This study attempted to explore what effects reading programs utilizing picture books have on infants' concentration and aggressiveness.
The following research questions were set forth to achieve the objective.
1. How reading therapy programs using pi...
This study attempted to explore what effects reading programs utilizing picture books have on infants' concentration and aggressiveness.
The following research questions were set forth to achieve the objective.
1. How reading therapy programs using picture books affect infants' concentration?
2. How reading therapy programs using picture books affect infants' aggressiveness?
3. How do the effects of reading therapy programs differ across different sub-categorical factors of both concentration and aggressiveness?
To test the research questions, the study used the following methodologies.
First, Korea Wechsler Preschool & Primary Scale of Intelligence (K-WPPSI) was used as a tool for measuring infant's concentration.
Second, this study employed the tool used in Park Hi-boon's Factor Analysis on Infants' Aggressiveness (2002) to measure infants' aggressiveness.
Third, the reading therapy program using picture books employed in this study, with focus on increasing infants' concentration power and reducing aggressiveness, was purposely constructed, drawing on the programs developed by Watson (1994) whose effects were then confirmed by Kim Ok-jeong (1998), Kim Ook-jun (2000), Ban Kum-hyeon (2001), and Kim Hyeon-ae (2003), the follow-up activities from the reading therapy course by Pardeck (1995), and the question types provided for the stage of reading therapy by Hynes and Hynes-Berry (1994).
A test of a group of 12 children aged 5 with low concentration and high aggressiveness scores of G Kindergarten in Seoul, who were divided into two groups, one experimental, and one controlled group with six children each, was conducted during the period from 22th of March to 11th of May, 2010. Both groups were given a week of pretest, 8 weeks of test period, and a week of posttest. Collected data were analyzed by SPSS (WINDOWS 12.0) and descriptive statistics including frequency distributions, percentages, means, and standard deviations were used. Cronbach's α coefficient was used for assessing internal consistency reliability for the scales applied. In addition, a Mann-Whitney U test and a Wilcoxon test were carried out to find out whether there is a significant difference in gained scores between the two groups on the basis of the calculated means and standard deviations from both the pretest and the posttest.
The findings were as follows.
First, with respect to infants' concentration, a more significant improvement in concentration was found among children in the experimental group to which reading therapy program activities were applied, compared to the control group.
Second, when it comes to infants' aggressiveness, a more significant decrease was observed among children in the experimental group to which reading therapy program activities were applied, compared to the control group. By sub-categories of aggressiveness, a significant decrease was found in emotional, dangerous behavior related, status achievement related, and destructive aggressiveness, respectively.
Third, in relation to the effects of the reading therapy program by different sub-categories of concentration power and aggressiveness, the largest effects were shown in concentration power in the area of arithmetic computation among concentration sub-categories whereas in status achievement among aggressiveness sub-categories.
These results suggest that picture books used in the reading therapy program are likely to facilitate the kids to make deep and pleasurable concentration in their learning activities by providing them with funny and imagination-provoking materials that are clear, in order, and with rich, effective, and sustainable content. Additionally, it was confirmed that there were positive effects on reduced aggressiveness from using discussions after reading picture books and other follow-ups as interactive activities where they are encouraged to better understand their peers' interests and concerns.