Search results
1 – 10 of 683The purpose of this paper is to explore teacher candidates’ response to young adult literature (prose and comics) featuring fat identified protagonists. The paper considers the…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore teacher candidates’ response to young adult literature (prose and comics) featuring fat identified protagonists. The paper considers the textual and embodied resources readers use and reject when imagining and interpreting a character’s body. This paper explores how readers’ meaning making was influenced when reading prose versus comics. This paper adds to a corpus of scholarship about the relationships between young adult literature, comics, bodies and reader response theory.
Design/methodology/approach
At the time of the study, participants were enrolled in a teacher education program at a Midwestern University, meeting monthly for a voluntary book club dedicated to reading and discussing young adult literature. To examine readers’ responses to comics and prose featuring fat-identified protagonists, the author used descriptive qualitative methodologies to conduct a thematic analysis of meeting transcripts, written participant reflections and researcher memos. Analysis was grounded in theories of reader response, critical fat studies and multimodality.
Findings
Analyses indicated many readers reject textual clues indicating a character’s body size and weight were different from their own. Readers read their bodies into the stories, regarding them as self-help narratives instead of radical counternarratives. Some readers were not able to read against their assumptions of thinness (and whiteness) until prompted by the researcher and other participants.
Originality/value
Although many reader response scholars have demonstrated readers’ tendencies toward personal identification in the face of racial and class differences, there is less research regarding classroom practices around the entanglement of physical bodies, body image and texts. Analyzing reader’s responses to the constructions of fat bodies in prose versus comics may help English Language Arts (ELA) educators and students identify and deconstruct ideologies of thin-thinking and fatphobia. This study, which demonstrates thin readers’ tendencies to overidentify with protagonists, suggests ELA classrooms might encourage readers to engage in critical literacies that support them in reading both with and against their identities.
Details
Keywords
Run Zhou and Xuebing Dong
The symbolic presentation of products through images in online environments allows consumers to use or experience products only through imagination. Existing literature has…
Abstract
Purpose
The symbolic presentation of products through images in online environments allows consumers to use or experience products only through imagination. Existing literature has demonstrated that providing sensory cues is an effective way to promote imaginative use or experience. However, such an approach seems to have been proposed for product that requires the use of body-related information (e.g. sensory information) for evaluation (high body-involving product). There is less literature on how to facilitate consumers’ imaginative use of product that requires relatively less bodily information (low body-involving product). Considering this, this research proposes a factor that influences the imaginative use of both high and low body-involving products, the character cues in the product image.
Design/methodology/approach
In this paper, two studies are conducted to verify the matching effect about presence or absence of character cues with product type (high body-involving vs. low body-involving) in facilitating imaginative use and the downstream effect.
Findings
The experimental results indicate that high (low) body-involving product display images are suitable for present (absent) character cues, which can promote the mental imagery of use the product, increase perceived image attractiveness and ultimately increase purchase intentions. The research also verified the influence of distance between the product and the character cues on the above effects.
Originality/value
We expand on the importance of character cues in product display images in an e-commerce environment and enrich the research about imaginative use in online environment.
Details
Keywords
Previous research demonstrates a consistent association between the media and body and eating related issues in children. Recent research has highlighted a role for “fat talk” to…
Abstract
Purpose
Previous research demonstrates a consistent association between the media and body and eating related issues in children. Recent research has highlighted a role for “fat talk” to describe discourses around body size and food. One key source of media information is Disney animation films, yet to date no research study has explored the verbal content of this genre.
Design/methodology/approach
The present study used a content analysis to examine fat talk in Disney animation films (1937–2021; n = 53) with a focus on the frequency of fat talk, changes over time and differences between the genders and heroic statuses of the givers and receivers of fat talk. Fat talk was defined as relating to both body size and food and could be either positive or negative.
