The BBC reports about a study that says that young people today read more on screens than with printed books. But. . .
Younger children who read printed books as well as used computers were more likely to have higher reading levels than those who only read on screen, the study said. Although this gap did not apply to those children who used tablet computers or e-readers.
What are the characteristics of a good story? What is it about a good story that hooks us? That is, what is the grammar (structure) of a good story that compels us to follow it, read it, or watch it past our bed time or train stop? What elements of story help create a flow experience where we get lost in story?
How can we use and research story grammar in language arts? If the elements of story grammar are present in spoken, sung, performed, or written texts, will that help learners acquire language more efficiently than when story grammar elements are absent?
If growing readers learn of story grammar, can it help them more easily experience deeper flow when they read? Can second language researchers experiment with story grammar to see if readers remember more, enjoy more, or experience more flow when texts employ story grammar?
The following questions may help us better find the elements of story grammar in stories.
There are many good books that deal with story grammar. Here are two. The Storytelling Animal: How Stories Make Us Human by Jonathan Gottschall and Wired for Story: The Writer’s Guide to Using Brain Science to Hook Readers from the Very First Sentence by Lisa Cron.
With over 20 years experience in higher education and over 80 refereed articles, chapters, and conference presentations, Dr. Joseph Poulshock has produced a creative teaching portfolio and a readable body of research that supports some of the most promising and current aspects of language education, including language learning with music and song, high-frequency vocabulary acquisition, and extensive reading. Click here for CV.
Here are some recent publications. See the CV for the full list.
Poulshock, J., & Menish, M. (2011). Media English Dialog Interactive Activities with Information Gaps. Extensive Reading in Japan, 4(2), 12-15.
Poulshock, J. (2011). Practical Critical Realism for Liberal Arts in Language Education. Journal of Critical Realism, 10(4), 465-484.
Poulshock, J. (2010). Extensive Graded Reading in the Liberal Arts and Sciences. A paper published in the Journal Reading in a Foreign Language, October 2010, Volume 22, No. 2. pp. 304–322.
Poulshock, J. (2009). Graded liberal arts and sciences for language education. In A. M. Stoke (Ed.), JALT 2009 Conference Proceedings pp. 344-351.
Mori, K., Poulshock, J., & Tuzi, F. (2008). Testing high frequency vocabulary online. In A. M. Stoke (Ed.), PAC7 at JALT 2008 Conference Proceedings pp. 879-887.
Poulshock, J. (2006). Language as a precursor to the evolution of morality. In Cangelosi, A., Smith, K. and Smith A. (Eds.), The Evolution of Language: Proceedings of the 6th International Conference. World Scientific Publishing Company, 275-282.
Poulshock, J. (2004). The leverage of language on altruism and morality. In Clayton, P., & Schloss, J. P. (Eds.), Evolution and ethics: Human morality in biological and religious perspective. Grand Rapids: Michigan: Eerdmans, 114-131.
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