Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 Assistant prof of Linguistics, Faculty of Literature, Alzahra University, Tehran, Iran

2 MA in Linguistics, Faculty of Literature, Alzahra University, Tehran, Iran

Abstract

Children’s literature plays an important role in shaping children’s characters by means of affecting their values and beliefs. Since every text has its own ideologies, critical analyses of children's literature can provide researchers with an understanding of the ideologies behind the texts and their possible effects on forming children's values. One of the cultural institutes officially in charge of children’s literature in Iran is the Iranian Institute for the Intellectual Development of Children and Young Adults (IIDCYA). With over 50 years of professional work, IIDCYA has produced movies, books, films and cartoons for children, many of which have also been translated into the world’s major languages. Children’s books are among the most accessible products of IIDCYA for children all over Iran which except in a few studies (e.g., Rashno, 2009; Jahangiri et al., 2012; Shamsabadi et al., 2022) have not been critically and linguistically studied.
The present study, based on Van Leeuwen’s (2008) socio-semantic framework, has taken a critical approach in analyzing the discourse of children’s (age range 7-9 years old) story books published by IIDCYA. The following questions have been addressed in this research: How social actors have been represented in stories? What types of actions have been mostly used in stories? How actions have been legitimized?

Keywords

Main Subjects

Amal-Saleh, A. (2014). Visualization of social groups in English language teaching books in Iran. MA thesis, Shiraz University.
Calero, C. I., Salles, A., Semelman, M., & Sigman, M. (2013). Age and gender dependent development of Theory of Mind in 6- to 8-years old children. Frontiers in human neuroscience, 7, 281. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2013.00281
Fallahi, M. H. (2009). The representation of social actors in Constitutional Era newspapers from the perspective of critical discourse analysis with a focus on socio-semantic discursive features. Ph.D dissertation, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad.
Fard, F. (2003). A comparison of critical discourse analysis of children’s and adults’ stories. MA thesis, Shiraz University.
Flavell J. H. (1999). Cognitive development: Children's knowledge about the mind. Annu. Rev. Psychol. 50, 21–45.
Gholamalizadeh K, Tafakkori Rezaei S. & Akbari, H. (2018). The nomination and categorization of social actors in “Al”, according to Van Leeuwen’s Framework. Language Related Research, 8(7), 71-89.
Jahangiri, J., Ahmadi, H., & Khoojani, H. (2014). Study of gender discrimination in the children’s story books during 1380 to 1385. Journal of Iranian Social Studies, 8(4), 35-54.
Joneidi Jafari, M., & Khaqani, T. (2016). The representation of social actions in Persian stories: A critical discourse analysis of Al-e Aahmad short stories. Language Studies, 6(12), 77-97.
Jowkar, S. (2011). Critical discourse analysis of Bahar’s poems. MA thesis of Linguistics. Shiraz: Shiraz University.
Jowkar, S. (2015). A representation of social actors in Bahar’s critical poems based on critical discourse analysis approach. Journal of Poetry Studies (Boostan Adab), 7(2), 111-134. doi: 10.22099/jba.2015.2576
Poushaneh, A. & Babak Moien, M. (2013). The representation of social actors via socio-semantic features in One story by Ebrahim Golestan: A CDA study. Language Related Research, 4(2), 1-25.
Rashidi, N. & Zareie, M. (2012). Critical discourse analysis of Reader’s Choice based on Hodge and Kress’s framework. University Textbooks; Research and Writing, 16(26), 99-118.
Rashno, S. (2011). Analyzing the content of storybooks published by the Iranian Institute for the Intellectual Development of Children and Young Adults based on critical thinking skills. MA thesis, Alzahra University.
Razmjoo, A., & Heidari Tabrizi, H. (2005). Methods of visualizing social actors in Persian discourse: A critical discourse analysis based on socio-semantic features. Journal of Persian Language and Literature, 195, 1-34.
Rogers, R. & Cristian, J. (2007). What could I say? A critical discourse analysis of the construction of race in children’s literature. Race Ethnicity and Education, 10, 21-46.
Shamsabadi, H., Basirat Manesh, H. & Sadat Bidgoli, S. M. (2022). An analysis of the books published by the Institute for the Intellectual Development of Children and Young Adults (1966-1979). Journal of Iran History, 15(1), 49-72. doi: 10.52547/irhj.15.1.49
Sharif, M. & Yarmohammadi, L. (2014). A critical discourse analysis of Khayam's Quatrains with references to socio-semantic discursive features. Journal of Poetry Studies (Boostan Adab), 6(2), 67-82. doi: 10.22099/jba.2014.1952
Van Leeuwen, T. (1996). The representation of social actors. in C. R. Caldas-Coulthard & M. Coulthard (Eds.). Texts and practices: Readings in critical discourse analysis. London: Routledge. Pp. 32-70.
Van Leeuwen, T. (2008). Discourse and practice: New tools for critical discourse analysis. Oxford University Press.
Yarmohammadi, L. & Rashidi, N. (2003). Studies in explicitness or implicitness of message in Iran newspapers’ editorials: the relationship between discursive structures and socio-intellectual foundations. Name-ye Farhang, 47, 63-75.
Yarmohammadi, L. (2006). Communication from the perspective of critical discourse analysis. Tehran: Hermes Publications.
Zamani, S. & Khalili, M. (2015). Representation of “the other" from social agents’ point of view in Ghanoon and Kaveh Newspapers. Contemporary Political Studies, 5(14), 77-105.