e sto rycat egoriescanbe omit ted. Children canthen decidewh at in forma tion wou ld fi t , based on their expectations of common structural elementsin stories. For instance ,childrenmightbeaske d to completea storyby providing an appropriatebeginni ng. Wha l e yals o suggeststhathaving stude ntsretel la storyalso highlightsstor ystruc ture. Shefindsth i s met ho despecia lly ef fective fo r diagnosing young childre n's de velopment of storyschema.
St ah l -Ge ma ke and Guas t ello (1984) devel ope d a story grammar fromtheworkof st einandGlenn(1977)andTho rndyke (1977) and used it to develop an awa reness of na rra ti ve co mponentsinfairyand folkta les. The objective wasto have sixt h-g radestudents pr oduce originalpict ure books basedon their ownfairyor folktales.
First, theyintroducedstude nts to thei r sto rygram mar outli ne and used ittoanalyzestories such as"J a c k and the
22 Be a ns tal k -.' Ne xt. theygene ra tedasupply of ideasforthe writi ng task . The stude nts wereaske d to su pp l y poss ibl e se t t ings ,charac t e rs, st a r t erevents,responses,action s and reactions ofcharacte rs. Allth isinforma tion was plac ed on a large chartund e r the appropria te head i ngs. Stud e ntswe r-e- then told theycou ldus e any combina tionof ideas fromthe ch4r t to ccn etruct; plots. students us ed the ir own combinationof se t ting s and episodesto pro v idethefra ..ework forthe ir story.
Aft e r students hadwrittenthe i r first dra f t they we r e divided into edit inggroups. They listenedto eachother 's story and made sugge s t i o ns accut; characters, sequenc e ot events, setti ngs, tr a ns it i o ns and so on. Our ingthe editing process, the research e r s sat with eachqro up and used the following ques tio ns to he l p thestude ntsfocus attenti onon storyelements:
1. Who arethe maincharacters'?
2. Does each characterhavea purpos e ? 3. Where doe s the storyta ke place '?
What istheproblemor starter event'?
5. rlha t is the first,second,third eventand so on?
6. Wh at actionsdo the main cha racte rstake?
7. Whatis the outcome of each action?
'Se e p,16 fora st o r ygrammaroutline of ItJackand the Beanstalk "as develo pe d by Stahl-Gemakeand Guastella (1984)•
23 8. What are the reactions of the maincharacters?
9. What is the climaxev e n t ? 10. How is the problemsolved?
Sto ri e s compose d by the students indicated to the researchersthat the st ory grammar outline worked we llas a ve hi c l e for composi ng origi na l stories. The yobserve.dthat the students did expe r ienc e some pr o b l e m with their introduction of chara cters. This was mainly because, accordingto the researchers , the students di d not have a sense ofaud i e nc e andbr o ughtcharactersintotheir stories withoutpreparing their reade rs.
Go rd o n and Braun (1 9 B3) provide the following suggestions for the teachi ng of story schemaawareness: 1. sto r y Se le c t i on.
The teacher shou l d choosewell formedstories because the anal ys is is complex. Good models often have repetitive elements . Myths, legends, fables and fairy tales are goodbecause theyhave si mi l a r el e me nt s and theirstructureis flJ.1r.lyclear(p. 118).
2. story MOdlfi r:at1 pD
sto r i e s may require some rewriting for story-grammar instruction. Many storiesuse the phrase«ne eeLd'' in si tuations whe r e the speaker ha s no audience and the storycharacte r isunlikely to be spe a ki ng aloud. The meaning is cl e a rl y "he said to himself" and so the
24
phra s e can be cha nged to "he tho u gh t" so that the internal res po nse is clearly identifiable by the ch ildre n(p. 118).
3. Asking Questions
Allquestionssho u l d be keyed to the story'sst ruc t ure.
