Following Reading Primers the Wrong Way: Pedagogical Nonsense in Dr. Seuss

Autor/in	Yang, Lichung
Titel	Following Reading Primers the Wrong Way: Pedagogical Nonsense in Dr. Seuss
Quelle	In: Children's Literature in Education, 48 (2017) 4, S.326-340 (15 Seiten)Infoseite zur Zeitschrift PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	0045-6713
DOI	10.1007/s10583-016-9278-2
Schlagwörter	Childrens Literature; Literary Genres; Teaching Methods; Rhyme; Discourse Analysis; Priming; Learner Engagement; Reader Text Relationship; World Views; Linguistics; Authors; Books; Dialogs (Language) + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? 'Children''s literature'; Kinderliteratur; Literarische Form; Teaching method; Lehrmethode; Unterrichtsmethode; Reim; Diskursanalyse; World view; Weltanschauung; Linguistik; Author; Autor; Autorin; Book; Buch; Monographie; Monografie; Dialog; Dialogs; Dialogue; Dialogues
Abstract	A well-versed writer on the limitations and possibilities of the English language, Seuss follows the conventional primers the wrong way, not by retracing the tradition of the genre, but by working his way against the current. Drawing upon Jean-Jacques Lecercle's notion of nonsense, this essay is a small attempt to examine three of Dr. Seuss's beginner books--"The Cat in the Hat," "One fish, two fish, red fish, blue fish," and "Green Eggs and Ham"--along with Mikhail Bakhtin's ideas. It argues that Bakhtin's concepts of chronotope, carnivals and dialogism offer themselves as toolkits to illuminate the nonsensical chronotopes prevalent in Seuss's books, including multiple mini-chronotopes, narratorial voices, and mixing of the everyday and fantasy in a dialogic way. The Seussian world in the three books is read as a collection of nonsensical chronotopes in which everyday scenes are converted into carnivalesque mini-chronotopes, parallel to the real world but having their own logics. The Seussian rhymes are also far from being monologic in nature, but are woven and constructed as a dialogic mode of discourse. Seussian nonsense texts partake in the invention of a genre by demonstrating a radical pedagogy of priming that sees a word more than a concept but also endowed with certain physicality and dialogicity. The nonsensical chronotopes also demonstrate a dialogic demand on readers, inviting them to engage with books, have fun reading, and see the world in an alternative way. (As Provided).
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Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2020/1/01