Text and Task Complexity in the Reading of Two Novels

• In Event: 72.049 - Roundtable Session 34
  In Roundtable Session: 72.049-8 - Innovative Approaches to Writing and Instruction

Abstract

Recent changes in educational standards require students to engage in more complex tasks with more complex texts, which in the study of literature suggests moving beyond simply understanding the plot, setting, and characters of novels to interpreting literary texts for deeper meaning. Therefore, in designing instruction that supports students in more than typical reading comprehension tasks, the potential sources of complexity of literary texts need to be considered. However, there is little empirical work that looks at how layers of complexity play out in actual classroom contexts. This work attempts to address that gap by examining sources of text complexity in the study of two novels by eleventh grade students, with particular attention to the demands of the task.

Author

• Allison H. Hall, University of Illinois at Chicago