Questionshe lpchildrendeve lopexpectationsabout the conten ts of the story. Once the sto ry diag ram is completedand the children have a summary of the text, inferentia l questions shou ldbeas k e d. Toan s wer them, the childrenshouldinte rrela teseveral ideaspresented in the te xt, li nk textual in f o rma tion with pr-Lor- xncwrecee, or infer the conten t of certai n text struc ture categories omitted by the aut ho r (i.e., internalresponses,reactions ,themes,resolutions) (p . 118 ) •
Smi thandBean (1983) state that in additio n to basic st udies of children 's story comprehension, educa tors have deve l ope danumbe rofusefulteac hin gstrate gies that enha nc e children 'sevo l vi ngsense of storystruc tu re. Theyprese nt four st r a tegies th at he lp child re n compre he nd story events and ca uses. Throughthe s e stra teg i es childre n can ac qui r e the abili ty to predict events andoutcomes in a varietyof st oriesand to guidethe constructio nof thei rown, origi na l sto ries .
25 The four strategies they describe are: (1) story patte r n, (H)circle st ories,(iii)storypicture S , and (Iv) story mak.er (p.195).
1. Story Pattern
Afterre a d i ng a story aloudtoth e children,the teacher asks if anyone has discovered a patte rnin the story. A.s the childrendiscover th e pattern by recallingthe story, the teacher helps the m visua lize the story struc tureby making a sketch. The ne xt stepis forthe children t()create anew story using thesamepattern. Smithand Bean (19B3) point out tha t the stQry patter n strategy combines readingI 'oIriti.ng, listen i ng and speaking with a visual diagram that helps ch il dren comprehendstoriesandultimately inventthei rown.
2. Circl e Storie s
Circlestories capitalizeon a visual diagram to guide stUdents'compre hension , di s c us s i on and writi ng ofthe i r own sto r ies. Th is stra tegy folloWs a predictable pa t tern tha t children can learn to identify and duplica t e, The mai n charact e r.starts at one location and, after a series of advent ures, returns to the sta r t ing point. To te a c h this st ra tegy the teacher drawsa la r ge circle onthe board and dividesitintoas many pie-shapedparts as there are ad v e nture s in the chos e nstory. After the teacherreads a storyaloud,
26 the cl a ssrec allsthe storyto div idethe sequence of eventsthatneedstobe picturedin the circlediagram.
Smith and Bean (198:1) tell us that the teacher will recognizethesucc e s s ofth i s strategyWhe n thechild r e n can use thi s patter n as they write their own original stories.
3. story pictUreS
Smith and Bean (1 98 J ) used the major cate go r i es in Ma n d l e r and John s o n's (1977) storygra mmar to develop th i s st ra tegy. These categories are (i)setting; (ii1 initiating event: ( i i i) co ns eque nc e or cu'tc o me. The te a ch er drawsa stylizedreprese ntati oncrtoe eventsof a story after readingit to the clas s. For example, Smith and Bean (19 8 3, p, 298) have developed the followi ng simp le stylised diagram to represent the nurseryrhyme "L_~ttleMi s s MUffet t " (p. 298).
27
0 1 8 8
, I,
38' 8 ,0 (
,
5After worki ng with this diagram for some time the childrenwould relate the first threepicturesto the larger category of setting. Pictures 4 and 5 would int r oduc e the ini t i a ting event or beginning of the story. Picture 6 would ind i c a t e the story outcome.
Once the children have a grasp of this simple sto ry di ag r a m they ca n elaborate on i t and/or use i f to identif ycorrespondingparts inotherstories. Smith and Bean (1983) mai ntainthat story pict uresprovidea good model asch il d r enmonttor the developmentof their ownnarrative s.
28 4.~
The story maker is a mor eCOlI.plex diagramusingstory struc ture. Itdeve l ops inthe formot a tr e e wi t hIlla ny
~imultaneousstor y line s (RUbin, 19 86). The following story maker diag ra mis pr esen ted by Smi th and Be an (19 83.p , 29 9).
The diagramisopen ended andallo ws for the inclus i o n of as manye!,!sodes aspossible . Us ingthestorymaker,the teacher mayshowhow a varietyofst o r i es may be developed.
Anotherwayof us ingthest ory make rwou ldbeforthe tea ch er toplace thest oryel eme ntsin a diso rgan izedse q ue nc eon the
29 sto ry ma ker and ha ve the students deter mi ne th e cor rect placement. Finally, a class with man y pr e v i ou s writ ing expe rie ncesmay co rrcr Ibuc e ideasin a brainstormi ngsession directed towa r d s fillingeachlevel ofthe openstorymaker tree.
