Narrative_Assignment_Week_2

Narrative Assignment Week #2 Krs1 ELL240: Linguistically & Culturally Diverse Learners April 4, 2011 The Evolution of Reader Response Theory While reading the Reader Response Theory, it was quite difficult to read and even more difficult to understand. As I continued to read it over again it began to make sense. Readers of literature adopt what is called a stance. This type of reading is either efferent or aesthetically. When people read any type of literature their interpretation may be different from the next parsons even though they read the same thing. When reading the chapter the first time I believe I took on a more efferent stance and focused more on the important information losing site as to what the chapter was really about. When going back to read it later the aesthetic stance of reading was done with more of a different understanding, ready to enjoy what was being read. One could only imagine that each student in the class had a different understanding or stance when reading this chapter also. In chapter 2 of Engaging English Learners (2009) Rosenblatt speaks of the reading experience. It states that during the mid twentieth century, the literary community witnessed a rise in descent of the New Criticism of the reader response movement. Although not all reader response theorists agreed entirely on all issues, consequently, different branches of the movement were formed. A theory that coincides with the notion that the audience’s response to a novel is more important than the writer’s intention is called “reader-response theory” or “reader-response criticism” There are so many different meanings because of so many variables contributing to our experience of text. “Meaning comes into existence not when the text is written, but when it is read and responded to” (Dalke 66) According to both Dalke, the reader is the authority of the implications of the text. The main advocates of Reader Response Theory, acknowledges the complementary importance of text and reader, of the text’s relationship with the reader and the reader is the necessary third party in the relationship that constitutes the literary work that is being read. According to Dalke “there are two basic beliefs although there are divergent views on the reading process: In the Readers Response Theory, they believe that when a writer writes he has to remember the role of the reader cannot be omitted from the understanding of literature, the reader does not respond or take in the meaning presented to them by an objective literary text; rather they actively make a connection with the find in the literature. Therefore, different readers may read the same text quite differently with each one having their own understanding of the text read. From the readers response theory it is felt that books are meant to be read and are written for an audience of people who may not view the literature the was it was written. The criticism is that by using genre to categorize books, writers are limiting their audiences and are failing to remember that their writing is communicating with someone other than themselves who may have a different view of what’s read. Communication allows for response, but placing a genre to a book limits a reader’s response to a text because the genre presets what a reader’s response to a text should be. With communication it allows for an exchange of ideas and thoughts and genre limits the communication between the writer, the text, and the reader by “creating a script” for that communication. (Dalke 66) With the idea of reader-response theory, I re-evaluated the reading of a book called “Out of My Mind” by Sharon Draper this is passage from her book “ Words have always swirled around me like snowflakes- each one delicate and different, each one melting untouched in my hands. Deep within me words pile up in huge drifts. Mountains of phases and sentences and connected ideas. Clever expressions, jokes, songs… They were only in my head. I have never spoken one single word.” This book didn’t have real meaning to me until I met Stephanie a Junior High School student that became the character in this book. Stephanie is a loving carefree sixteen year old who have never spoken a word because of her disability. She has a muscle condition that locks up her whole body and she can’t walk or talk or even feed herself. Yet if you were to take the time to stop and talk to her you found that she likes to laugh, she smiles back at you, she will grab your hand to shake it if you allow her to. Stephanie became a connection to the story by culture, race, and other real world applications that are not always embraced by the writing genre. By limiting books to certain genre, other implications that could be made from a novel are censored. I feel that the Readers Response Theory believes that readers should have precedence over the ideas of a novel rather than author-selected genres that limit the endless implications that a book can have thus limiting its audience to their own feelings. It is genres are used they seem to predetermine the lessons that a reader will learn from books, thus limiting the reader’s conclusions. Reading as a process of environmental conditioning by which a teacher model and the student imitate. Cox & Batstone (2009). This is a method which continually questions what happens in the reader’s mind during the process. Adults such as parents and teachers are foundation for the tools of the culture, including language. Culture provides a child with history, social context, and language. Today they also include electronic forms of information access such as media, and internet. When the same reader reads the same text on two different occasions it will probably produce different information each time or a different response. I believe that is what happened to me as I read chapter two of the text, Engaging English Learners (2009). I had to read it twice before it made any real sense to me. According to Rosenblatt, from Engaging English Learners (2009), he concludes that for most experiences in literature “our primary responsibility is to encourage the aesthetic stance when it comes to reading.” The Reader Response Theory believes that though learning to read and reading literature is a process. This process should be enjoyed by the reader and not forced upon them. References Cox C. Boyd. Bastone, P. (2009) Engaging English Learners: Exploring Literature, Developing Literature, and Differentiating Instruction. Boston, Ma: Pearson Dalke, A. “Where Words Arise and Wherefore: Literature and Literary Theory as Forms of Exploration”. Soundings: An Interdisciplinary Journal. Knoxville: The University of Tennessee, 2007. discovery learning (http://129.7.160.115/INST5931/Discovery_Learning.html#dl)