2024/25 Undergraduate Module Catalogue

EDUC3015 Children's Literature in Education

20 creditsClass Size: 50

Module manager: Dr Lucy Taylor
Email: l.taylor@leeds.ac.uk

Taught: Semester 2 (Jan to Jun) View Timetable

Year running 2024/25

This module is not approved as a discovery module

Module summary

In this module students will read a variety of literature written for children, including picture books, novels for younger children and fiction for teen and young adult audiences. There will be a focus throughout the module on the ways that children and childhood are represented in the texts being studied, and on the ways that the texts develop and foster literacy skills in young learners. The module will include discussion and debate about the ways that children's literature has been used in formal and informal education settings and critical analysis of the relationships between literature, literacy and learning.

Objectives

This module integrates the study of children's literature with the study of childhood and children's literacy learning. By studying literature written for children from early years to young adult the module focuses on the ways that children and childhood are represented in contemporary and classic literature for children. Children's literature is situated within the social and cultural context in which it is produced, and the module analyses the ways that children's literature reflects social constructions of childhood. Constructions of childhood are implicit in education systems, and by analysing the role of children's literature in the classroom and the curriculum, this module examines the relationships between children’s literature and the development of literacy skills in children. The key objectives of the module are:
- To explore social and cultural aspects of children's literature
- To analyse the literacy skills supported and developed by children's texts
- To interrogate the role of classroom practice and curricular requirements in relation to children's literature

Learning outcomes
On completion of this module students should:

- Demonstrate knowledge of a range of children's literature including picturebooks, multimodal texts, classic and contemporary writing for children, young adult fiction
- Be able to identify constructions of childhood implicit in the texts and relate this to understanding about ideas about children and childhood
- Demonstrate understanding of formal and informal literacy learning developed through different texts for children
- Evaluate the ways that children's literature is used to develop literacy skills from Early Years to the beginning of secondary education
- Synthesise a range of ideas and perspectives about children's literature and its place in formal and informal education
- Have developed writing skills necessary to produce a clearly structured academic journal article.

Syllabus

Indicative content:

Literature and learning in the early years; becoming a reader
- Visual and textual literacies through multimodal texts, language development and comprehension, representation of childhood in picture books, literacy in early years settings, literacy in homes and communities

Developing skills; middle childhood and the primary years
- Classic and contemporary children's novels, literacy skills supported and developed through texts, contrasting representations of childhood, uses of literature in primary classrooms, learning in informal contexts

Moving on; fiction for teens, curriculum and classroom literacies
- Classic and contemporary fiction for teen/young adult audiences, challenging ideas and growing up, debates about literature in the curriculum, the literary cannon and learning for exams

Teaching methods

Delivery type	Number	Length hours	Student hours
Lecture	11	2.00	22.00
Seminar	4	2.00	8.00
Independent online learning hours			15.00
Private study hours			155.00
Total Contact hours			30.00
Total hours (100hr per 10 credits)			200.00

Private study

Students will be required to prepare and review learning resources available on the VLE independently prior to and following up lectures and seminars.

In private study they will be expected to undertake reading of 8-12 children's literature texts which are part of the module and to read critical literature surrounding those texts. Up to six of the texts will be children's novels.

In preparation for the module assignment they will need to do independent research to enable them to choose texts which are apprpriate to the task and engage in further reading from the literature.

Students will be allocated study groups in which they will undertake tasks in between lectures.

Opportunities for Formative Feedback

Seminar discussions will ensure that students' understanding of the lecture material is sound and well developed. Peer discussion and informal presentation during seminars will reflect depth of understanding and consolidate new theories and ideas. Student progress will be monitored in seminar discussions and contribution to lectures.

Methods of assessment

Coursework

Assessment type	Notes	% of formal assessment
Assignment	Coursework - 3500 words	100.00
Total percentage (Assessment Coursework)		100.00

Normally resits will be assessed by the same methodology as the first attempt, unless otherwise stated

Reading list

The reading list is available from the Library website

Last updated: 17/05/2024 10:03:35

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