Elemen tarystuden ts, beingat theconc re te-operat iona l stage,wouldbenefitgreatly from engaginginth e ac t i v i t i e s describedabove. The pictorialre pres entat i o ns inthestory pictures and story diagrams wo ul d make it easier for themto acquire the conceptof story schema. The approac h us e d by Stahl -Gemakeand Guastella (198 4 ) allows for interactivepeer fe edbackina small group setting . The elemen tar ychild is able to function in such a setting and can, through discussion with peers, get a better understanding of story st r ucture .
The ElementaryChild
In developing activitiesfor elementarych i ldren ,oneis obliged to cons ider what is known abo ut childdevelop men t. This section will the r e f o re discuss the elementarychild'S intelle c t ual, socia l and language develo pme nt . The elementarychildbuilds onearlier experiences andconti nues to develo p int e ll e c tua l l yand soc i a l ly, be c omingmore aware of the structure and conventions of la ngu ag e. Hinuc hin (1977) notesthat"c hil d r e nex p l o r e ,retr eat, and go thr ou gh
30 peri o d s of diseq uili bri umbeforegro wt h isco nsoli d a t ed in almo s t any are a " {p, J). Ind i v i d ual ch ildren ma y differin the wa ys in whi c h they cope wi t h changes in their environmen ts and in thems elve s . They vary in their wil l i nn n '2s s to take ri sks, to tryout ne w things, to deal wither ro r, and tobo unc e backfrom de f e a t .
Intellectua JDevel opm ent
The elementary child is primarily at the concrete - operationalstageWhich, accordi ng to p Laqet; (1967), spa ns the agesof sixtotwe l ve. plaget notes that the concrete- operat i on al child "be c ome s capable of systematic logical tho ug ht , at le a st in concrete ,experiential ,and well define d matters" (p. 54). This implies thatch ildre n at thisst age stil l needtowork wi t hman ipulat ive materials.can benefit frompi cto r ial and diag ramma tic re pre s e nt at i on s ofide a s and con c epts , andne e d toenga geindiscuss ionin order to lear n. Accordingto Piage t (1967 ). new fo rmsof inte llectual organizatio n enab l ethe element arychild to gradua llyenga ge in more fle xibl e mental ope r atio ns. They can dea l with
"categor i es" andwith"hi erarc h i e s of categories";th ismeans they canunderstand . for instance,tha t it is possibleto be anat h lete, a sc hool child . a Cana dianand a NeWfoundlander al l at thesametime. Thisabili t y isanimpo r t a nt one for
31 dealing with dif f erent categories of sto r y elements and deve lopi ngstoryschema awar e ness.
Piage t (1967) also note s that theelementary chil d is able to orga ni ze "s erie s" and "s eque nc es". This is another impo r t ant ability that woul d fa c il ita t e the ch ild's understanding of sto ry eeq ue no e, Fur t he rmo r e , intellectual development in the are a s of "r e versi bility" (re t ur ni ng toan ear lie r poin t ina process, the n bei ngab le to come back) 1
"c ombi ning" (combining elements to meke a new group or catego ry that covers bot h ) and "a s s ocia t i v ity" (following different paths to the same re sul t) all poi n t to a developme nt a l level mat u r e enough to deal with st or y st r uc t u re.
