Reader Response Research Articles

Engaging with Engagement: Interrogating Preservice Teachers’ Theories of Engagement in Their Literacy Planning and Reflection

ABSTRACT The term engagement is widely used in teacher education and professional development. There is, however, a lack of consensus about the meaning of this term: it is defined in numerous ways with various theoretical underpinnings. This article employs a postqualitative approach to explore conceptualizations of engagement and their implications for teaching and learning. Specifically, we examine written teaching reflections from one cohort of preservice teachers, asking: 1) How did preservice teachers use the word “engage(ment)” in their planning for and analysis of one-on-one literacy instructional events? and 2) What conceptualizations of engagement did these usages reflect? Through the analytic approach of thinking with theory, we plug these data into four theoretical perspectives that are relevant to preservice teachers’ talk about engagement: 1) First Generation Activity Theory, 2) Reader Response Theory, 3) Self-Determination Theory, and 4) Inter-Comprehension Theory. We explore how each perspective illuminated our data, as well as questions that emerged. We conclude by (re)imagining engagement through a languaging relations perspective, arguing that this lens shifts toward a more humanizing conceptualization of engagement by centering the ongoing (re)making of relationships as people teach and learn.

Hyper-diversity in Sampling Strategy for Reader Response Studies in an Urban Context.

Early strategies of researching readers turned scholars to hermeneutic shortcuts like Iser’s ‘implied’ or Fish’s ‘informed’ reader. However, these shortcuts cannot be seen as studying ‘actual’ readers. One approach to studying actual readers has been turning to empirical methods. However, even though the institutions that do these types of research are located in culturally complex cities, the process of participant selection in empirical studies often does not take the city’s make-up into account. Therefore, this article aims to present a participant sampling strategy for empirical reader response research with Antwerp as the location for a study of urban readers in a European context. Opting for a qualitative approach and thus a purposeful sampling strategy and taking the hyper-diverse nature of major cities into account, we suggest using social milieu rather than traditional descriptive markers by recruiting from different neighbourhoods. This as neighbourhoods have their own culture and play an important role in a person’s identity. Turning to local libraries for participant recruitment means a step towards studying actual readers and will lead to a deeper insight into the effects of texts on readers. Moreover, apart from obtaining a richer variety of idiosyncratic responses, this can also result in a deeper understanding of (sub)cultural responses to narratives.

Reader Response: Association of Alternative Anticoagulation Strategies and Outcomes in Patients With Ischemic Stroke While Taking a Direct Oral Anticoagulant.

Reader Response: Association of Alternative Anticoagulation Strategies and Outcomes in Patients With Ischemic Stroke While Taking a Direct Oral Anticoagulant.

Readers matter: seven transactions with the visual, linguistic and material elements in a picture book

In this paper, we draw upon Rosenblatt’s transactional theory of reading to frame six readings of a picture book. The picture book, There’s a Ghost in This House by Oliver Jeffers, was selected for a children’s literature reading group which brought together literacy researchers and teacher educators to share their encounters with the text. The question “How did you read the book?” provoked us to examine how we had transacted with the text to generate interpretations. This work was presented at the “Stories that Matter” seminar alongside the other papers appearing in this special edition of the Australian Journal of Language and Literacy. In this paper, we highlight our own roles as readers encountering Jeffer’s book and reflect on our own responses as a way of explaining the multiple readings we present. We emphasise the place of intertextuality and intratextuality in reader response and argue that Rosenblatt’s transactional theory continues to be an important way of understanding what it means to read, including the reading of multimodal texts which combine linguistic, visual and material modes.

