Browsing by Subject "aapistutkimus"
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(2018)The purpose of this study was to find out how humor is constructed in Finnish 21st century ABC books and what kind of meanings are given to these humorous discourses. The humor phenomena have long been studied and debated, but there has been no scientific research on humor in ABC books, even though humor is highly used in contemporary children literature. Studies have examined the pedagogical implications concerning the use of humor in teaching. Humor has been associated with a positive effect on learning, motivation, concentration, remembering and enhancing a positive classroom atmosphere. The research material consisted of four 21st century ABC books, published by Sanoma Pro Oy. The method of this study was discourse analysis, which entail a preference for a social constructionist epistemological perspective. Social constructivism stresses that knowledge is constructed via the interactions with the environment and the other people. The result of the study show that humor in contemporary ABC books is multileveled, using a wide variety of textual and narrative tools. The multileveled humor took place in three main humor discourse: language, narration and the narrated, typically absurd, world. Humor at the level of language arised mainly from the foregrounding of language and playing with words and meanings. Humor at the level of narration arised mainly from its coherency and incoherency. High forms of humor, for example irony and intertextual references, can be found, but they seem to demand more advanced reading skills, and therefore seem to be aimed for adult readers. Humor at the level of the narrated world based on its stereotyped and ambivalented characters and absurdities in its episodes. When it comes to certain themes, like bullying or illness, humor doesn’t seem to arise. Humor discourses of the studied ABC books amuse readers using a wide variety of textual and narrative tools, constructing different kinds of interpretational opportunities for different kinds of readers, not only for children and adult readers (primarily teachers), who adapt and understand humor to fit their own literary competence.
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(2014)This thesis assumes that ABC–book reflects the society's worldview through its narratives. These narratives express also the desired characteristics of childcitizen. The previous ABC-studies have shown that during the years from 1960 to 2000 the factors that determine childcitizenship in ABC-books have changed. Now gender does not determine the childcitizen and the same characteristics describe both girls and boys in ABC-books. The milieu of ABC-books has broadened from homeland to abroad and other cultures have taken place in ABC-books. This milieu change brings new demands for childcitizens cognitions and agency. The focus of this thesis is to define which are the characteristics that determine the childcitizenship in 21st century ABC-books and complimentary teachers guides. I also compare these characteristics to those produced in the carefully selected research and authority documents published in 21st century. In those carefully selected research and authority documents published in 21st century, the characteristics that determine childcitizenship were entrepreneurialism, tolerance and multiculturalism, consumerism, IT and media utilizing, gender sensitivity and awareness of environmental issues. These six characteristics became the six research categories used in the analysis of ABC-books and teachers guides. The research material consisted of three ABC-books and complimentary teacher guides published in 21st century. The analysis of research material was executed with close reading. In addition, one experienced ABC-book writer was interviewed twice according to Delphi research method. In the first interview the ABC-book writer commented on the research categories and told what is it like to write ABC-books. In the second interview the ABC-book writer commented on the results of the analysis. All research categories occurred in the research material. Entrepreneurialism appeared in several stories and consumerism appeared in few stories in every ABC-book. The appearance of other categories varied drastically. According to the results every ABC-book determines and embodies different kind of childcitizenship. Some ABC-books concentrate on embodying childcitizen more than others. Only one ABC-book with its embodied childcitizenship was equivalent with the childcitizen determined in the research and authority documents published in 21st century.
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