Ac co r di n g to Piage t's vi ew , then , elementa r ych ild r e n are continuall y deve l o ping theab i litytocon tro lthe irworld as they gai n insights into how their environment is structured. Theactivenature of theirint"lligenceenables them to enga ge in the processes mentioned in the abov e paragraphand therebyfur t he r their knowledgebybuilding on prev ious experiences . Labinowicz (1980), commenting on Piaget'sviewof the active na t u r eof inte lligencefrom birth onwards , sta t es:
Kno wledge is being constructed by the chi l dthrough his in t e r a c t ions between
his me ntal structures and his
env iro nment.... Beyond birth, Pi a ge t believe s that the personal frameworkof org ani zedknowl e dge that a personbrings
J2 to a situation is actively cons t r uc t e d from the previous interactionswith the environment. (p. 34)
Mi n u c h! n (1977) has discovered that elementarychildren have an increasing capacity "f o r int eg r a ti ng their awn experience with de mons tra tio n and explanation and fo r delayinggratification,to apoint, to sustaina pr')cess" (p. 38) This viewpointwas germane to the practical ap p e-oe c h usrfby Patrick verr i our (199 0)in his"s tor y i ng" act ivities. In the s eacti vi ti es, fou rthandflfthgraderspa rt ic ipatedin improvisedclassroom dra ma Which required them to think in thenarrativemode. The ywere suc c essfully ableto sus t ai n the activitiesto sati sfactorycompletion .
socia l Dev elopm ent
The elementarychild is maturing socia ll y in these ns e thathe or she is moving away from the egocentr i c stage to a stagethat is characterizedby more objectivityinperceiving peers.
In a studyconducted oneight to thirteen-year-oldboys and gi r ls, Radke, Yarrow, and campbell (1963), fo und that perceptions of peers increased inco mp l e x i t y over the age span. Younger subjects provided descriptions of peers in terms of friendliness,bossiness,fighti ngand so on . Twelve and th i rte e n- ye a r-a l ds, however , were more awa r e of causes and mo t i ve s as th e basi s of social int e r ac t ion. The
33 implicat ion he r e is that most elementary students will need guidanceandassistancewhen carrying outinterac tivewor k in group settings. They ar e not yet mature enough to wo r k un a s s i s t e d for long periodsof time in group settings.
Flavell, Botkin, Fry, Wright andJa r v i s (1968) found that children,ages seven through thi rte e n ,were increasingly able to communicate with awareness of "situa tional and interpersonal requirements". He noted that elementa ry children tendedto share and to help each other, especially i f the y observedothers doing so and had an opportunityto participate. He alsoindicatedthatthe y aremost likelyto le ar n from adults who are thems elve s good models and with whom they haveawa r mre l a t i onsh i p.
Language Qeve1oQl!lent
Elemen tary children are continuouslygrowing inthei r aware nessof thedi s t i nct i on s betwee noralandwr i t tenmodes ofla ng uage. By nowth e y have had exposuretoavariety of literature through listeningand reading. Willy (1975)and Bet telhe i m(1976) note tha t chi ldre natthi s leve l andeven younger,reco gnizestoryconventionsin varyi ng deg rees.
The conventio ns noted by Willy (1975) and Bet tel he i m (197 6 ) as thosewhi ch children atth i s level re c ogn i ze areas follows: beginningwi t h a titleor formal open ingphrase ("Onc e uponatime" ) ; endingwitha formal Closing ("Theend"
"
or "ha pp i lyeveraftertl) ; the us e ofacon s i stent past ten s e; achange of pite h ortone while story tell Ing; aeeepe enceof make-be lieve characte rsand events; and th e po s s ibility of incorpo r a ti ng ce r t a in conventiona l or sto ck charac t e rs and situations .
Ha.r d i n g (1937) argues that the extent to whic h con vent ion s are recogni z edandused bych i ldrencanbetak en , toacertai n extent , as anind icatio nofthedegree towhi ch stories ha v e begun th e lon gma rch fromthe child'sin1 tial recognition that a storyis in some wa ydi f f ere nt fromather uses of lan gu a ge, to the finalawarenessof a sto r yas"an acce pted tec hniq ue fordi s cu s sing ... lif e" (p. 250).
The el e ment ary child is abl e to engage in the ind epende ntre a d ingof stories;in li s t en ingtosto ri e sread by the teache r or pee rs; in indiv i d ua l or group writing acti viti e sIand ina widerange of di scussio n . This prov ide s one withalot of fl e xi bil ity when conside ring whattypes of activities to include indeve l op i ngaunitfor te a chingsto ry gra mma r elements.
Kno wl edg e of the eleme nta r y child's inte ll ec t ual and socia l de velopment wil l als o heLp one determine whi ch activities are practicable and will be most ef f e c ti ve in ac h i e v ingthedesiredobjectives.
