• 3 · Analyse a picturebook

    From an observation to a justified teaching decision

    Read your complete book once for the experience before analysing it. Then select two or three revealing spreads. Use the framework below selectively and explain what matters for your proposed group; a long checklist is not a substitute for interpretation.

    A · Book and reading context

    Record the title, author, illustrator, publisher, year, edition and ISBN. Summarise the plot in three sentences; for nonfiction, summarise its organising question and explanation instead. Describe a fictional or anonymised learner group, including year group, prior English experience and relevant access needs. Do not include identifiable pupil information.

    B · Content and form

    • Relevance: which experiences or questions could connect with the group? Where might unfamiliar contexts need explanation?
    • Presentation: how do format, layout, page turns, sequencing and visual composition shape reading?
    • Age and language: distinguish conceptual interest, English demands and independent reading ability. Cite an example of vocabulary, syntax or figurative language.
    • Images: what do pictures add, contradict or leave open? Describe the evidence before inferring a feeling or identity.

    C · Development and language-learning possibilities

    General development: consider recognising and expressing emotions, empathy, imagination and concept formation, memory and attention, perspective-taking, problem-solving, relationships and values. Select the most relevant aspects and explain a possible process rather than claiming the book automatically develops them.

    Language development: consider pronunciation and prosody; grammatical patterns; vocabulary and semantic connections; communication and pragmatics; phonological awareness; encounters with print and literacy; reading and writing. Name both an opportunity and an obstacle. Mark a category “not central to this sequence” when that is justified.

    D · Scaffolding, activities and overall judgement

    Plan one substantial interpretive question and a response task. Identify the exact barrier each support addresses: a picture-word bank, image description, repeated reading, a sentence starter, gesture, partner rehearsal or another language. Offer at least two ways to respond to the same goal. State why this book is suitable for this group, what you would adapt and what remains uncertain.

    Critical representation check

    Whose perspective is centred? Who acts and makes decisions? Who is missing? Are differences simplified or stereotyped? What will you do if the discussion produces a harmful comment? This additional lens draws on the project’s diversity focus and Reckermann and Matz (2025).

    Worked examples: locate the evidence in your book

    All Are Welcome: participation and a 25-minute sequence and Malala's Magic Pencil: shared action and a 30-minute sequence connect precise text-and-image evidence with goals, support, original pupil tasks and learning checks. Read one model, test its interpretation against your book copy and explain one decision you would revise.

    Both models concern editions published in 2019. They use recognisable scenes instead of private PDF page numbers. Obtain a complete authorised book copy; the commercial scans are not available here. For freely readable alternatives, explore the two Book Dash titles in the collection.

    Your product: write a concise analysis with two or three spread references and a final selection judgement. Use the discussion area to test one decision; include your revised analysis with the teaching-plan submission in section 5.

    Framework adapted for this course from the supplied “Analysing Picture Books to Further Language Learning”, adapted from Riehemann (2006), p. 174. The source concerns emotional and (written) language development; its application to EFL requires the contextual judgements above.