Constructing moments of insight: accounting for learning in classroom discussions on narrative fiction reading

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article explores booktalk situations in which student teachers discuss a narrative text and construct in situ accounts of learning when recalling their reading. This study contributes to knowledge about the role of narrative fiction in general educational practice, as well as to the understanding of situated constructions of learning. Video and audio recordings were made in a seminar involving two groups of five master’s students, and the situated interaction was analysed using discursive reception theory. The results show that students construct what are here called moments of insight: a social action constructing a significant shift in participants’ self-described cognitive or emotional development, related to the reading. Students construct themselves as having been changed as both teachers and learners, either through the reading experience or when reflecting upon that experience. This demonstrates both how booktalk enables students to reflect upon their reading and their own cognitive development, and how situated classroom interaction studies enable us to engage with student learning in a naturalistic setting. This has an impact on our view of narrative fiction in educational practice, as well as educational research methods and practices.