35 nUlTeaching- learningEnylronmentCOnduci yeto the£lewentary Child's PgrfO r'W0 Dce
The elementarychild needs guidance and a certainamount of structureinord e r to engage ineesxe either individually or in groups. It is impo rt a n t that the teacher has clear objectivesandth eab ilit yto motivate st ud e nts andor gan iz e le a r ning experiences in ord e r to achievethe se Objectives.
Th echoice of act ivitiesand materi al s will depend not only on specified objectives but also on knowledge of the eleme nt ary child 's intelle c t ua l, social . and langua g e deve l o pment. Th e skilful te a ch e r is able to guide and fa c i litate the learni ng processwithout discour a g ing risk- takingand crea tivi ty.
Carr and Kenis(198) pointout th a t prac tical th e ori es of te a Chi ng prov ide teachers wit h re as ons for choosing the te a c h i nq activit ies and the curriculull Illateri als they think would be effecti ve in a give nsituation. Apart from what a teacherhas gained through his or her academic backg round, he or she develops an individual no tion of what eff e cti ve teach Inqis th ro ug hdialog ue with,andobsArva tionof othe r teache rs , aswe l l asthrough observa tionof stude nt s asthe y spe a k , write , play, and engageinotheractivitie s .
Sanders andxcc uti cheon (1986) notetha t te a c h i ng is a comp l e x profe s si o na l under t a king. They sta t e:
TeaChing is a .•. ta sk that involv e s assembling a set of specitic practic es , acti vit i es and resourc e s (such as
36 ma terials, a design a t ed allocation of time , te a c hers ' skil ls, personalities an dstyles) aroundor interms of one or seve ral educa tiona l purposes. To be successful teachers must organize and arrange these multiple factors in wa ys so th at the y are effective in cu ltivatingthelearning of a particular group of student s.... The knowledge use fu l for teachers in carrying out this task is practi calinformationorganized in the form of a repe r t oi r e of practices, stra teg ies , and ideas that areeffective for thos e te a c hers in a paz-tLcu.Lar- setting . {p,50)
Thewa y ate a che r communicateswithastudent, whether individua l ly,in a classroomsituation, or ina small group, has some impact on tha t studen t's self-esteem. positive personalandint er per s o n a l growt h is more easily fosteredi f the elementa rychildhas a positiveperceptio nof hisor her characte ris tics and abilities. It isimpo r t a nt, th e r e f o r e , thattheteac h e r communicatewithstude ntsatth i s level as supportively as po s s i ble in order to cr e ate a healthy learning envi ronme n t.
Pi ne ll and Galloway (1987) viewth e learneras someone activelyseeking me a n i ng , tryingto make sense of his orher vorLdandco nstr uc tingthe o rieson whi c hnew learning canbe based. Th e y remind us that educators ne e d to offer challeng inglearningexperiencesWhichgive childrena chance tous eth e i r fu ll capacitytothink and to solve problems.
They suggest that such ex pe r i e nc e s enable the le a r ne r to
37 construct his or her own meaningand to applyknowled g e in newsitua tions.
Most effecti ve le a rn i ng is holistic in na t u r e. The holistic approach gives students the opportunity to language in both spoken and written forms . Effective learningmust also take intoconsidera tion the socialcont ext of learning. As stated earlier on in th i s chapte r, the elementarych i l d is past the stage of egocentricityandha s become more objec tiveinnts or herre l at i on s h i pswith peers.
Therefore, some learni ngactivitiescan be designedso that studentsarefree to interactwi t hthe i r peers in orde r to developand clarifytheir own ideas ina supportiveco nt e xt. Group activities can be effective i f the y are carefu lly st ruc tured to al low each student in tht:!gr o upto cont ribute hisor herownstrengthsto help inthe solving ofpr o b lems. Classroom struc t ure th at is beneficia l to the learner sho u l dinc o r pora t e bot hcoope rati veandindividualisticgoal st ructures. Ac c o r d i ng to Joh nson and Johnson (1975) , students wor ki ng within a cooperative goal structure seek outcomesthatwil l be beneficialto all other gr ou p members:
The respective goal s of the differe nt individual members ar e linked togethe r interdependent ly so that th ere is a pos i t ive associatio namongall members' goal attainments. (p . 59)
An individualisticgoal st r uc t ure , onthe othe r han d , will allowst udentsthe pri vacy to select andse ekoutco mes
3.
that are best for each. Inmany learning endeavours, there are times when a st udent ne e ds to wo r k independently to ascertai nwhat he or she cancia withoutinput from peers. An individualisticgoal structure also provides a stude ntwith the opportunitytobe creat ivein his or her own way when performing a task.