Findings
Results revealed that there was more negative than positive fat talk per film; no significant changes over time; males were the givers of significantly more positive and negative fat talk than females and were also the receivers of more negative fat talk; good characters were the givers and receivers of more positive and negative fat talk and more self-directed negative fat talk than bad characters.
Practical implications
The results are discussed in terms of possible legislation and parenting interventions to minimise the harm of this genre on young children.
Originality/value
Disney animation films may not be as benign as often thought.
Details
Keywords
Nursing students encounter a combination of academic rigor, clinical demands and emotional hurdles. Juggling coursework, practical training and patient interaction can be…
Abstract
Purpose
Nursing students encounter a combination of academic rigor, clinical demands and emotional hurdles. Juggling coursework, practical training and patient interaction can be stressful, and exposure to such situations may impact their psychological well-being. This study aims to highlight the top strengths among nursing students and identify the strengths associated with well-being.
Design/methodology/approach
Convenience sampling was used to select a sample of 150 nursing students studying in first, second and third year from colleges of Gujarat and Rajasthan. Students were administered the Values In Action character strengths inventory, the satisfaction with life scale and scale of positive and negative experience. Data was analyzed using descriptive statistics and correlation.
Findings
Results show that among nursing students, kindness emerged as the foremost strength with the highest mean, followed by honesty, creativity, spirituality and teamwork, and the strengths of curiosity, gratitude, perseverance, self-regulation, social intelligence, and zest were positively associated with life satisfaction and positive emotions and negatively related to negative emotions.
Research limitations/implications
The small sample size was a limitation; however, this study has been conducted at different locations to improve generalizability.
Practical implications
This study has profound implications for nursing students, both in their personal development and their future roles as health-care professionals, as fostering these attributes can contribute to the students’ growth, well-being and effectiveness as compassionate and competent caregivers. Working on strengths is associated with well-being; therefore, using strengths identified by this study will have a beneficial effect on the students’ well-being.
Social implications
Curiosity and social intelligence, for instance, can help nurses better understand patient needs and emotions, developing strengths like perseverance and self-regulation can equip nursing students with tools to cope effectively with the challenges inherent in health-care settings. Traits such as gratitude and social intelligence can enhance communication and empathy which are vital skills for establishing rapport with patients and their families. Emphasizing teamwork as a strength aligns with the collaborative nature of health care. By embodying values like kindness and spirituality, nursing students can create a more compassionate and meaningful experience for patients, as well as themselves.
Originality/value
The research paper identifies and emphasizes the five character strengths that are most commonly observed in a sample of Indian nursing students. In addition, this study delves deeper into these identified strengths to understand how they relate to the overall well-being of nursing students within this specific population. The existing literature has not explored it exhaustively.
Details
Keywords
Early childhood and early elementary are key times when children develop internal and external antifat attitudes; thus, it is necessary to better understand the available…
Abstract
Purpose
Early childhood and early elementary are key times when children develop internal and external antifat attitudes; thus, it is necessary to better understand the available children’s literature around fatness.This paper aims to examine children's picture books with fat protagonists to better understand the current landscape of children's literature. Drawing on relevant literature around fat characters and the fat studies movement, this critical content analysis considers five children’s books featuring fat protagonists.
Design/methodology/approach
This study uses critical content analysis to analyze texts featuring fat protagonists, including two rounds of initial reading and analysis. Using lenses of critical literacy and critical multicultural analysis, the author looks for common themes, silences and absences in the texts, images and peritext.
Findings
This paper identifies themes of characters initially internalizing antifatness, then pushing back against antifat bias toward existing with joy and without stigma. Several of these texts even draw on the history of fat activism, highlighting societal critique and a potential activist component of children’s literature with fat protagonists.
Research limitations/implications
The study has a small number of books, due to the limited number of texts that fit the study parameters.
Practical implications
The paper concludes with examples of scaffolding for teachers and parents to have conversations with young children about antifat bias while also acknowledging notable absences, particularly boy protagonists.
Social implications
These themes illustrate the power of young children to push back against antifat bias and critique oppressive social structures.
