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Language Journal of Literary Education. 2020. No. 03
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- Psychometric evaluation of recall and recognition tasks for the measurement of young spectators’ theatrical memory(2020) Papakosta, Alexia; Mastrothanasis, Konstantinos; Andreou, Aphrodite; Blouti, IoannaThe purpose of this research is the construction and psychometric evaluation of seven categories of recall and recognition tasks for the measurement of young spectators’ theatrical memory, based on the respective theatre codes of a specific performance for young spectators. The aim of those tasks is the evaluation of the young spectators’ mnemonic recordings on a level a) the actors’ representation of the characters on stage (acting), b) the visual frame of the performance, c) the audio code d) the lights, e) the dramatic text, f) the plot/action and g) the Shadow Theatre technique. The recall and recognition tasks were constructed according to the Classical Test Theory of Question Analysis on a sample of 5th Grade Primary School pupils (i.e. ten-year-old pupils), who had seen this specific performance addressed to young spectators and were evaluated with the Factor Analysis method. For the evaluation of the quality of the questions, we took into consideration the difficulty coefficient of each question, the discriminant coefficient and the evaluation of the correlation level of expert judges. For the psychometric control of the tests we examined the validity of their conceptual construct via inquiry factor analysis and the internal validity coefficient. The result of the above tasks was the creation of seven reliable and valid measurement tools, in which no gender effect is inferred.
- Portraying Trans People in Children’s and Young Adult Literature: Problems and Challenges(2020) Butler, CatherineThe last twenty years have seen a proliferation of books for young people dealing with trans experience and issues. This article charts the emergence of transgender fiction for children and young adults, and its development during that period. It will address several questions arising from this phenomenon. How does the representation of trans experience differ when presented for a child readership rather than adults, and for younger children rather than adolescents? How are the representations of gender identity, gender expression and sexuality affected by considerations of audience? What are the tropes (or clichés) of trans fiction, and how have they changed? Whose points of view do the stories represent? Does it matter whether their authors are themselves trans? Is it more possible today than twenty years ago to assume some knowledge in child readers, or must every story “start from scratch”? There is no single answer to any of these questions, but the article will note some of the trends discernible over a range of texts published in English since the start of the century, and describe some of the challenges in writing texts about trans experience in the future.
- Breaking female stereotypes: Bianca Pitzorno’s girls and the power of literature on gender socialization(2020) Forni, DalilaBianca Pitzorno is one of Italy’s most famous children’s writers. Her works – more than forty books translated into different languages – often address topics linked to gender identity and femininity. Pitzorno’s novels for children usually depict non-canonical female characters: rebel, dynamic and intelligent young girls that fight against adult injustice in order to affirm their agency. The paper aims to explore female portrayals in Pitzorno’s novels and their potential educational impact in reconsidering gender stereotypes and roles from an early age. Literature is one of the most influential tools in the construction of gender ideals and gender socialization. Consequently, positive female models – as Pitzorno’s characters – should be offered to young readers from an early age in order to foster an inclusive collective imagination about femininity. For instance, Extraterrestre alla pari [Aliens on par] (1979) directly focuses on gender issues telling the story of a young alien coming from a planet where young boys and girls do not know their sex until they reach adulthood. For this reason, they are considered as gender-neutral beings. Likewise, L’incredibile storia di Lavinia [Lavinia and the magic ring] (1985) ironically retells Hans Christian Andersen’s The Little Match Girl working on humor and female agency. Finally, Principessa Laurentina [Princess Laurentina] (1990) deals with adolescence and family dynamics, offering different portrayals of female identity, from a young age to adulthood. Because of the brilliant and nontraditional depiction of female figures and the deconstruction of gender canon in a simple but captivating way, Pitzorno’s novels should be internationally considered in primary school curriculums as a starting point to introduce gender diversity in reading programs and to discuss gender issues with the help of adult figures such as teachers, educators and parents.
