Analyzing verbal visual interactions in the if you give… picture storybook by laura numeroff

BINH DUONG PROVINCIAL PEOPLE'S COMMITTEE THU DAU MOT UNIVERSITY  VO HOANG NGUYEN ANALYZING VERBAL-VISUAL INTERACTIONS IN THE “IF YOU GIVE…” PICTURE STORYBOOK BY LAURA NUMEROFF MAJOR: ENGLISH LANGUAGE MAJOR CODE: 8220201 MASTER THESIS IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE BINH DUONG PROVINCE – 2021 0 BINH DUONG PROVINCIAL PEOPLE'S COMMITTEE THU DAU MOT UNIVERSITY  VO HOANG NGUYEN ANALYZING VERBAL-VISUAL INTERACTIONS IN THE “IF YOU GIVE…” PICTURE STORYBOOK BY LAURA NUMEROFF MAJOR: ENGLISH LANGUAGE MAJOR CODE: 8220201 MASTER THESIS IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE SUPERVISED BY PHAM THI HUONG, PH D BINH DUONG PROVINCE – 2021 0 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Completing this thesis research would have been impossible for me without the support and assistance from many people I would like to express my sincere gratitude and respect to all of them First and foremost, my deepest gratitude goes to the most important person, my supervisor, Dr Pham Thi Huong, for her professional instruction and constant encouragement My thesis was finally accomplished thanks to her excellent academic and hearted guidance from the first day of my journey to the last chapter of this thesis, her detailed feedback on every piece of my paper I gratefully acknowledge Thu Dau Mot University in general, Postgraduate Department and Foreign Languages Department at Thu Dau Mot University in particular for allowing me to pursue this thesis I also thank to Dr Tran Thanh Du and other teachers and professors for their encouragement and lectures while I was taking the Master of Arts course at Thu Dau Mot University I also thank to my classmates in the Master of Arts course in the academic years 2017-2019 for their friendship and support throughout the years My profound thanks are also reserved for the principal boards, the English lecturers, who gave me the best possible conditions to conduct the study And last, but by no means least, I have enormously appreciated the endless love of my family who is always by my side I will never forget the day and night support of my parents, my brothers, to overcome all my life challenges To all these significant people, I hope that the achievement of this thesis would make them feel pleased and satisfied enough i 0 STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP I certify that this thesis titled “Analyzing verbal-visual interactions in the: “If You Give ” picture storybook by Laura Numeroff” is my original work towards the Degree of Master of the English language Except where reference is made, this thesis does not contain materials published elsewhere or extracted in whole or in part from a thesis by which I have qualified for or been awarded another degree or diploma No other person's works are used without due acknowledgment in the main text of this thesis This thesis has not been submitted to award any degree or diploma in any other tertiary institution th Binh Duong, September 27 , 2021 VO HOANG NGUYEN ii 0 TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS i STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP ii TABLE OF CONTENTS iii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS vii LIST OF TABLES viii LIST OF FIGURES ix ABSTRACT xii CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background to the study .1 1.2 Aims of the study 1.3 Significance of the study 1.4 Scope of the study 1.5 Research questions 1.6 Structure of the study CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Picture books 2.1.1 History of development ……… 2.1.2 Definition 2.1.3 Characteristics 10 2.1.4 Functions 11 iii 0 2.1.5 Benefits of visual storybooks 12 2.1.5.1 Visual storybooks from learners’ perspective…………… …… 12 2.1.5.2 Visual storybooks from educators’ perspective………………… 18 2.1.6 Guidelines for using picture books 21 2.1.7 Multimodality 23 2.1.8 Text-image relationships 25 2.1.8.1 Definition of text-image relationships 25 2.1.8.2 The meaning of the text-image relationships 26 2.1.8.3 The nature of the text-image relationships 28 2.1.8.4 The framework of the text-image relationships .28 2.2 The overview of related studies 31 2.2.1 The relevant studies in Vietnam 31 2.2.2 The relevant studies around the world 33 CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY 44 3.1 Research design 44 3.2 Research