The Pedagogical Importance of Illustrations in Translated and Non-Translated Children’s Literature: An Intersemiotic Approach

Abstract

In Children’s literature the text is almost always paired with vivid illustration to appeal to children more effectively. For young children, the pictorial code is a more direct means of communication than the verbal code. Such children will look at the pictures and tell the story in their own words. Also, children’s books are used for different purposes at different times. Children’s literature, for example, is a powerful means of educating children, through which they will be exposed to the set of behaviors deemed appropriate. That’s why illustrations in children’s stories are so important. Therefore, it is necessary to pay close attention to the illustrations and the relationships they hold with the linguistic texts of the story. The illustrations will serve better if they are educational. In the present study a number of translated and original Persian children story books were collected. All the books have illustrations which accompany the texts of the books. Then all the texts were studied carefully, analyzed and compared with their accompanying pictures (or illustrations). Each picture was analyzed based on its educational value. The results of the study revealed that there are significant differences in illustrations in translated and non-translated children story books.