Changing perspectives on self and others in the literature classroom

• Marloes Schrijvers & Tanja Janssen & Olivia Fialho & Gert Rijlaarsdam
  Marloes Schrijvers (University of Amsterdam), Tanja Janssen (University of Amsterdam), Olivia Fialho (Utrecht University) and Gert Rijlaarsdam (University of Amsterdam / University of Antwerp)
  
  Studies have indicated that adolescents may gain personal and social insights from reading literary texts in the literature classroom (e.g., Malo-Juvera, 2014; Schrijvers, Janssen, Fialho & Rijlaarsdam, 2016a, White, 1995). While research suggests that dialogic literature teaching (Nystrand, 1997) may facilitate this kind of learning, empirical evidence for this claim is scarce. Our aim was therefore to assess the effects of a dialogic learning intervention in the literature classroom on Dutch upper secondary school students’ personal and social insights. The intervention was designed collaboratively with teachers and was based on both an empirical multi-phase model of transformative reading experiences (Fialho, 2016) and a model of educational design principles, based on the research literature (Schrijvers, Janssen, Fialho & Rijlaarsdam, 2016b).
  
  The intervention consists of four units, centering around literary short stories involving moral or social themes. In each unit, a pre-reading task and a reading instruction asks students to attend to previous experiences and/or affective responses triggered by the story or its theme. After reading, they exchange reading experiences in small-group dialogues. Each group presents the outcomes of the dialogue (e.g., a diagram, a moodboard, an advize to the main character) in class. Students then reflect on whether their ideas about themselves and the social or moral issue have changed.
  
  In March 2017, twelve 10th grade classes (N≈300 students, 15-16 years old) will participate in the study. A quasi-experimental pretest-posttest switching replications design (with control condition) and mixed-models data-analysis will be applied. A questionnaire and qualitative tasks on transformative reading experiences that impact personal and social insights, as well as implementation fidelity measures, are currently being developed. Results and implications will be presented at the conference.
  
  References
  Fialho, O. (2016). Walking along the paths of transformative reading experiences: A theoretical-empirical model. Manuscript in preparation.
  Malo-Juvera, V. (2014). Speak: The Effect of Literary Instruction on Adolescents’ Rape Myth Acceptance. Research in the Teaching of English, 48(4), 407-427.
  Nystrand, M. (1997). Opening Dialogue. Understanding the Dynamics of Language and Learning in the English Classroom. New York, NY / London: Teachers College Press.
  Schrijvers, M., Janssen, T., Fialho, O. & Rijlaarsdam, G. (2016a). The impact of literature education on students’ perceptions of self and others: Exploring personal and social learning experiences in relation to teacher approach. L1 – Educational Studies in Language and Literature, 17, 1-37.
  Schrijvers, M., Janssen, T., Fialho, O. & Rijlaardam, G. (2016b). Fostering Personal and Social Insights in the Literature Classroom: A Review of Intervention Studies. Manuscript submitted for publication.
  White, B. F. (1995). Effects of Autobiographical Writing Before Reading on Students’ Responses to Short Stories. The Journal of Educational Research, 88(3), 173-184.
• Marloes Schrijvers
  Pernille Damm Mønsted Pjedsted (University of Aarhus & University Collage Lillebælt)
  
  What happens with student’s experiences with and understanding of literary interpretation if the places of relevance to the main character are involved in the reading and interpretation process? This paper will outline a new didactic and pedagogical approach for the literature classroom. Place-based literary interpretation (PLI) fosters learning about identity, self and others by involving places of relevance to the protagonist in the students’ reading and interpretation processes. The PLI approach is based on a curriculum, or a didactic design, which was preliminarily tested by a teacher and students (age 14) in one eighth grade class for a period of 8 weeks in Danish secondary school. The didactic design includes reading and interpretation of three young adult fiction books about identity and involves the students’ experiences in a forest, prison, auto repair shop, and stadium.
  
  The data used for this paper is based on a thematic analysis involving three semantic themes (Braun and Clarke, 2006). Two of the themes demonstrate that the PLI approach in the literature classroom enhances high student involvement and participation, as well as an empathetic analysis of the books whereby the students put themselves in the protagonist’s place in the interpretation process.
  
  The paper draws primarily on research based on experiential education (Roberts, 2012), theory of place (Casey, 2010 & Cresswell, 2015), and theory including perspectives on narratives (Bruner, 2006). In addition the paper will consider Gadamer’s theory of Bildung which emphasizes that when we return from the other, we develop ourselves (Gadamer, 2004) – in this context the alienation process through place and literature.
  
  References
  Braun, V., & Clarke, V. (2006). Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 3(2), 77-101.
  Casey, E. S. (2010). The fate of place: a philosophical history (first published 1997). London: University of California Press.
  Cresswell, T. (2015). Space, Place, and the Triumph of the Humanities. GeoHumanities, 1(1), 4-9.
  Roberts, J. W. (2012). Beyond learning by doing: Theoretical currents in experiential education. Oxford: Routledge.
• Richard Power & Ilana Elkad-Lehman
  Yael Poyas (Oranim College of Education) and Ilana Elkad-Lehman (Levinsky College of Education)
  
  According to research, encounters with literature contribute to students’ social, moral and self-understanding. The official curriculum in Israel gives Literature a unique status and it is taught separately from other language-related subjects, due to its perception as a powerful tool for cultural, moral and social education.
  
  However, the literary encounter may stem from different theoretical grounds, following which the educational intervention will be different as well. (1) The therapeutic encounter based on the work of Winnicott (1971), viewing the literary encounter as an in-between safe space allowing for self-searching and emotional experiences; (2) the moral encounter based on Buber's premise of existence as encounter (1937) and the hermeneutic theory of Levinas (1972), in which the interpretive process pursues a sense of moral responsibility towards the ‘other’; (3) the ethical-critical encounter based on critical pedagogy principles (Giroux & McLaren, 1992), placing the power relations in the literary text and its different contexts at the heart of the interpretive process, in an effort to foster awareness of social justice and equality issues.
  
  Recorded and written products from seven encounters of teachers from different cultures, religions and languages in Israel with literary texts, given no directions towards a particular interpretive approach, were analyzed using a phenomenological approach. The analysis demonstrated that the readers mostly tended to use the therapeutic approach, searching for the self through encounters with the text. The ethical-critical approach was very rare, and its few appearances were met with silencing responses. We did find evidence of attempts to have a moral encounter which includes a feeling of responsibility to the ‘other’, but mostly when looking inside the reader’s national group, not the confronting one.
  
  The research findings have implications concerning the nature of classroom interventions and language teachers' education. These will be discussed in our presentation.
  
  References
  Buber, M. (1937). I and Thou. Tras. By R. G. Smith. London & New York: Continuum.
  Giroux, H. A. & Mclaren, P. (1992). Writing from the margins: geographies of identity, pedagogy, and power. Journal of Education, 174(1), 7-30.
  Levinas, E. (1972). Humanisme de l'autre Homme. Paris: Fata morgana.
  Winnicott, D. W. (1971). Playing and reality. London: Tavistock.