questions 44 3.3 Materials 45 3.4 Summary of the author and selected stories 46 3.4.1 Laura Joffe Numeroff (the author) 46 3.4.2 Summaries of the series “If You Give …” 47 3.4.2.1 If You Give a Mouse a Cookie (1985) 47 iv 0 3.4.2.2 If You Give a Moose a Muffin (1991) 48 3.4.2.3 If You Give a Pig a Pancake (1998) 48 3.4.2.4 If You Give a Cat a Cupcake (2008) 49 3.4.2.5 If You Give a Dog a Donut (2011) 49 3.5 Data analysis 50 3.6 Ethical considerations 52 CHAPTER 4: RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS 53 4.1 Message of these selected stories 53 4.2 If You Give a Mouse a Cookie 54 4.3 If You Give a Moose a Muffin 62 4.4 If You Give a Pig a Pancake 69 4.5 If You Give a Cat a Cupcake 77 4.6 If You Give a Dog a Donut 84 4.7 Findings 90 4.8 Discussion of results 92 CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS 97 5.1 Conclusions 97 5.2 Implications 99 5.3 Limitations of the study 103 5.4 Recommendation for further study 104 REFERENCES 107 v 0 APPENDICES………………………………………………………………………116 vi 0 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ESL English as a Second Language EFL English as a Foreign Language SFL Systemic Functional Linguistic SFG Systemic Functional Grammar vii 0 LIST OF TABLES Table 4.1 Occurrence frequencies of text-image relationships 56 Table 4.2 The frequencies of sub-types in Complementarity 57 Table 4.3 The frequencies of sub-types in Concurrence 58 Table 4.4 The frequencies of sub-types in Enhancement 60 Table 4.5 Occurrence frequencies of text-image relationships 63 Table 4.6 The frequencies of sub-types in Complementarity 64 Table 4.7 The frequencies of sub-types in Concurrence 66 Table 4.8 The frequencies of sub-types in Enhancement 68 Table 4.9 Occurrence frequencies of text-image relationships 70 Table 4.10 The frequencies of sub-types in Complementarity 72 Table 4.11 The frequencies of sub-types in Concurrence 73 Table 4.12 The frequencies of sub-types in Enhancement 75 Table 4.13 Occurrence frequencies of text-image relationships 78 Table 4.14 The frequencies of sub-types in Complementarity 79 Table 4.15 The frequencies of sub-types in Concurrence 80 Table 4.16 The frequencies of sub-types in Enhancement 82 Table 4.17 Occurrence frequencies of text-image relationships 85 Table 4.18 The frequencies of sub-types in Complementarity 86 Table 4.19 The frequencies of sub-types in Concurrence 87 Table 4.20 The frequencies of sub-types in Enhancement 89 viii 0 Appendix Book 4: If You Give a Cat a Cupcake (2008) If You Give a Cat a Cupcake is another book in the aforementioned series One peculiarity of this title is featuring one recurring feline character who first appeared in If You Give a Pig a Party Still, the story shares the same characteristics as previous titles, with the same distinctive penmanship from Laura Joffe Numeroff and vivid illustration from Felicia Bond Inheriting such rich imaginative personification and being woven with a multilayered narrative yet still simple enough for children, the book could be regarded as one of the pinnacles of Numeroff’s skills in storytelling 130 0 131 0 132 0 133 0 Appendix Book 5: If You Give a Dog a Donut (2011) If You Give a Dog a Donut most significant lesson metaphor is altruism, between two main characters: a boy and a dog He does everything for the dog but doesn't expect anything to be returned This is a respectful and valuable contribution Helping each other without counting is the best thing in life we all should while giving away, we also have the joy of helping others However, we must also consider not being taken advantage of by others so that our help is not a waste 134 0 135 0 136 0 137 0 UBND TỈNH BÌNH DƯƠNG TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC THỦ DẦU MỘT CỘNG HÒA XÃ HỘI CHỦ NGHĨA VIỆT NAM Độc lập – Tự – Hạnh phúc Bình Dương, ngày 29 tháng 08 năm 2021 BIÊN BẢN CUỘC HỌP HỘI ĐỒNG CHẤM LUẬN VĂN THẠC SĨ Của học viên: Võ Hoàng Nguyên Về đề tài: Analyzing verbal – visual interactions in the “If You give…” picture storybook by Laura Numeroff Tại Hội đồng trực tuyến - Trường Đại học Thủ Dầu Một, ngày 29 tháng 08 năm 2021 Hội đồng chấm luận văn thành lập theo Quyết định số, ngày cấp: 1240/QĐ-ĐHTDM, ngày 16/08/2021 Hiệu trưởng Trường Đại học Thủ Dầu Một nghe học viên: Võ Hồng Ngun trình bày tóm tắt nội dung luận văn thạc sĩ Nhận xét, đặt câu hỏi thành viên Hội đồng chấm luận văn: 1/-TS Nguyễn Thị Châu Anh - Nhận xét (đính kèm Bản nhận xét) - Câu hỏi: Could you please tell me the reason why you chose the topic as a research for your thesis? What could you to apply the results and the findings of the study for your work in your workplace? 