Collection and Adaptation of Multiple-Frame Picture Prompts

Picture prompts were examined and collected from writing textbooks like

Creative & Guided Composition (2004), Beginning Composition through Pictures

(2005), Composition through Pictures (2006), Creative Writing Book 1 (2005), and

Creative Writing Book 2 (2005). In the process of collecting, it was amazing to find

that the format and content of picture prompts would vary from one to another. The

number of picture frames should range from one to six, and expressed in each picture

prompt were different ideas or experiences ranging from daily life to an imagined

future world.

In view of the variety of those collected picture prompts, the researcher first

sorted out picture prompts, based on the following criterion－a picture prompt in

which figures and moves of the characters are vividly and explicitly depicted,

facilitating the comprehension of the picture content and arousing the motive to write,

without any of the explanation of the teacher or the examiner, and in which there is a

clear-cut central idea, allowing writers to think coherently and leaving space for

imagination.

Then the researcher adapted these selected picture prompts to her target format,

that is, three-frame picture prompts, as those which were used in the SAT from 2004

to 2006. In order to adapt the different picture prompts with four or more parts to the

target format, the researcher had to do without the frames describing subordinate

detailed information and simply kept the three left parts containing the central thesis.

For instance, in Figure 3.1, the picture frame 3, 4, and 5 describe the chase, which is

depicted or can be inferred from the picture frame 2.

Figure 3.1

Sample of the Original Picture Prompt “Chase”

Note. Adopted from Beginning Composition through Pictures (p. 157), by Heaton, J.

B., 2006, Essex, England: Longman.

Therefore, the researcher cut out the picture frame 3, 4, and 5, to turn the

six-frame picture prompt into a three-frame one and keep the same central thesis at

the same time (see Figure 3.2). Though the adapted three-frame picture prompt loses

the element of the suspense to some degree, the readers can still clearly acquire the

content and the main idea of the original six-frame picture prompt. (For all the

adaptation, see Appendix B and Appendix C.)

Figure 3.2

Sample of the Adapted Picture Prompt “Chase”

Note. Adapted from Composition through Pictures, by Heaton, J. B., 2006, London:

Longman.

With the adaptation, the researcher could classify these three-frame picture

prompts into five different groups on the basis of the thinking maps presented by

Richard C. Sinatra (2000), story grammar (Mandler & Johnson, 1977; Rumelhart,

1975; Stein & Glenn, 1979) and the studies on surprise endings.

3.1.2. Validation

To make the classification more valid and reliable, the researcher decided to have

these categories examined and validated by three experienced and qualified English

teachers in Taichung First Senior High School. The researcher first explained the

rationales and the criteria of building up the classification as well as clarified all the

details about the classification of picture prompts. After making sure of all teachers’

comprehension of the classification, the researcher offered them picture prompts (For

details, see Appendix C) in random, asking them to categorize these picture prompts

based on the classification.

These three teachers, having scanned and reviewed these picture prompts, clearly

and precisely fixed most of these prompts into proper categories. However, they had

met with some trouble when classifying certain picture prompts, especially in the

cause-and-effect types with or without an expected consequence.

First, all of them mentioned that picture prompts, especially those with words in

the picture content, should be of a better overall quality, making the understanding of

the picture prompts direct and easy. Take Figure 3.3 for example. In the first picture

frame, there are two signs on the wall, one saying, “Danger,” and the other saying,

“Mountain Inn.” Because of the poor printing quality, the words aren’t clear, which

hampers the understanding of the subsequent picture frames. All of these three

teachers felt confused, wondering whether the character, regardless of the danger,

insists on going mountain climbing, or he is required to kill the tiger as a skilled

hunter. Different initial events may make a big difference in the interpretation of the

outcome of the picture sequence. If the character is a common mountain climber, it

would be a surprising ending that he should kill the tiger bravely. However, if the

character is an expert, promising to deal with this wild dangerous predator, then it

would be within expectation that he kills the tiger.

