The Impact of Text-Picture Relationships on Reader Recall and Inference Making: A Study of Fourth Graders' Responses to Narrative Picturebooks

Abstract

Picturebooks play an important role in elementary education, but few teachers focus on their text-picture relationships. This qualitative study examined the impact of four narratives with different text-picture relationships on fourth graders' explicit recall and inference making, both immediately after reading and after a one week delay. The four relationships were loosely symmetrical, complementary, text carries the narrative, and ironic or contradictory. Twelve urban fourth graders, four reading at or above grade level, four reading moderately below grade level, and four reading significantly below grade level, met with the researcher on six occasions. The purpose was to read, retell, and answer questions about a story in a one-to-one setting. While each student read and responded independently, each received help with word recognition. Data consisted of transcriptions of oral retellings, interviews, and a cued recall measure. Transcriptions of story retellings were parsed into kernels and coded according to cognitive process, either explicit or implicit, and source of content. Possible sources were text, picture, text-picture overlap, and background knowledge. Five categories of inference emerged from the analysis of story retellings: local inferences, global inferences, associations, evaluations, and misinterpretations. An analysis of codes and categories and interview data revealed that the text-picture relationship influenced the sources of content readers recalled, inferences they constructed, expressed ease of story comprehension and recall, and expressed level of enjoyment. It also affected the meaning that students at three levels of reading ability constructed. Given that different text-picture interactions provide support for specific comprehension processes, this study suggests that teachers should consider the relationship of words and images when selecting reading materials for their classrooms, especially when students are reading below grade level.