2/-TS Huỳnh Thị Bích Phượng - Nhận xét (đính kèm Bản nhận xét) - Câu hỏi: Can you please give an explanation of choice of these five stories? 3/-TS Trần Thanh Dũ - Nhận xét (đính kèm Bản nhận xét) - Câu hỏi: What are the reasons for selection of these picture series/stories? Are these series/stories used in Vietnamese schools? If yes, how can your research results be applied in Vietnamese schools? 4/-TS Nguyễn Thị Thanh Tâm - Nhận xét (đính kèm Bản nhận xét) - Câu hỏi: None 5/-TS Lê Thị Thanh - Nhận xét (đính kèm Bản nhận xét) - Câu hỏi: In which ESL contexts can picture storybooks be use to motivate English acquisition? Please define what kinds of learners of English can be the best students for the application of the study result 0 Sau nghe tác giả trả lời người hướng dẫn khoa học nhận xét luận văn Hội đồng họp riêng thông qua kết luận Khi thông qua kết luận, Hội đồng bầu Ban kiểm phiếu gồm: 1) Nguyễn Thị Châu Anh, Trưởng ban 2) Huỳnh Thị Bích Phượng, Ủy viên 3) Trần Thanh Dũ, Ủy viên Căn vào kết bỏ phiếu Hội đồng chấm luận văn là: + Số thành viên Hội đồng tham gia bỏ phiếu: 05/05 + Tổng số điểm chấm luận văn Hội đồng: 30 + Điểm bình quân: 06đ Hội đồng kết luận: 1) Bản luận văn học viên Võ Hoàng Nguyên đáp ứng yêu cầu luận văn Thạc sĩ 2) Các nội dung đề nghị chỉnh sửa: - TS Nguyễn Thị Châu Anh: + If the author adds a more critical discussion section about how to apply the images in teaching techniques for each classroom into chapter 4, it can help to improve the work quality in the study + The pictures in the appendix are very important because they can give readers the reliable evidence of the research Therefore, the number of pages in the story should be clear in an appropriate order + Points to remember to revise: There are still some structures and some repeated sentences which need to be revised to make the thesis better; Deleting the full stop in the thesis title; The images need to be added with page numbers in the appendix - TS Huỳnh Thị Bích Phượng + Significance of the study: needs clarifying in term of practical application + Literature review: Page 13: The item “from learners’ perspective” is not relevant to the micro tittle The author is suggested to revise this part Research question: there is only one research question, of which the responses are not relevant to the findings, conclusion, and even the purpose of an MA thesis Even, that cannot respond the logical implication The writer is requested to develop these points to make sure that they are logically related - TS Trần Thanh Dũ + Restructure the thesis; + Make clear why the author choses these stories as the source of data; + Relate the research question to the rest parts of the thesis; + Specify the methodology and the theoretical framework; + Rewrite the conclusion to make it relevant to the research results; + Revise and correct lexical and grammatical errors - TS Nguyễn Thị Thanh Tâm: Correct spelling, lexical and grammatical mistakes 0 - TS Lê Thị Thanh: + About the cover page, the name of the supervisor of the thesis should be added, the full stop at the title should be deleted and the format of the title should be improved according to the MLA convention for the title of a book “If You Give ” (the quotations marks should be deleted and the title should be written in italic) + On the second page of the table of contents, from sections 4.2 to section 4.6, Nguyen should delete the notes “see in Appendix 1, see in Appendix ”, they are unnecessary because readers will know how to get the content of selected books in the Appendices + The thesis really needs a careful proofreading to eliminate the errors of grammar, word choice and sentence patterns (i.e., for the Acknowledgements, the two sentences “Completing this thesis, the research would have been impossible for me I would like to gratefully thank my classmates for the happiness and difficulties throughout the course ” need revision.) + The picture books in the Appendice should be numbered and put in the order for illustrating the data of the research + The criteria of choosing the book should be mentioned to avoid subjectivity bias in selecting texts for the object of the study 3) Đề nghị công nhận học vị Thạc sĩ cho học viên Võ Hoàng Nguyên sau chỉnh sửa, góp ý theo khuyến nghị/đề