- Queerizando las Facultades de Educación: una escuela inclusiva es posible(2020) Soler, GuillermoEl siguiente trabajo ofrece una revisión en torno a las prácticas pedagógicas especialmente en el área de lengua y literatura. Un recorrido sobre las propuestas llevadas a cabo en diferentes facultades de educación tanto en el ámbito anglosajón como en el contexto español. Bajo la premisa de que la literatura puede transmitir unos determinados valores, estas investigaciones han experimentado con propuestas de lecturas de temática LGTBQ. A continuación, muestra una investigación llevada a cabo en la Facultad de Educación de Alicante, en la asignatura de Didáctica de la Lectura y de la Escritura, cuyo propósito principal consistía en incluir estas lecturas diversas con el fin de concienciar a los y las futuras maestras de la importancia de abordar estos temas en el aula de primaria, valorando y analizando una serie de álbumes ilustrados y favoreciendo grupos de discusión en torno a estas obras y a su posible uso. En las conclusiones se puede observar cómo, a pesar de que todavía se manifiestan algunas voces en contra, la mayoría del alumnado muestra su receptividad a incluir en sus clases estos temas; además se muestra predispuesto a desarrollar un pensamiento crítico en torno a las obras y a la representación de la diversidad afectivo-sexual y de género en los textos.
- De bosques, sueños, galaxias y mares: poemas y narrativas para niños y adolescentes(2020) Hidalgo de Jesús, AmarilisHablar de literatura infantil y juvenil en Latinoamérica es hablar de la historia del mestizaje, la geografía y la cultura de nuestras naciones. Las fronteras culturales latinoamericanas, con distintivos rasgos geográficos, han dado pie a la creación de una literatura para niños y una literatura juvenil permeada por la riqueza lingüística e histórica de nuestras naciones; la que, inclusive, ha llegado hasta la creación de espacios siderales en los cuales los niños puedan soñar. Latinoamérica no puede ni debe ser vista como un conglomerado homogéneo de naciones, puesto que la diversidad lingüística y cultural de los países que la conforman va mucho más allá de la idea generalizadora que se ha creado de estas naciones. Todo este conjunto de naciones heterogéneas ha creado una literatura infantil que, si bien se ha arraigado en las culturas regionales latinoamericanas, también se ha universalizado. Por ende, no es de extrañar que en la literatura infantil se destaquen una serie de temas, que no solo se adhieren a distintos aspectos regionales, sino que asimismo se mezclan con elementos temáticos que son también parte de literaturas infantiles y juveniles mundiales. Todos estos temas son parte fundamental de los poemas y cuentos que se estudian en este trabajo, cuyas temáticas giran en torno a las imágenes de la fauna y la flora latinoamericana y viajes intergalácticos. Asimismo, los temas se interrelacionan con tópicos contemporáneos, como la sexualidad, la marginación, la destrucción del ambiente y el acoso personal; temas no muy tratados en la literatura para niños latinoamericana.
- L’abito immaginato. Abbigliamento e identità nell’albo illustrato moderno(2020) Pazzini, ClaudiaThe essay focuses on the examination of a selection of children’s picture books on the theme of clothing as an element of identity and as a means of personal and social transformation. The gender stereotype has always deprived children of the freedom to imagine themselves different from the imposed social model. Modern quality literature aims to free childhood from these constraints through stories that encourage the free expression of one's personality. "Clothing and childhood" is one of the binomial in which these themes appear most evident. While developing different plots, each selected book tells a story enriched by several levels of reading, more or less evident, and this is also due to particularly accurate illustrations, capable of adding further nuances to the text. Furthermore, even if characterized by the symbolic presence of clothes, these picture books do not make them the narrative fulcrum. In each of these case studies, clothing becomes a pretext for a journey of self-discovery and affirmation of one's individuality in the world. These case studies are a concrete example of the potential of the picture book as a vehicle of complex concepts and stratifications of complementary or parallel meanings that emerge from the dynamic relationship of the text with the image. Each double page opens multiple, free interpretative paths that can be taken at each reading, as the eye catches new aspects and the thought opens up to new discoveries. The imaginary dress is therefore one of the many parallel topics that it was possible to address through these books, with which the possible interpretations of clothing in children's literature have been explored, highlighting above all how much garments are objects charged with metasignification or with projections of a identity in formation such as the one of children.