Author experiences of researching, writing and marketing climate fiction

There is a growing body of literature that studies the emotional impact of engaging regularly with climate change in a professional capacity, with a particular focus on climate scientists and activists. However, the experience of climate fiction writers is yet to be investigated, despite the many years such writers must spend deeply focusing on the issue. This project fills this gap by interviewing 16 Australian and New Zealand writers of climate fiction, focusing on how the different stages of the publishing cycle – research, writing and marketing – affected their wellbeing. While there was a diversity of experiences, we have identified a number of trends. Despite some confronting moments, the research and writing phases represented a positive experience, with writers gaining a sense of control and purpose in the face of the immense climate change problem. For many writers, though, the post-publication phase produced more difficult emotions, including feelings of guilt over inaction in the face of the crisis, frustration at reader responses, and the pressure of being construed as climate change experts in interviews and at festival events.

Reader Response: Teaching NeuroImage: Partially Reversible Widespread Leukoencephalopathy Associated With Atypical Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome.

Reader Response: Teaching NeuroImage: Partially Reversible Widespread Leukoencephalopathy Associated With Atypical Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome.

Yes, I Will Say Something: How Humor Influences Intention to Intervene and How Social Marketing Can Help!

Problematic and risky behaviors such as drunk driving, drug taking, and binge drinking are often undertaken in social situations where a bystander could intervene. To date, research has examined neither social marketing’s effect on interveners nor the mechanisms by which that might work. On the basis of reader response theory, we introduce a new concept, comedic reproducibility, defined as the perception that one can reuse stimuli to elicit mirth in others, and we study its role in humorous social advertising for intervening intentions. Our research reports two studies. In Study 1, we explore the route by which affiliative humor style affects intention to intervene via a mediation effect of intervening anxiety. We also examine the interactive influence of comedic reproducibility of the ad and audience affiliative humor style on intervening anxiety. In Study 2, we examine the direct effects of comedic reproducibility on intention to intervene. Results demonstrate that social advertising messages perceived as comedically reproducible provide audiences with a tool they can use in conjunction with their affiliative humor style to stop their friends from behaving dangerously. The findings can be used by social marketers to create and pretest the effectiveness of comedically reproducible campaigns that target intervening.

Reader Response: Oral Anticoagulants and the Risk of Dementia in Patients With Nonvalvular Atrial Fibrillation: A Population-Based Cohort Study.

Reader Response: Oral Anticoagulants and the Risk of Dementia in Patients With Nonvalvular Atrial Fibrillation: A Population-Based Cohort Study.

What Keeps a Narrative going? Teaching Narrative Interest

ABSTRACT This article explores the potential of narrative interest for secondary literature education. Narrative is a purposeful construction which is organised with the intent of having effects on readers. For rhetorical narratologists, narrative is driven by the production of narrative gaps – suspense, curiosity, and surprise – which in turn drive reader interest in their potential fulfilment. Drawing from rhetorical-functionalist approaches to literature, I rethink contemporary perspectives on reader response to focus on the pedagogical implications of narrative interest, suggesting how English teachers might use narrative interest to explore narrative openings, the power of narrator perspective, and the ethics of storytelling. This reorientation of instruction balances specific reader responses with the textual production of narrative interest through genre forms, narrator voice, and narrative organisation.

The Reader Response Theory in Arabic Criticism Mohammad Al-Mubarak's Book: Istiqbal un-Nass (Text Reception) as an Example

The last century witnessed a lot of changes in world literary criticism. The modern critical approaches with their different philosophical, literary and linguistic attitudes emerged giving us various rules and ways of reading a literary text. These theories were divided into contextual approaches (the historical, psychological and social) paying attention to the author and the political, cultural and psychological changes he/she has undergone and how these changes affected the text through the author and his life. Critical studies then shifted from the context into text with the emergence of the textual approaches which argue that the critical reading begins with text and ends with it. The critical act moves then from the text to the receiver/reader with the appearance of the reader response theories which focus upon the reader as one of the most important elements of constructing the literary text and participating in it. Amid the tumult of all these studies, there were those who deny the existence of Arabic critical studies concerned with the reader or receiver till Mohamd Al-Mubark pulished his study: Text Reception in Arabic Criticism, tracing in it classical Arab critics' opinions concerning critical reading, its levels and types, the reader, his types and attitudes. This book is an attempt by the author to highlight the ancient Arabic critical heritage and to show the place of Arab critics and their critical potentialities in reading and receiving the literary text. Keywords: criticism, critical approaches, reader-response theory, ancient Arabic criticism, text reception.