When students are expected to engage in creative learning activitiesthe classroomcli mate shouldbe conducive to such performance. A relaxed. flexible approachon the teacher's part encourages students toexperimer-tand share ideas and products. Students should be allowed to make mistakes and shouldrec eiveappropriate feedback tohelp them see howto correct their mistakes. A healthy classroom climatereflects mutual trust between pupilsandteacher. It is the teacher's responsibilityto createan atmospherewher e the students will feel fr e e to take risks . Elementary children need to be assured that the teacherwi ll appreciate their efforts and help them sus tai n their le a r ni ng experiences .
stude ntscanalso be encouragedto evaluate the i r peers.
By providing feedback to the i r peers and sharing ideas, st udentscan gainvaluableinsightsinto ways of improvinq th e ir own perf ormance. Having elementary students participatein the evaluationpr oc e s s canalso le s s e n the anxietythe y might ex pe r i e nc e when the teache r is the sal e
39 'judqe of student perf ormance. The tea ch er's ro l e becomes more effective as he or she assumes the responsibilityof faci litator an d guide rather than tha t of arbitrator and dire ctor.
This cha pte r haspresenteda rev i e w of the li te rat ure relat ed to the to p i c af this th esis. Th e flr st section ope ne d with a general discussi on of the us e of literary mode l s . Thiswasfollowe dbyadefini tio n of storygrammar, aswell as examples of thelatter. Theuseofst ory grammar in the cl as s ro omas a basi s fo r dev e lo pi n g st ory schema awarenes s in the elementary child was then examined. The second sect ion dealt with the elementary child's int ell e c tual, soci al and language de ve lopme nt. Th i s was followedby a di scus sionofthe teaching-learn ing env i r o nme nt cond ucivetothe elementarychild'sperf ormance.
CHAPl'ER THREE
TIlE FOLK AND FAIRY TALES ASARESOURCE FOR DEVELOPING STORYSCHEMA AWARENESS
Int roduc tion
The first section of this chapterwill examine reasons why the folk and fairy tales areparticularlyappealingas resourcemat er i als for seueenesatthe elementary le ve l . It will be demonstrated that these resources are especially suitable both froma psychological and literary point of view. In the second section,common structural elements of the folk and fairy tales will be discussed. Specific examples taken from the tales will be used to illustrate thos e eleme ntsof the folk andfairy tales to be highlighted inthe activity unit.
Rationale fo rUsingt.he Folk andFairyTales
Studiesnev e indicated that ch ildrendoha ve an interest in folk and fairy tales up to about age twelve. Norvell (1958) used a selection of twenty-f ive fairy tales to investigate their popularity at the elementary and juni o r highlevels. He discoveredthat this type of story is at its hi g h e s t level of popularityat grade three,continuesto be well liked at grade four to six, butdeclines ininterest in gradesseven to nine.
41 Becker (19(7) states that children will listen to fairy stories as saon as they will listen to anything . Cass (1967) maintains that children of five or 50 are ready and eager for the enrichment that the fairy story and folk tale ca n provide. Both Beckerand Cass focuson the child'scognitive and emotionalreadinesstohave stories read to him or her:
not on the child's ability to read the story himself or herself. The elementary child has been exposed to a repertoire of folk and fairy tales and is able to build on this as he or she becomes an independent reader.
Drawi ng on the results of investigations by Huber (19 2 8 ), Rankin (1944), and Collier and Gaier (1958, 1959), revet; (1977) concludes:
1. Children be t we en the ages of fi ve and ten or grades kindergarten and five , whether they se l e ct books Voluntarily,or are presented with books and asked for their opinion,express interest in fairy tales.
