2025 Volume 48 Issue 1 Pages 51-65
In recent years, postmodern picture books have come to be recognized as teaching materials in the field of reading instruction within Japanese Language Arts pedagogy. However, it remains unclear at what stage Japanese learners begin to engage with specific aspects of postmodern picture books. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine the value of postmodern picture books as teaching materials, while clarifying how Japanese learners react to such books from a developmental perspective, through a survey of fourth- and sixth-grade elementary school students and second-grade junior high school students. As a result, it was difficult to conclusively affirm that students exhibited responses specific to postmodern picture books during their initial reading impressions. Nevertheless, when learners engaged in small-group discussions without direct or explicit instruction, it was suggested that postmodern picture books hold educational value in enabling even fourth-grade students to shift their interpretive stance, relate the text to their own experiences, and read in ways that allow them to critically reflect on and relativize their own values.
