This paper, the fourth of seven, part of an interdisciplinary project on the context of reading and reading research that explores similarities and dissimilarities in the response to literature in readers from different cultures, describes the work on organizing texts from different cultures and nations (Denmark, Greenland, and Turkey) in the…

This paper, the fifth of seven, part of an interdisciplinary project on the context of reading and reading research that explores similarities and dissimilarities in the response to literature in readers from different cultures, describes the methods used for the construction of a questionnaire for readers' social, educational, financial, and…

This paper, the last of seven, part of an interdisciplinary project on the context of reading and reading research that explores similarities and dissimilarities in the response to literature in readers from different cultures, supplies the "Folktale project" with readers' statements which can be used for the construction of a…

Argues against ritualized approaches to literature. Endorses four aesthetic teaching stances which vary the conversations that can occur between student and student, student and teacher, and student and literature, and which pursue a "playful" literature curriculum, value the unexpected, and allow conversations where children talk their…

Presents a study of students in Australia, Canada, and England and examines grade nine students' written responses to writing over a two year period and their opinions of the books they read. Suggests that for students of that age, creative written responses to writing are the most imaginative. (JC)

Suggests that viewing aesthetic reading as a process whereby readers and writers attempt to "make contact" and collaborate in making meaning forces one to adopt research strategies that go beyond measuring reading comprehension, and offers two studies to illustrate these ideas. (JC)

Describes the fundamentals of reader response theory, focuses on the aspects most relevant to reading instruction, and presents a method of teaching using reader response as a vehicle for improving student ability to learn from text. (NKA)

Shares how one teacher and her class of seventh graders learned to share and discuss literature through the notions of stances and instructional scaffolding. (MG)

This paper reviews graphophonic factors underlying the development of reading competence and their relationship to functional aspects of reading. The paper suggests that attention be paid to aspects of visual form, such as the use of typographic and linguistic cues, to improve the operational effectiveness and motivational appeal of materials for…

This article reviews literature supporting the relationship of emotional factors and success in reading and writing activities, outlines physical and language behaviors that indicate emotional involvement with success or lack of success in comprehension, and presents strategies that help children understand what they need to do to read and write…

Examines four fifth-grade students' stances and their responses to a narrative text in three classroom activities--a peer-led discussion group, a story map activity, and written responses. Investigates issues regarding the accessibility of shifts in stance for the students. Calls into question L. Rosenblatt's construct of the aesthetic-efferent…

This study applies reader-response criticism to investigate subject positions of gender, age, ethnicity, and profession through the poststructural analysis of an art work entitled "A Book from the Sky," and examines the relationship among viewer, text (the art work), and artist. A description of the art work is provided as an…

In the 1970s and 1980s the white Australian author Patricia Wrightson's cross-cultural fantasies concerning the conflict of White characters with Aboriginal folk spirits struck a chord with many adolescent and adult readers who judged these novels to be outstandingly successful. A classroom-based study examined the responses of a class of seventh…

This book presents findings of a cross-section of teachers, elementary through college, who have developed ways to enable students to make connections between their lives and the literature they read. The 28 articles are grouped into: (1) a section on the collaborating and creating connection with literature; and (2) a section on the reading and…

The literary theorist Terry Eagleton believes that literary study is the study of human discourse. To build on his idea for use in the classroom, it must first be assumed that literature constitutes a dialogue between the work (and its author) and the reader. The dialogue process can be introduced in a 2- to 4-week unit through a cluster of…