2. This interest follows what might be called a curveof reading preference; that is, children's interest in fairy tales emerges at the pre-readingage andqr-adua Lj.y rises to a peak of interest between the approximate ages of six andeight and then graduallydeclines. (pp.4-5) One can argue, then, thatthe folk and fairy tales are an excellent source to draw upon in aneffort to get children startedon the task of creating stories. It is true that
42 most children at the fo ur t h grade level have already been exposed tofolk and fairy tal e sto varying degrees. This,of course,could prove to be a disadvantagein thatstudentsma y fe el the r e is not hi ng new to learn. Howeve r, the skilf ul teacher can avoidthis by us i ng some of the le s s familiar tales.
Studen tsat the elementarylevel are stillinte re s t ed in thewo r l d at wonder and make-believeWhichpervadesth e fairy tales . In her introduc tio nto Time for Fai ryTale~
~,Arbuthnot(1961 ) co mme nt s on the imaginativequalityof thefolk and fairy talesthus:
One quaHtyth e y [f a i r y tales 1 have in commonis imagination. They stretchthe mindand spirit withtheir dr -eams. I t is thi s quaH ty of wonder and speculationtha t ma ke s themworthusing wit h children. (p. xvii)
Speaking of fantasy in ChildrenandBook s, Arbut hnot (19 71 ) notestha t fantasyplaysan importa nt pa r t inthe life of children;
Generally,cnildren enj oythes e booksas change frem the here and now, as a brea thing space inthe serious pr-oces s of gr owi ng up. It is a rare child who doe s not like some of the m and most children enjoy ma ny of them. Adults so met ime s wonder why. The pr o ba bl e reason is that they prov ide children with another kind of fli gh t , a flig ht into otherworlds,inc r e dibl e , exciti ng, satisfying . {p . 367)
Bett elhe i m (1976 ) points out that since ch i ldre n longergrowliPwithin the secur i tyof an extendedfamily,or
"
of a well- integ r a t ed co mmunity. theynee d i .ag esof heroes who, afte r tri al s andha r dship s, "findsecur eplace s in the worl d by following the ir right wa y with deep in ner confide nce" (p, 11). Bettelhe i m compares the isol a t i o n of thefa iry-tale herowith that:otthemoder n childwho usua lly spe nd smuchtimebyhimself or in theco mpanyof ate l e v i si o n set.
Bet telhe l ll1 not esth at fairytale s areuniqueas worksof art whichare fUll ycompre hensi ble tothe ch ildasnoot her formof art is . As wi th al l grea t ar t, ac cordi ng to Bet te l heim, the fairy ta le's deepest mea ning wi ll be diff e rentforeachchild,and differenttorthe samechildat vari ouseca enesinhisor her l ife. Eachchild willextra ct a diffe ren t meaning frollthe sa me tairyta l e, de pe ndingon hisor her inter es tsandne ed s ofthemo ment. Some children lIIay even re turn to tale s read earlier to en l arge on old .ea ni ngs orrepl a c e the..wi t h newones.
Fairy tales , from Bet telhe i .'s point of vi ew, ins t rume ntsof bot h de light and instruction. He feels tha t fairytale s, unli ke anyothe r fo r m of lite rature, direct the child to disc o ver hi s ide ntity and call i ng. They als o sugge st Whatexper iencesare needed tode velop his or her char a c te r further:
Fairy tales intima te thatII.reward ing, good life iswith i n one ' sre ac hdespite advers i ty--but only if onedoes not shy away from the ha z a rdous st r ugg le s
witho utwhich oneca n never ach i eve true identi t y . Th ese stor i espromi sethati f achildda r e s toengage in thi s fe a r s ome and ta xing se a rc h , benevolent power s wi ll come to his aid , and he wi ll succe e d. (p. 24)
Apar t from the fac t that child r e n find the tales interesting and derive psycholog i ca lbenef its fromthem, one might al so ar gue thatthe ta les are anexc e ll e nt sou rce to draw upon in an effort to enhance and fur t he r develo p ch i ld ren ' s knowledge of st o r y grammar and na rrati vewrit in g abi l i ty. commentingon the artisticstructure of the tale s , Bettelheim(1976) notes :
While a fair y tale may contain ma ny dreamli ke features, itsgre at advantage over a dream is thatthe fairytalehas a consistent st r uc t ur e with a deHni te beginningand a plot that move s toward a satisfying solutionWhich isreached at the end. (p. 57)
Ch il d r e n are able to respond tothe form of the tales since the folk and fairy tales followthe same pattern . Pr o pp (1968 ) re f e r s to the "patte rned co ntras t ive repetitions" thr o ugho ut the folkand fairytales as being particularlyappealing to ch i l d r e n. Usi ng Propp' sscheme for breaking down a tal e into it s "patterned contrast iv e elements", Favat (19 77 ) presents the followinganalysis of part of Perrault's"Dia monds andTOads ":
The younger,and unfavoured,of two daughters is sent by her mothe r to draw waterfrom the we l l. (Departure) At the well,theyoungerdaughter meets a poor woman whoasks for a drinkof water . (Te s t by the donor)