- Gender in Literature. Woman's Position from traditional to modern society(2020) Menti, Theodora; Sideri, ChristinaThe remarkable influence of gender studies in recent years on the Greek educational system has inevitably led to the integration of a multi-focal thematic section entitled “Gender in Literature” in the new Lyceum curriculum. This section truly captures the interest of adolescents, as it stimulates the approach of literary texts and promotes constructive discussions that often lead to further enjoyment of reading. On this base a collaboration between University of Athens and Anavryta Model Lyceum was carried out in Literature class in both institutions. This article aims to present the main stages of this cooperation on the subject of “Literary Representations of Women’s roles from traditional to modern society”, as the institutional framework for teaching literature clearly supports the historicity of texts. Besides explaining the rationale behind this educational action, we are proposing a selection of literary texts that were used in class and presenting the objectives and didactic methods practiced, the type of tasks assigned to the pupils as well as the skills developed by them. The paper insists on certain texts that are particularly valuable for this approach and offers examples of taking advantage of contextual elements. Finally, we are showing how this collaboration became a real example of extroversion for both institutions and we are attempting a comprehensive evaluation of this project and its impact within the students’ and teachers’ community.
- Socio-cultural Positioning of Age Identities in Picturebooks(2020) Murray, JohariThis study explores literal and metaphorical narrations of age by looking closely at two picturebooks published at the turn of the twenty-first century. The evolutionary Western understanding of the child, childhood and children’s literature is briefly periodized as a tension between pragmatic and philosophical concerns. Representations of age are taken to be embedded in socio-cultural positions that implicate historical periods, geographic locations, and economic structures. Ethnicity and gender are similarly discussed as immanent features. Age is presented as much a biological phenomenon as a performative social act of a given culture. The ideas, feelings and events depicted in each picturebook are approached from a structuralist and a postmodernist perspective with the aim of providing a complementary analysis of child representations in alignment with the adult presence, and not necessarily through the lens of aetonomativity. My analysis points to possible applications of the design of age narrations to current and future literacies.
- Chasing Remarkable Lives: a Problematization of Empowerment Stories for Girls(2020) Garcia-Gonzalez, MacarenaThis article explores the question of how to assess children’s literature as feminist. Drawing upon a revision of the concept of postfeminism as a gendered neoliberalism that cultivates the ‘right’ disposition for succeeding in a neoliberal society, I bring together two possible objects of study upon which I outline some problematic aspects. I begin by focusing on a publishing phenomenon of the last few years: the biography compilations, such as the crowdfunded Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls, that, in a more or less explicit manner, aim to provide younger generations with new repertoires of gendered agencies. Then I analyze two picturebooks that have been recommended by reading promotion agencies and praised for their anti-sexist values: Tirititesa and La bella Griselda. In both these picturebooks, we find two protagonists tran sgressing gender norms and heteronormative ideals of romantic love. Yet, I argue that they reproduce systems of exclusions that are quite problematic if read from feminist intersectionality. The texts analyzed are modeled by a postfeminist sensibility in which a celebratory “girl power” is put forward, while obscuring how (gendered) exclusions work.
- La mujer y el personaje femenino en cuentos jordano-palestinos de tradición oral(2020) Asensio Pastor, Margarita IsabelEste artículo tiene como objetivo presentar un estudio sobre la presencia de la mujer y del personaje femenino en cuentos palestino-jordanos de tradición oral. Para ello, partimos de la investigación etnográfica realizada por Asensio (2015) y el corpus de cuentos por esta recopilados. Así, mostraremos, por un lado, el papel que ocupa la mujer dentro del marco de la narración oral como depositaria activa de dicha tradición siguiendo la terminología de Sydow (1965) y, por el otro, ofreceremos un estudio sobre el personaje femenino teniendo en cuenta el corpus mencionado. Estos datos servirán para dar a conocer nuevos contextos literarios para la construcción de un canon literario de LIJ intercultural, etnopluricultural y coeducativo para docentes de Educación Infantil y Primaria.
- Editorial: Feminism and Gender in Literary Education(2020) Kalogirou, Tzina; Mínguez López, Xavier; Millán-Scheiding, CatalinaThe starting point for the making of this current issue were some fundamental questions about the intersection of Feminist Criticism and Gender Theory with Education: What might it mean to read and teach literature through the prism of feminist criticism and/or gender theory? In which texts, ways and methods can we integrate a balanced gender approach into literary didactics? How and in which teaching approaches can we produce some powerful feminist readings of the literary texts, whether they are texts long established by tradition, or contemporary and multimodal ones, belonging to popular culture? And how can these concerns about feminism and gender be adequately addressed and embedded into the literature classroom? Although we knew that all the previous questions could not be effectively addressed in one single issue, we still envisaged a publication with insightful contributions to the overall theme of Feminism and Gender in Literary Education.
