We extend research on social annotation in education by implementing a new annotation technique in the literature classroom. Over the course of one year, we invited students to socially annotate literary texts using emojis that reflected their affective responses to those texts. This approach was inspired by new functions of social annotation…

The purposes of this research were to: 1) study whether the use of literature activities improved EFL students' reading skills and critical thinking skills according to CEFR at C1 level; 2) investigate students' critical thinking skills in studying a literature course; and 3) examine students' attitudes towards the use of literature activities in…

This article presents the results from an international collaboration between undergraduate students in the United Kingdom and Norway. Using Literature Circles and "Google Documents" in groups, the students liaised digitally over three young adult novels that are prominent within the UK school curriculum. This study explored the ways in…

This dissertation explores the relationship between the teaching of literary genre and the facilitation of empathy. It analyzes whether poetry, fairy tales, readers-theater, biography and/or novel can contribute to a fourth-grade student's understanding and development of empathy. After leading my students in guided readings, I concentrated on…

Literacy and learning is a social process, one that is both transformative, empowering, and can often lead to social change. The following study is based on the idea that literacy can be used as a tool not only to teach the basic skills of reading, but the skills for individuals to learn to be compassionate towards others, understand their…

The purpose of this article is to investigate the struggles of teacher education students when confronted with establishing a social justice curriculum. The authors' work focuses on using multicultural literature as a starting point for the critical conversations that drive curricular changes. Introducing ideas of culturally responsive pedagogy…

E-book reading is generally considered suboptimal because people engaging in e-book reading tend to browse through digital texts. As a result, studies concerning students' e-book preference in academic contexts have shown that students less prefer using e-books than hardcopy books when engaging in academic reading which is considered intensive…

This article describes a model used to explore cultural understanding in English as a foreign language reading in a developing country, namely Argentina. The model is designed to investigate, analyse and describe EFL readers' processes of cultural understanding in a specific context. Cultural understanding in reading is typically investigated…

Recently, transactional reader response theory has been criticized for providing an inadequate theoretical guide for the study of multicultural literature. Some scholars argue that Rosenblatt assumes the reader and her response to literature are ideologically innocent and the continuum of aesthetic and efferent stance does not encompass critical…

Introduces a student-composed diagram as a means of discussing obstacles and resistances to teaching literature, such as assumptions about what a text is and whether it should be analyzed at all. Discusses a possible structure for the introductory literature course. (TB)

Discusses how reader-response activities combat lack of interest in introductory literature courses. Considers the value of a reader-response approach, activities which liberate students, a student-driven syllabus, and pragmatic concerns. Notes how employing a reader-response approach in the introductory literature course helps maintain the…

The study described in this article intended to discover how social processes can influence literary understandings and the development of critical readings of literature in the public space of a classroom. The author draws on Bakhtin's notion of "ideological becoming" to consider how dialogic exchanges focused on works of literature can support…

Reports the results of a poll of southeastern Iowa tenth through twelfth graders to find the most popular of 250 recently published books. Genres include fantasy, war stories, contemporary realism, romance, science fiction, horror, and supernatural. Reviews of the readers' choices are included. (RBW)

A case study examined two preservice teachers' attitudes about literature and the teaching of literature, and examined whether a "Teaching of Literature" course for secondary English education majors influenced their attitudes. Data included in-depth, semi-structured interviews, participant observation, written artifacts (learning logs,…

Before students are able to write fairly original, successful, critical essays on literature, they need to become experienced members of the audience for whom they will write, sharing fully the social context of critical writing by becoming part of an interactive, interpretive community. This reader-response technique appears to be the best…