Originality/value
There have been very few studies looking at antifatness in children’s picture books. With more books with fat protagonists coming out in the 2020s, this study offers an understanding of the themes present, while also emphasizing the need for an intersectional approach to literature with fat protagonists.
Details
Keywords
Immigration-themed children’s literature can be an important resource in the classroom, especially because some U.S. immigrant groups, including French-Canadians, have received…
Abstract
Purpose
Immigration-themed children’s literature can be an important resource in the classroom, especially because some U.S. immigrant groups, including French-Canadians, have received limited curricular representation. Using the qualitative method of critical content analysis, this study aims to examine depictions of French-Canadian immigrants to the United States in contemporary children’s books.
Design/methodology/approach
Postcolonialism is employed as an analytical lens with special attention given to the ways immigrant characters are constructed as different from the dominant group (i.e., othering), how dominant group values are imposed on immigrant characters, and how immigrant characters resist othering and domination. Three books comprise the sample: “Charlotte Bakeman Has Her Say” by Mary Finger and illustrated by Kimberly Batti, “Other Bells for Us to Ring” by Robert Cormier, and “Red River Girl” by Norma Sommerdorf.
Findings
The findings reveal multiple instances in which French-Canadian immigrants are constructed as Other and few instances in which these characters resist this positioning, and these books reflect the real ways French-Canadians were perceived as subalterns during the mass migration from Québec to the United States between the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Originality/value
This study is significant because it examines portrayals of a substantial immigrant group that has been overlooked in the immigration history curriculum. This sample of children’s books may be used to teach children the complexities of immigration history and provide a more nuanced understanding of immigration during the 19th and 20th centuries.
Details
Keywords
This article aims to help educators provide a holistic view of the LGBTQ community by highlighting children’s books that include non-parental LGBTQ characters.
Abstract
Purpose
This article aims to help educators provide a holistic view of the LGBTQ community by highlighting children’s books that include non-parental LGBTQ characters.
Design/methodology/approach
The author selected over 80 children’s books honored by the American Library Association’s Rainbow Book List. Twenty-two books were analyzed that contain examples of LGBTQ adults existing beyond the homonormative nuclear family, e.g. two same-sex parents raising children.
Findings
The author discusses various ways of living represented in these books, such as chosen families, extended families, romantic partnerships and singlehood.
Originality/value
With the increased number of high-quality LGBTQ-inclusive children’s books published in the past decade, this study provides the foundation for educators to select various texts that reveal diverse representations of LGBTQ individuals.
Details
Keywords
Şeyma Şahin and Abdurrahman Kılıç
Researchers have previously utilized the project-based 6E learning model and the problem-based quantum learning model in various courses, such as the instructional principles and…
Abstract
Purpose
Researchers have previously utilized the project-based 6E learning model and the problem-based quantum learning model in various courses, such as the instructional principles and methods course and the character and values education course. These models were evaluated for their impact on students in different subjects, including developing skills, values, democracy perceptions, attitudes towards cooperative learning, metacognitive thinking skills and teacher self-efficacy perceptions. In 2023, Ökmen, Sahin and Kiliç reported positive outcomes, while Sahin and Kiliç reported similar findings in 2023a, 2023b and 2023c. There has been no investigation into how the models affect students' critical thinking and academic literacy. This study seeks to determine the impact of both models on these skills, gain more insight into their effectiveness and determine which is more beneficial. The results will guide the decision-making process for the character and values education course and other courses in the future. Specifically, this research aims to compare the effects of the project-based 6E learning model and problem-based quantum learning model on critical thinking and academic literacy.
Design/methodology/approach
This research employed the Solomon four-group experimental design to assess the efficacy of the applications. Prior knowledge and experience of the participants were evaluated through pretests. However, it should be noted that pretests may impact posttest scores either positively or negatively. For instance, participants taking the test multiple times may become more interested or attentive to the subject matter. The Solomon four-group design was deemed appropriate to analyze the influence of pretesting. This design enables the investigation of the application effect, pretest effect and interactive effect of pretest and application (van Engelenburg, 1999).