nghị thành viên Hội đồng (Học viên phải trình Luận văn chỉnh sửa Bản giải trình cho Chủ tịch Thư ký Hội đồng xem xác nhận trước nộp Viện Đào tạo Sau đại học để hoàn tất thủ tục Bảo vệ LVThS, chậm 01 tháng kể từ ngày nhận Hồ sơ nhận xét Hội đồng)./ THƯ KÝ HỘI ĐỒNG CHỦ TỊCH HỘI ĐỒNG (đã ký) Trần Thanh Dũ Lê Thị Thanh 0 THE SOCIALIST REPUBLIC OF VIET NAM Independence - Freedom - Happiness M.A THESIS COMMENTS AND EVALUATION Research title: Analyzing verbal-visual interactions in the "If you give " picture storybook by Laura Numeroff Candidate: Võ Hoàng Nguyên Supervisor(s): Pham Thi Huong, Ph.D Examiner: Nguyễn Thị Châu Anh, Ph.D Role: Reader Examiner’s institution: Lac Hong University COMMENTS Study significance, scientific and practical implications This thesis has 114 pages consisting of the five chapters (Introduction, Literature review, Methodology, Results and Discussions and the last chapter - Conclusions and Implications) The thesis also has good appendice with pictures for illustration from pages 115 to 140 In the study there were 41 figures and 20 tables used for explaining the data for references In the introduction chapter, the author provided sufficient background to the study, statement of problem and presented the objectives of the study clearly Chapter 2, the literature review was relevant to the research issues It is lengthy enough to understand and to make it clearer as it contained about 37 pages The background of the study as well as the relevant studies were also presented in the thesis Chapter presented methodological framework of the research, and the rationale for the research design Chapters presented the results of the research with regard to data collected from the picture books The research questions were answered satisfactorily in the chapter Chapter provided some implications for different interested people including teachers, learners and readers Contributions of the study to the field of language research and education needed to be addressed This study reveals the effectiveness of English language teaching with picture books It examines the way of how to make meaningful words and sentences in each story in the picture storybooks for children both verbally and visually With the data used in the thesis, the readers can apply them for teaching English through the picture books easily Theoretically, the results from the findings of the study also contribute to the materials used in teaching and learning English more effectively The study also has a practical significance in improving the English language study and the ways of teaching and learning English, and contributes to the improvement of critical thinking for learners of English in reading and wrting with the visual aids from the beginning level to the higher ones The content of the stories in the picture books can be used to enlarge vocabulary for learners In addition, the theme, the exposition and the ending of each story can help learners of English understand more about the characters and the experience in their life as well as education It has also two functions for teaching and learning English: entertainment and instruction Appropriateness of the research topic It is appropriate for the research topic Research methodology 0 The thesis provides tables and figures to illustrate the results This makes it easier and more undestandable to follow the research in each chapter Referencing and References: good outline; properly referenced; authors cited; appropriate Structure and format of the paper The thesis is fairly well planned and controlled The study used appropriate techniques; based on objectives In addition, the figures and tables were clearly explained They are numbered carefully in the chapters Research findings and contributions The research findings have scientific and practical meanings which can be applied in the English language study Suggestions for research improvement If the author adds a more critical discussion section about how to apply the images in teaching techniques for each classroom into chapter 4, it can help to improve the work quality in the study In general, the thesis was rather clearly written and the style and layout was appropriate Suggestions: The pictures in the appendix are very important because they can give readers the reliable evidence of the research Therefore, the number of pages in the story should be clear in an appropriate order Points to remember to revise: + There are still some structures and some repeated sentences which need to be revised to make the thesis better + Deleting the full stop in the thesis title + The images need to be added with page numbers in the appendix General evaluation and scoring The thesis meets the required standards for the award of the Master of Art Degree for the satisfactory completion of the study Marks: 6.0 Questions 1/ Could you please tell me the reason why you chose the topic as a research for your thesis? 