The Influence of Illustrations in Literary Texts on Children's Reading Comprehension

Abstract

This study investigates the influence of illustrations in childrens literature on reading comprehension. The research addresses the existing lack of standardized experimental designs in the field and focuses on enhanceable aspects, such as excluding previously exposed subjects, fixing reading time for students, selecting high-quality classic childrens literature texts, conducting the experiment within real classroom settings, and observing students attention span during reading. The subjects consist of fifth-grade students from representative elementary schools in urban and rural areas in China. The experimental materials include different book types: mere text, text with original illustrations, and text with secondary illustrations. Through multiple-choice questionnaire and data on reading comprehension scores, preference, willingness to continue reading, and distraction levels, the study aims to provide valuable insights for educators, authors, and publishers to enhance childrens literary engagement and comprehension. The results of the study suggest that the presence of illustrations and differences in the quality of illustrations do not significantly affect childrens reading comprehension but do influence childrens first impressions and choices when selecting books. The results provide useful insights for childrens book publishers and childrens book illustrators when providing illustrations for childrens books.