Findings
It was concluded that the project-based 6E learning model was effective in developing critical thinking in students, but not significantly. It was concluded that the problem-based quantum learning model significantly improved students' critical thinking skills. It was concluded at the end of the study that the project-based 6E learning model notably enhanced students' academic literacy. It was concluded that the problem-based quantum learning model had a significant positive impact on students' academic literacy. According to research, it has been determined that the problem-based quantum learning model is superior in enhancing critical thinking abilities compared to the project-based 6E learning model. Nevertheless, there seems to be no detectable disparity in the academic literacy advancement of pupils between the problem-based quantum learning model and the project-based 6E learning model.
Originality/value
There has been no investigation into how the models affect students' critical thinking and academic literacy. This study seeks to determine the impact of both models on these skills, gain more insight into their effectiveness and determine which is more beneficial. The results will guide the decision-making process for the character and values education course and other courses in the future.
Details
Keywords
Alan S. Marcus, Katherine A. Griffith and Francis Gary Powers Jr
In this article, we use the film Bridge of Spies – which depicts the case of U-2 spy pilot Francis Gary Powers – and relevant primary sources, particularly Powers' letters from…
Abstract
Purpose
In this article, we use the film Bridge of Spies – which depicts the case of U-2 spy pilot Francis Gary Powers – and relevant primary sources, particularly Powers' letters from prison, to provide teachers with a case that can engage students with the complexity of the Cold War. Understanding USA–Russia relations is as important today as ever as we watch the tragedy unfold in Ukraine. Using primary sources to reflect on the Cold War can help secondary students understand the historical context of the war in Ukraine as well as how to evaluate and critique sources of information about the war.
Design/methodology/approach
The film and personal letters provide insights often not available or obvious when we focus on the political or military history of an event or time period. The Cold War is frequently defined by the rhetoric of the USA and Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) governments – but everyday people and citizens had a wider range of views and experiences. The film and letters bring out the humanity of the Cold War.
Findings
This article supports secondary teachers in incorporating film and primary sources as teaching tools to study the Cold War while more broadly thinking about these sources as ways to understand the past. The letters used, including those from U-2 spy pilot Francis Gary Powers, help us understand his time in a Soviet prison as well as the behind-the-scenes work to free him as part of a prisoner exchange.
Originality/value
The U-2 Incident and other events of the Cold War provide important context for understanding the Cold War-like tensions between the USA and Russia today. The distrust between these countries has a long history. However, documents like the film and letters discussed here show that there is much more to the bluster of political leaders and the military chess game. There is an important human element to these events and an impact on individuals who are much more than pawns in international diplomacy.
Details
Keywords
Based on self-determination theory (SDT), this study aims to determine the motivation factors of reviewers writing long reviews in the anime industry.
Abstract
Purpose
Based on self-determination theory (SDT), this study aims to determine the motivation factors of reviewers writing long reviews in the anime industry.
Design/methodology/approach
This study analyzes 171,188 online review data collected from an online anime community (MyAnimeList.net).
Findings
The findings show that intensity of emotions, experience in writing reviews and helpful votes in past reviews are the most important factors and positively influence review length. The overall rating of the anime moderates the effects of some motivation factors. Moreover, reviewers commenting on their favorite or nonfavorite anime also have varied motivation factors. Furthermore, this study has addressed the p-value problem due to the large sample size.
Research limitations/implications
This study provides a comprehensive and theoretical understanding of reviewers' motivation for writing long reviews.
Practical implications
Online communities can incorporate the insights from this study into website design and motivate reviewers to write long reviews.
Originality/value
Many past studies have investigated what reviews are more helpful. Review length is the most important factor of review helpfulness and positively affects it. However, few studies have examined the determinants of review length. This study attempts to address this issue.
Details