45 The younger da ught.er will ingl y gives the woman a drink.
(Re ac ti o n)
The poor woman decrees that for every word the youn g er daug hte r speaks, eit her a flower or a precio us jewe l wi l l fall fromhermou t h. (Re c e i pt of a ma g i c alagent ) Uponthe daughter's retur n home, she speaks tohermother, andthe flowers and jewels fall fromhe r mo ut h. (Br a nd ing ) [At this point the story repeatsi ts elf,thisti me involvi n g the el de r, and fa vou r e d daughte r]
Th e moth e r sends herelde r daughte r tothe well. (De pa rture ) Th e elder da ugh ter meets the po o r woma n , now magn ificently dressed, who asks again for a dr ink of wa t e r . (Te st by donor)
Theelderdaugh te rsaucilyre f us e s to give thewoman a drin k. (Reaction)
The woma n decrees that for every word the elder daughter spea ks , eit hera snake or a toad wil l fall fromher mout h. (Rece ipt of ama gic al age nt)
Upo n the elderdaughte r's return home, sh e speaks to he r mot he r and the snakes and toads fall from her mout h . (Branding)
[Afte r this co ntrastive re petit i o n, th e st ory returnsto th e younger da ughter and a second series of contras t ive re pe t itions be gin . ] (pp . 13, 14)
From the above ana lysisone observes thatthe logica l rel a t ionships of the eve ntsareconsistent; each pr ec e d ing event beingtheca u s e of the even t th a t follows. Beingsen t to the we ll ena mee the younger daug hter to meet the po o r woman , wh i ch enables cne poorwo man totest the daughter, whi c h ena b lesher to respond and so on.
The "patterne d contrastive repetitions" illust ratedin the above tale are present in many of the fol k and fai r y
46 tale s. Apart from thelog i c al connectio nof events,there is also a mo r al connectionof reactionand rewardor re act i o n and punishment. For examp le, in Perr au lt's "Di a monds and Toads", the good, yo ung e r daughter goes to the well and returnswith thegi f t at fl owe r sand jewe lsas a reward for helping th e poor oldwoma n. The elderdauyhter, however, goes to the well and returns withthe cur-se of snakesand toads as puni shment forher unk ind actof refus ing togi v e the woman a drink. The mor al order presented in the relationships of th e ev e n ts; .is si mila r: the essentia l goodness of the younger daughter is rewarded, whil e the essentia l wickednessof theeld e r daught er ispunished .
Favat (1977)notes thatwhereas thelogical, aesthetic lin dmoralrelationships are clearcut inthe talesof Perrault and the Grimmbrothers,theyar e not so cl e a rly statedin the tal e s of Andersen. Accordingto Favat (1977 ), in thet.aIes of Perrault and the Grimm brothers, essential goodness is al waysrewa rdedand essential ev Ll punished. Thefate of the characters in these tales is predictable from the actions the y unde rtake. Favat notes thatsuch predictableendings are notthe case, as a rule, in the Anderse n tales. Fo r instance,in the tale,"I nc he l l na", the white butterfly Which helpsInchelinasail across the brook is left tied to aleaf and one ne ve r knowswhat becomes of it.
