Interpretive inferences in literature

Goldman, Susan R.; McCarthy, Kathryn S.; Burkett, Candice

doi:10.1017/cbo9781107279186.018

Cited by 28 publications

(21 citation statements)

References 24 publications

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“…The continuum ranges from processes that remain close to the actual text itself to processes that go well beyond the information in the text. The close-to-the-text processes tend to revolve around coherence-building, whereas the far-from-thetext processes tend to be more interpretive, for example by involving reflection, exploration of connections to other texts or topics from background knowledge, and ad-hoc situation-dependent strategies (Goldman, McCarthy, & Burkett, 2015;Graesser et al, 1994;Singer et al, 1994, van den Broek, 1994, 2010.…”

Section: Passive and Reader-initiated Processes During Readingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cognitive Processes in Discourse Comprehension: Passive Processes, Reader-Initiated Processes, and Evolving Mental Representations

Broek

Helder

2017

Discourse Processes

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As readers move through a text, they engage in various types of processes that, if all goes well, result in a mental representation that captures their interpretation of the text. With each new text segment the reader engages in passive and, at times, reader-initiated processes. These processes are strongly influenced by the readers' representation of the preceding text and, in turn, update this very same representation. This updated representation forms the backdrop for the processing of the next text segment, and so on. Thus, passive and reader-initiated processes and the evolving representation engage in a continual, intricate interaction as the reader moves through the text. We provide a framework for conceptualizing the interplay between these three components of comprehension and propose that (1) passive and reader-initiated processes interact during reading; (2) a reader's standards of coherence moderate what kind and to what extent readerinitiated processes take place; (3) reader-initiated processes lie along a continuum from close-to-the-text, coherence-building processes to farfrom-the-text, interpretive processes; and (4) the moment-to-moment processes and the evolving mental representation interact in a reciprocal fashion. We present results from recent experiments on key aspects of the framework, and identify questions the framework raises. We conclude with implications from this conceptualization for theoretical models of reading comprehension.

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Section: Passive and Reader-initiated Processes During Readingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cognitive Processes in Discourse Comprehension: Passive Processes, Reader-Initiated Processes, and Evolving Mental Representations

Broek

Helder

2017

Discourse Processes

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“…Expert readers have, for example, a large variety of reading strategies at their disposal and are capable of regarding literary texts from multiple perspectives, as well as of analyzing them on various levels. Novice readers of literature, on the other hand, often mainly focus on the events in a story and regard a story from a single perspective (e.g., Andringa, 1990Andringa, , 1995Earthman, 1992;Peskin, 1998;Zeitz, 1994; for overviews also see Goldman, McCarthy & Burkett, 2015;Hanauer, 1999). These differences in literary reading processes suggest that the effects of literary reading on readers' selves and their social perceptions could differ as well: literary reading may affect expert adult readers and novice adolescent readers in different ways.…”

Section: Adolescents In the Literature Classroommentioning

confidence: 99%

The impact of literature education on students' perceptions of self and others: Exploring personal and social learning experiences in relation to teacher approach

Schrijvers¹,

Janssen²,

Fialho³

et al. 2016

L1 Educational Studies in Language and Literature

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The Dutch Institute for Curriculum Development argues that literature education is important for broadening students' personal, social and cultural horizons. Indeed, reading literary fiction may alter readers' self-and social perceptions, but little is known about whether adolescents gain such personal and social insights through reading in the secondary literature classroom, nor about how these perceived learning outcomes are related to their teachers' approaches to various aspects of literature teaching. Thus, the aims of this study were to examine the impact of literature education on students' self-and social perceptions and to explore relationships between students' learning experiences and their teachers' classroom practices. Dutch students (N=297, grades 10-12) wrote a learner report about what they learned about themselves and other people through literature education, and completed a measure on familiarity with fiction. Their teachers (N=13) completed the Teachers' Approaches to Literature Education Questionnaire (TALE-Q), which indicated more analytical-interpretative or personal-experiential approaches to three 2 M. SCHRIJVERS, T. JANSSEN, O. FIALHO & G. RIJLAARSDAM aspects of teaching. Students of teachers with distinct approaches to these aspects were grouped to compare their learning experiences. Findings showed that nearly all students (99%) reported to have learned something about themselves and others through literature education, mainly personal characterizations of oneself and others, learning about oneself and others as literary readers, descriptions and evaluations of people's behaviors, and lessons for life. In addition, teachers' reports of more classroom interaction and student autonomy were related to students' more frequent reports of personal and social insights, but this may also partly be explained by students being more familiar with fiction and having a more positive attitude toward literary reading. Implications for personal and social learning in the literature classroom are discussed.

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“…Indeed, extracting multiple meanings, generating literary interpretations, and abstracting messages beyond the story world are thought to be at the very heart of comprehending literature (Langer, 2011;Lee, 2011;Vipond & Hunt, 1984). The generation of interpretations is a constructive process that involves the interaction of reader, text, and task (Goldman, McCarthy, & Burkett, 2015;Rosenblatt, 1994). As such, multiple interpretations of a literary text are possible.…”

Section: Introduction Literary Reading and Interpretationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“Getting the Point” of Literature: Relations Between Processing and Interpretation

Burkett

Goldman

2016

Discourse Processes

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Comparisons of literary experts and novices indicate that experts engage in interpretive processes to "get the point" during their reading of literary texts but novices do not. In two studies the reading and interpretive processes of literary novices (undergraduates with no formal training in literature study) were elicited through think-alouds during reading and a post-reading interview task. Twenty undergraduates read one of two short stories in each of two studies (n ¼ 80). Both studies used the same methodology, except that the instructions for Study 2 emphasized the importance of interpretation when reading literary short stories. Results indicate that literary novices noticed cues to interpretive meaning during reading but were more likely to provide literary interpretations (symbolic and thematic) during the interview task as compared with when reading (Study 1 and 2) and when the instructions emphasized interpretation (Study 2 as compared with Study 1). In both studies there were positive relationships between elaborative processing during reading and (1) providing interpretations during reading and thinking aloud and (2) producing prompted interpretations during the post-reading interview task. The present studies provide evidence that literary novices can and do generate literary interpretations, albeit less sophisticated than those experts would likely generate. Further, elaborative processing during reading was positively related to interpretations. Implications for instruction to enhance literary interpretations are discussed.

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Interpretive inferences in literature

Cited by 28 publications

References 24 publications

Cognitive Processes in Discourse Comprehension: Passive Processes, Reader-Initiated Processes, and Evolving Mental Representations

Cognitive Processes in Discourse Comprehension: Passive Processes, Reader-Initiated Processes, and Evolving Mental Representations

The impact of literature education on students' perceptions of self and others: Exploring personal and social learning experiences in relation to teacher approach

“Getting the Point” of Literature: Relations Between Processing and Interpretation

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