The reception of the alternative voice by Afrikaans readers (1994–2002)

On 27 December 1994, woman theologian Christina Landman published her first contribution to the religious column Godsdiens Aktueel [Religion in Action] in the Afrikaans daily newspaper Beeld. The reaction of the Afrikaans readers of Beeld to what has been regarded by readers as ‘an alternative voice’ will be presented in this article. Although Landman is still writing for this column and has published 222 articles until 15 March 2023, in this article only the first 57 articles will be considered, published over 8 years between 1994 and 2002. The content and reference of the articles and the reaction of the readers to that have changed with the developments that occurred in Landman’s life story, as well as with the changes in politics and society since the democratic elections of 1994. From 1994 to 1999, Landman invited a reactionary response from readers by addressing them as gender and political activists. However, from the beginning of the first decade of the 21st century, from 2000, Landman addressed the readership from a perspective of the healing of society. The responses of readers in the letters to Beeld, both to the accusing and to the healing Landman, will not be analysed in terms of the presumed political and religious agendas of the readers, but will be presented under themes emanating from their letters in an unmediated fashion. The ‘audience reception’, as a methodology is applied contributing to advance readers’ responses to a modern religious text.Contribution: Contributing to an academic body of research, data gathered from 57 sources over 8 years, represent voices varying in race, gender and religious affiliation, providing for a minority of readers to be liberated through her voice. Audience reception’, as a methodology, enhances the academic debate on the development of thought in a specific culture-religious dialogue.

Reader's Response to Achebe's Civil Peace

This study aims to explore the personal interpretation of the reader of the short story "Civil Peace" using Norman Holland's Reader's Response vehicle. The study is based on a qualitative method, where the text of the story is subjected to the reader's interpretation to identify personality traits, familiar character traits, familiar plot events, and familiar settings. Findings reveal that the reader's interpretation is highly influenced by the major character of the story, Jonathan Iwegbu. The reader connects himself with Iwegbu at the first stage. In the second stage, Iwegbu's struggle seems similar to that of a person the reader knows, Ahmad. In the third stage, Iwegbu's response at moments of miracles and crises connects the reader with events in his personal life, showing unity with this character. Lastly, the reader appreciates Achebe's use of vernacular language as the best tool to depict real events in a realistic style. This study is a significant contribution to the current literature, providing insights into the reader's experience of "Civil Peace.

Read What You Know: Nostalgia and the Discovery of Self through L.M. Montgomery’s Emily of New Moon

This paper explores L.M. Montgomery’s Emily of New Moon through the critical lens of nostalgia, with an extension into the more intimate realms of family connection and personal identity. It additionally engages the broader reader response to Montgomery’s personal and literary descriptions of the natural setting of Prince Edward Island.

What triggers perceptions of racism in Heart of Darkness? A reader-response analysis

This paper combines reader-response analysis and stylistic insights to investigate what may be triggering perceptions of racism in Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness. It presents the results of a survey that asked participants to read extracts from the novel in which Africans are described and to highlight words and phrases they found problematic. Participants were then asked to answer some questions about their perception. Linking quantitative examination of the patterns emerging from participants’ highlighting with a qualitative analysis of participants’ answers, this paper provides a comprehensive picture of the linguistic features and structures that contribute to the perception of racism in Heart of Darkness. By doing so, this paper not only offers a novel perspective on the discussion about race and racism in Conrad’s canonical text, but it also provides further empirical evidence of the relationship between language and reader response.

Reader Response: Functional Outcomes and Mortality in Patients With Intracerebral Hemorrhage After Intensive Medical and Surgical Support.

