El rol de los saberes previos, la mediación y el intercambio en la lectura de un álbum

Abstract

This paper describes a reading project conducted with two groups of children in their first year of secondary education (ESO) at a state-run school in Sant Joan Despí: one group of six Catalan children and another of six first-generation immigrant children from different parts of the world. Both groups carried out a shared reading of the picture book "Emigrantes" ("The Arrival") by Australian illustrator Shaun Tan, together with discussion sessions, interviews and activities to select illustrations and produce texts.
Using data collection tools, this study analyses the different features that the children pointed out when reading the images: mainly the use of light, colour, movement and perspective, and the materiality of the book and its production process.
Analysis of the elements recognised by the children, of the functions they ascribe to each of these, and of the widening and changes in perspective generated in interaction situations, leads us to reflect on the importance of the previous knowledge that readers bring into play when approaching a picture book, and on the importance of mediation and exchange in the reading of complex picture books.