Expanding Middle School students’ Literacy Skills using the Journey Motif in Three Middle Grade Novels and Short Stories

Abstract

This paper analyzed three middle grade novels and a short story from two cultures using the journey motif as the vehicle for the analysis. The three novels are Bud Not Buddy and The Watsons Go to Birmingham both by Paul Curtis (1995, 1999) and Journey to Jo'burg by Naidoo (1985). The short story is My Two Dads by Lee (2000). The three novels and a short story were chosen because these novels are on the reading list for students in many school districts in the USA at the middle grade level. The analysis showed that for the three novels and a short story in the study, each text adhered to some elements/ parts of the journey motif. The paper then suggested 10 literacy strategies that can be used by English Language Arts teachers to engage learners, make the instructional process more interesting and hopefully improve achievement for all learners.

Gamified Balinese Local Stories Effect As A Teaching Media Towards Young Learners’ Speaking Skill

“…It will make the students acquire more vocabularies as it encourages language learning and makes the students more comfortable (Taghizadeh et al, 2015). The more they gain the vocabularies, the more they can comprehend the text (Mohseni Takaloo & Ahmadi, 2017). Therefore, gamification is a suitable method as it is in accordance with the essence of the comprehension of young learners that does not come just from an explanation, but also from what they look, listen, and have an opportunity to touch and communicate with (Lee, 2015).…”