An Analysis of Korean Children's Reading
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SERIOUSLY, WHAT ARE THEY READING? AN ANALYSIS OF KOREAN CHILDREN’S READING BEHAVIOR REGARDING EDUCATIONAL GRAPHIC NOVELS BY YEOJOO LIM DISSERTATION Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Library and Information Science in the Graduate College of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2012 Urbana, Illinois Doctoral Committee: Associate Professor Christine A. Jenkins, Chair and Director of Research Professor Emerita Betsy Hearne Professor Lynne (E.F.) McKechnie, University of Western Ontario Assistant Professor Carol Tilley ABSTRACT This dissertation is a qualitative study that analyzes diverse views on the popularity of Educational Graphic Novels (EGNs) in Korea and children’s use of this medium. In order to elicit voices of children who are the main readers of EGNs, in-depth focus group interviews were conducted with fourteen Korean children ages seven to eleven. Interviews with teachers and librarians who work with children, observations at an elementary school and a public library, and content analysis of selected EGNs were also conducted. Based on the transcripts and reflective notes from the interviews, field notes from the observations, and the content of the three selected EGNs, this study investigates the reasons for popularity and patterns of children’s use of EGNs. Analyses revealed that most Korean children read EGNs primarily for fun, not to learn information. Although the EGNs consist of both entertaining and educational elements, children easily picked out and enjoyed only the fun parts, while ignoring the information parts. There was barely any gender difference in children’s passion for EGNs, but some differences existed in how girls and boys responded to certain elements of the EGNs – the boys responded to violent illustrations more than girls did and the girls responded to the subject of romance and were attracted by a strong as well as smart and pretty female character. Many children indicated that their enthusiasm for EGNs came from the humor in the books. Violence, verbal humor, slapstick humor and toilet humor were the focus group children’s favorite types of humor in EGNs. Generally, teachers and librarians had critical views of EGNs. The biggest concern was that EGNs would make children lose interest in reading regular children’s books. However, the focus group interviews and observations reflected that children like to read regular children’s books as well, regardless of their passion for EGNs. This study also indicated that Korean children are ii familiar with media intertextuality. The focus group children demonstrated that they are skillful users of diverse media, by crossing boundaries between texts and media formats that originated from the EGNs. iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I am deeply indebted to many for supporting me in this academic journey. I would like to express my gratitude to my wonderful committee members who provided guidance and sustained engagement in ways too innumerable to list here. Christine Jenkins has been a very sympathetic, supportive, and delightful advisor to me. Your hugs mean a lot to me, Christine. Betsy Hearne not only encouraged me to be an independent young scholar but also taught me the way to pursue happiness in my life with her wisdom. Lynne MeKechnie showed me how “methodology” can be one exciting area to study. Her warm and careful comments gave me confidence, which was the biggest motivation in completing this dissertation. Carol Tilley has been an amazing academic mentor and good company to talk with about traveling around the world. She also gently pulled me out of my own cave at one of my hardest times of my life. Thank you, Carol. You saved me. I would also like to thank Linda Smith for her constant, heartwarming support throughout my doctoral years at GSLIS. Thanks also to Kathy Painter, Sally Eakin, Valerie Youngen and all the office staff for your help with the logistical and administrative tasks. My special thanks go to Sarah Park and Minjie Chen, dear friends who have supported me through the whole process of writing and defending the dissertation. I would also like to thank my fellow doctoral colleagues Aiko Takazawa, Jin Ha Lee, and Cameron Jones who provided me with sincere support and advice. I also wish to thank my SCLIS family at Rutgers, my spiritual home during my stay in the U.S. I could learn the joy of academic idea sharing through conversations with Giyeong Kim, Sinuk Kang, Morris Tang and EunKyung Lee. Sunyu Moon, Jinsun Lee, and YooJin Ha have been always there as my comfort and strength. Thank iv you also to Dan O’Connor, Jana Varlejs, Ya-Ling Lu, Dong Youl Jeong, and Yeon-Kyoung Chung for providing me with great advice in my academic journey. A most gracious thanks