Figure 3.3

Picture Prompt “The Hiker and the Tiger”

Note. Adapted from Composition through Pictures, by Heaton, J. B., 2006, London:

Longman.

Second, though there is a flow of actions depicted in the picture sequence, it still

takes readers’ imagination to make the flow of actions coherent and logical. A picture

sequence, which leaves large space for readers’ imagination, may lead to different

interpretations, probably owing to the different personal experience or background

knowledge. For example, in Figure 3.4, a lady finally gets her bag back with the help

of the cab driver. However, it is left unknown how the cab driver is aware of the

lady’s eagerness. If she calls for help, the cab driver’s action is expectable; still, if the

cab driver voluntarily sends the bag back, the outcome should be out of the lady’s

expectation. In fact, the space for imagination between the second and the third

picture frame made the three teachers hold different ideas about its category. Two

fixed it into the cause-and-effect type with an expected consequence while one the

cause-and-effect type with an unexpected consequence.

Figure 3.4

Picture Prompt “Gratitude to an Honest Driver”

Note. Adapted from Creative & Guided Composition, by Siew, T., 2004, Singapore:

Asian Publications.

Interestingly, a teacher regarded a novel way to solve a problem as unexpected.

The novel way, in his opinion, was out of the readers’ expectation. In Figure 3.5, a

fairy goddess comes to the poor girl’s rescue, using magic power to get her out of

picture into the cause-and-effect type with an unexpected consequence. Yet, with the

researcher’s explanation that it is the consequence of the event, not the solution to the

problem, that makes a difference in the picture prompt type, the teacher

comprehended the rationale more and re-classified the picture into the

cause-and-effect type with an expected consequence type.

Figure 3.5

Picture Prompt “The Fairy Godmother”

Note. Adapted from Creative Writing Book 2, by Newaskar, M., 2005, Singapore:

Asian Publications.

Besides, another teacher viewed the first picture frame as the cause and the last

as the outcome, neglecting the effect of the second picture frame. For example, Figure

3.6 depicts how a horrible dinosaur makes himself accepted. There is a transit of

emotion from fear of the dinosaur (Picture Frame 1) to friendliness to the dinosaur

(Picture Frame 2). The teacher conceived that the result was beyond the characters’

cause of the transit, making the outcome logical and expected, the teacher changed

her mind and re-fixed the picture prompt into the cause-and-effect type with an

expected consequence.

Figure 3.6

Picture Prompt “A friendly Dinosaur”

Note. Adapted from Creative Writing Book 2, by Newaskar, M., 2005, Singapore:

Asian Publications.

In addition to the discussion about the cause-and-effect types, there are two other

pictures arousing the researcher’s attention.

One is a picture describing raising a pet bird (see Figure 3.7). This picture was

fixed into the topic-development type by two teachers while one teacher, with rich

imagination, linked these three frames with the causal relation, making this picture a

cause-and-effect type with an expected consequence. She believed the fruit made the

seemingly unhappy bird start to chirp.

Figure 3.7

Picture Prompt “The New Pet”

Note. Adapted from Creative Writing Book 1, by Newaskar, M., 2005, Singapore:

Asian Publications.

The other picture, describing the splash on a rainy day, aroused a heated

discussion (see Figure 3.8). One teacher linked these frames with the passage of time;

another teacher noticed the central topic in the theme; and the other teacher mentioned

the surprise ending. The researcher gave her explanation that first, there is a time

marker－rain; second, these three frames can not be re-arranged in a different order,

violating the feature of the topic-development type; and third, even if there is a

surprise ending, no cause-effect plot exists. All of these teachers accepted the account

and re-fixed the picture into the time-based type.

Figure 3.8

Picture Prompt “Splash”

Note. Adapted from Composition through Pictures, by Heaton, J. B., 2006, London:

Longman.

With this validation, the classification of picture prompts was reconfirmed.