Reader Response: Functional Outcomes and Mortality in Patients With Intracerebral Hemorrhage After Intensive Medical and Surgical Support.

Reader Response: Clinical Subgroups and Factors Associated With Progression in Patients With Inclusion Body Myositis.

Reader Response: Clinical Subgroups and Factors Associated With Progression in Patients With Inclusion Body Myositis.

Writer-Based and Reader-Based Prose in the Author’s Development as a Newspaper Columnist

The purpose of this study was to explore the researcher’s development as a columnist, particularly from the perspectives of Writer-Based and Reader-Based prose, and to identify the topics that have been recurrent themes during the 20-year period of education column writing. An in-depth examination of the researcher’s 210 published column articles (Teacher Talk, The Star. 2002-2021) was carried out with an analysis of content to compare the extent of Reader-Based Prose and Writer-Based Prose as well as topics or issues pertaining to teachers that have been consistently featured throughout the 20 years.Semi-structured interviews were conducted with six participants for the purpose of triangulation. The study revealed that over the period of 20 years, there was a gradual but definite shift towards greater Reader-Based Prose and stronger writer’s ‘presence’ in the column articles. Although elements of Writer-Based Prose were present in particular instances, there was a stronger pattern of Reader-Based Prose in the researcher’s writing, especially in articles written after 2005. Readers could identify with the characters and settings and draw personal meanings from the issues highlighted in the articles th us providing credence to Reader Response Theory. The issues or topics that featured most in the articles and that were most often repeated throughout the 20-year period were teachers’ perceptions of policies and professional issues and special school events. The same topics were the main emerging themes during the interviews thus providing confirmation that most issues experienced by Malaysian school teachers have remained the same over the past twenty years.

Response of Readers in the Novel The Call of The Wild

This research is to investigate readers' responses to the novel The Call of The Wild, focusing on its intrinsic elements. Employing a voluntary sampling strategy within the Telegram Reader Group, ten participants were selected to collect the data through a questionnaire, which was analysed in line with Jauss' theory. Qualitative descriptive methodology was employed, to understand readers' reactions to the novel's key components, including theme, plot, setting, character, and characterization. The research's implications are multifaceted: it enriches our comprehension of how readers interpret intricate literary elements, demonstrating the interplay between authorial intent and reader understanding. This research underscores the value of intrinsic elements in shaping reader engagement, offering insights applicable to authors, educators, and enthusiasts. The research's design showcases the feasibility of voluntary sampling in online reader communities and introduces a systematic approach to analysing reader responses through tailored questions. Overall, this research contributes to our understanding of reader interactions with literature, spanning realms from narrative interpretation to research methodology.

A Rhetorical Reading of Suzanne Collins’ The Hunger Games

This paper discusses Suzanne Collins’ novel The Hunger Games (2008) in light of James Phelan’s rhetorical model. It explores Phelan’s theory of the reading of narrative as an activity that simultaneously engages the readers’ intellects, emotions, ideologies, and ethics. The paper examines several issues central to rhetorical poetics: reliable/unreliable narrators, narrative ethics, narrative judgments, and narrative progression. It demonstrates how the rhetorical theory of narrative emphasizes the recursive relationships between authorial agency, textual phenomena, and reader response while remaining open to insights from a range of critical approaches such as feminism, formalism, and cultural studies. I argue that the narrator in this novel is largely reliable with only a few cases of slight deviation from the norms of the implied author due to unavoidable lack of cognition or to occasional cases of misinterpretation. The novel contains a powerful communication system that blends fictional and actual audiences into a network of recursive relations based on a multilayered narrative ethics. The paper also shows how the rhetorical model can illuminate and assist in our interpretation of literary texts especially when we view the reading experience as a vital engagement between the reader and the author controlled by an implied author affected by each of them. Keywords: Suzanne Collins, The Hunger Games, James Phelan, Rhetorical Model Scholars.

Postmodernist Literature and Reader Response Criticism

Postmodernist Literature and Reader Response Criticism