2/ What could you to apply the results and the findings of the study for your work in your workplace? Thu Dau Mot City, August 29, 2021 (Examiner’s signature and full name) Dr Nguyễn Thị Châu Anh 0 THE SOCIALIST REPUBLIC OF VIET NAM Independence - Freedom - Happiness M.A THESIS COMMENTS AND EVALUATION Research title: Analyzing verbal-visual interactions in the “If you give…” picture storybook by Laura Numeroff Candidate: Võ Hoàng Nguyên Supervisor(s): Dr Phạm Thị Hương Examiner: Huỳnh Thị Bích Phượng, PhD Role: Reader Examiner’s institution: Banking University of Ho Chi Minh City COMMENTS Study significance, scientific and practical implications The researcher presents the values of scientific significance at a point; however, the writer has not stated obviously the significance in term practical implications Appropriateness of the research topic The research topic is relevant to the major named the English language However, it is not a very close focus as it is required Research methodology The research methodology presented in chapter include both quantitative and qualitative methods, that meets the requirements of research methodology Structure and format of the paper The thesis concludes 103 pages with chapters and other parts including Abstract, Table of content, Reference, Appendix, etc… which fullfills the requirement of the organization of an MA thesis Research findings and contributions The research findings are relevant and supportive to the research questions However, contributions of the study seem unclear or unpractical The writer attempted to cite the theory of verbal-visual interactions in a picture storybook, which helps interpret meanings and messages Actually, an MA thesis in English Language expects the writer, basing on the existing theory, to make a suggestion as a contribution in term of linguistics or related ones Suggestions for research improvement - Significance of the study: needs clarifying in term of practical application - Literature review: Page 13: The item “from learners’ perspective” is not relevant to the micro tittle The author is suggested to revise this part - Research question: there is only one research question, of which the responses are not relevant to the findings, conclusion, and even the purpose of an MA thesis Even, that 0 can not respond the logical implication The writer is requested to develop these points to make sure that they are logically related Others: - Term: The terms conclude “children, young children, students, learners, readers, young readers” are currently used in the same research, which makes confusion Thus, they should be seriously considered for consistent use - Data collection: storybooks are selected for research and analysis without any explanation; therefore, that can not convince the readers - Mistakes of spelling, grammatical points, structures, language use, academic writing: there are mistakes of spelling, grammatical points, structures, language use, expression that need to be checked thorough the writing - Appendix: the pictures of books are shown but without logic order that need to be numbered for correct reading General evaluation and scoring: The thesis generally meets the requirements of Question: an MA thesis Can you please give an explanation of choice of these five stories? Thu Dau Mot City, May 2021 Huỳnh Thị Bích Phượng 0 ... are verbal- visual interactions expressed in the "If You Give…" picture books series to show the meaning of the stories? Considering the significance of the topic regarding visual storybooks in. .. explores the verbal- visual interactions in the picture book series "If You Give…. " with the aim of discovering the meanings delivered within the language and images and how these modes intercorrelate...BINH DUONG PROVINCIAL PEOPLE''S COMMITTEE THU DAU MOT UNIVERSITY  VO HOANG NGUYEN ANALYZING VERBAL- VISUAL INTERACTIONS IN THE ? ?IF YOU GIVE…? ?? PICTURE STORYBOOK BY LAURA NUMEROFF