goes to my focus group children and their families, teachers, and librarians who were willing to participate in this study and shared their thoughts and insights. This dissertation would not exist without their enthusiasm and active engagement in this study. I also want to thank Darae Lee and Daheui Chung who provided significant support in the process of data analysis and running the focus group interviews. Thanks also to publishers who gave me not only permissions to use the images in their EGNs but also updated me with their EGN publishing plans. One of my greatest blessings is my dear friends who have always stood by my side through the good times and bad. I would especially like to thank Hyun-Ju Jeon, Jee-Young Lee, Ye Jean Joe, Jinbok Chae, Jee Soo Kim, Heejung Jang, Hyoungchul Kim, Sunok Park, Bomi Yoon, and Sung Ok Yoo for their relentless support and prayers. I would also like to thank Fr. Thomas Jae Jeong Lee, Sr. M. Simeon Choi, and Sr. Rosa Kang for their spiritual support that secured and strengthened me throughout my life journey. Finally, and most importantly, I would like to extend my deepest gratitude to my dearest family who trusted me, supported me, and gave me endless love throughout my life; for my parents who raised me with love and prayer and supported me in all my pursuits; for my awesome brother Sung-Hoon whose thoughtfulness often touches my heart. And for my youngest brother as well as the treasure of my family – Binu – who is the most precious dog ever. Without my family, I would have never done what I have done. Thank you. I love you with all my heart. v TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION………………………………………………………………....1 Research Questions and Significance.………...………………………………………………...4 Significance..…………………………………………………………………………...……..9 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW……………………………………………………...…11 Terms and Concepts……………………………………………………………….…...............11 Terminology………………………………………………………………………………....13 Definition of Educational Graphic Novels………………………………………………….15 History of Educational Graphic Novels………………………………………….….................20 Modern and Contemporary Korean History………………………………………………...21 History of Modern Comics of Korea…………………………………....…………………...22 History of Educational Graphic Novels…………………………………..............................25 Current State of the Educational Graphic Novels Market……………………………….….30 Characteristics of Educational Graphic Novels……………………………………..................32 Education Fever in Korea………………………………………………………………….…..34 CHAPTER 3: METHODS……………………………………………………………………….37 Introduction to This Chapter…………………………………………………………………...37 Institutional Review of Research Involving Human Subjects……………………………….38 Data Collection……………………………………………………………………………...…38 Voices of Children – Focus Group with Children………………………………………..…38 Focus group……………………………………………………………………………….39 Snowball sampling………………………………………………………………………..41 Assent, parental permission and confidentiality………………………………………….41 Selection of discussion materials………………………………………………………....44 Basic information and plot of selected discussion materials……………………………..47 Running the focus group……………………………………………………...……….….52 The groups…………………………………………………………………...………..….55 Data collection procedures………………………………………………………………..59 Parents not interviewed…………………………………………………………………...64 Voices of Adults – Interviews with Teachers and Librarians…………………..………...…65 Snowball sampling………………………………………………………….…………….66 The interview…………………………………………….…………………………….…69 Unexpected data collected……………………………………………….……………….70 vi Observation of Children’s Reading in the Classroom, School Library and Public Library..70 Convenient sampling……………………………………………………………………..71 Research locations……………………………………………………………………..…71 Data collection procedures……………………………………………….……………….73 Content Analysis of Selected Educational Graphic Novels…………………………………76 Data Analysis…………………………………………………………………………………..77 Content Analysis……………………………………………………………………….……77 Coding and Approach to Analysis………………………………………………………..…78 Inter-coder Reliability…………………………………………………………………….…80 Strategies to Increase Trustworthiness…………………………………………………...…81 Limitations……………………………………………………………………………………..83 CHAPTER 4: RESULTS……………………………………………………………...…………84 Description of the EGNs Selected for Use in Focus Group Discussions…………...…………84 Magic Thousand Characters Text………………………………………………………….84 Learning Chinese characters in Korea………………………............................................84 Structure and characters of Magic Thousand Characters Text………...…………………87 Diverse formats of Magic Thousand Characters Text…………...……………………….93 Why?: Universe………………………………………..…………………………………….99 The success of the Why? series……………………………………………...……………99 Structure and characters of Why?.....................................................................................101