Productive Disciplinary Discussion in Literary Reading: Shifting Classroom Practice

• In Event: Teachers Learning to Support Student Agency in Classroom Discourse: Case Studies in Mathematics, Literature, and Science

Abstract

This presentation examines the learning processes of two case study teachers as they transitioned to classrooms that increasingly supported students in engaging in literary inquiry. Engaging adolescents in literary inquiry requires a shift from traditional single “right answer” reading comprehension instruction to instruction that regards students as valued agents and contributors to meaning-making (Langer, 2011; Lee, 2007). Literary readers approach texts expecting layers of meaning, understanding the need to look beyond the surface for deeper meanings (Lee et al., 2016). Their inquiries involve analyzing the language and structure of literary works, attending to linguistic cues (e.g., word choices, repetition, odd juxtapositions) (Rabinowitz, 1987). They consider multiple meanings and interpretations as they read, reflect on, and discuss texts, revising and debating with others (Lee et al., 2016). To engage adolescents in literary inquiry, teachers need to learn how to guide students in these processes of literary inquiry, which requires that teachers learn to design instruction that prepares students to navigate the challenges of complex literary texts.

Both case study teachers, one a high school and one a middle school teacher, participated in a project that engaged them in iterative design-based research over multiple years. They co-designed instruction with researchers, implemented it in their classrooms, and reflected on what occurred during the implementations, leading to re-design of instruction and a new cycle of implementation and reflection. The co-design work provided opportunities for teachers to deepen their understandings of literary reading practices and tools for supporting students in developing and engaging in those practices. A critical element of the instructional designs in both middle and high school were classroom discussions in which students wrestled with identifying and assigning significance to specific ways in which literary authors used language, characterization, and plot structure to convey levels of meaning beyond the surface. Preparing students to engage in these discussions and not rely on the teacher providing “the one right answer” was identified as an important problem of practice for both teachers. Efforts to address this problem of practice during the first implementation cycle created opportunities for each teacher to reflect on the design, their implementation practices, and how students participated in classroom discussions. Based on these reflections each teacher re-designed the instruction. In the high school case, the teacher chose more complex themes and texts and focused instruction more on how the author’s language and structure connected to themes. The middle school teacher focused re-design efforts on providing students with more opportunities to connect their own experiences with building criteria for making judgments about the reliability of literary narrators. Application of the Agency and Authority Coding System indicated marked shifts in relationship between teachers and students with students taking on more of the intellectual work of literary interpretation during the implementation of the re-designed instruction.

Authors

• Allison H. Hall, University of Illinois at Chicago

• MariAnne George, University of Illinois at Chicago