Transaction and Transformation: Revisioning Reader Response Criticism for Cultural Inclusion

• In Event: Saturday Roundtable Session 11:25 am
  In Roundtable Session: Prioritizing Culture and Community in Literacy Learning (Table 20)

Abstract

Reader response theories and especially Rosenblatt’s (1938, 1978) notion of reading as a transaction have long influenced K-12 teacher preparation programs in English language arts. Yet in recent years, several theorists and researchers have reconceptualized and/or augmented reader response theory to address both diversity among authors and readers as well as implications of the sociocultural and the historical contexts in which works are written and later read. In so doing, they have explored reading transactions in ways that have challenged normative conceptualizations of race, culture, gender, and sexuality. In this roundtable presentation, we review these advancements in reader response theory and propose implications for culturally inclusive English language arts classrooms.

Authors

• Laurie Shirley Esposito, Independent Contractor

• Lindsay Metzker-Epstein, Temple University

• Desiree W. Cueto, University of Arizona