Paths to Interpretation: Developing Students ’ Interpretive Repertoires

Literacy educators need to develop children’s repertoire of reading strategies beyond the decoding of written language to address the visual images and graphic design features found in contemporary picturebooks if they are to become successful readers. The qualitative case study reported here was designed to investigate the instructional approaches used to support the development of intermediate grade students ’ interpretive strategies for comprehending the visual and design features of multimodal texts. By focusing on the classroom teacher’s instructional moves and students ’ responses, this study asserts there were several paths to interpretation that supported students’ comprehension of these texts. Multimodal texts or ensembles, in particular contemporary and postmodern picturebooks, present challenges to readers as they work across the multiple meaning systems inherent in these texts to construct meaning (Jewitt, 2006; Serafini, 2014). As Siegel (2006) notes, “language arts education can no longer ignore the way that our social, cultural, and economic worlds now require facility with texts and practices involving th