Snakk om bildebøker! En studie av barnehagebarns resepsjon.

The aim of this thesis is to provide a greater insight into how children's understanding of picture books can be derived from discussions between children and adults during the reading aloud in kindergarten.

The author conducted two analyses of the data material. In the first analysis, the author finds three categories that characterise the children's relationship to the picture books: (1) The children negotiate meaning in the picture books, (2) the children play with meaning in the picture books and (3) the children create new meaning in the picture books. In the second analysis, the author finds that (1) prior knowledge of picture books creates certain roles, (2) prior knowledge and roles create certain types of actions, such as play, and (3) reading aloud creates an atmosphere of empowerment in which the conversation took place.

The study shows that when children negotiate meaning in the picture books, this is expressed by them asking questions about content, answering questions about content, suggesting interpretations and commenting on the reading aloud of the picture books. The children play with meaning in the picture books by adopting different roles, turn-taking and by acting out the story. The children create new meaning in the picture books by expanding on the story and by making suggestions to what is played out in connection with an illustration.

The author finds that the children in the reading groups have different knowledge about the books from previous readings, and that the children's prior knowledge about the picture books stimulate both the children who already know the book and the children who read the book for the first time. Child-initiated play only occurs when one or more children already have knowledge about the book. The children who had read the book before had an increased sensitivity to the reactions of the children who had not read the book before; i.e. they are particularly aware of how the other children react in relation to the text and pictures. The kindergarten teacher's restraint and openness contribute to a particular empowerment in which the teacher helps the children negotiate meaning, play with meaning and create new meaning in the picture books.

The author concludes that the children not only immerse themselves in the books in an imaginative way, they also relate critically to the books, and this usually occurs within the same reading situation.

The study was conducted in three different kindergartens (barnehager) with four different kindergarten teachers who read aloud one of four different picture books. The data material consists of eight video observations of a kindergarten teacher (barnehagelærer) who reads aloud to two groups of two to three children aged between 4 and 5 years. Each kindergarten teacher was filmed twice. The average length of the video footage is 20 minutes

Solstad, T. (2015). Snakk om bildebøker! En studie av barnehagebarns resepsjon. Kristiansand: Universitetet i Agder.