Elementary Children’s Aesthetic and Efferent Responses to Reading Information Books

1. Elementary Children’s Aesthetic and Efferent Responses to Reading Information Books Ray Doiron, Ph.D. University of Prince Edward Island Canada

2. The C.R.I.B. Project • A three-year study that examined: • Elementary children’s independent reading choices. • Elementary children’s written responses to reading information books.

3. Factors that Warrant this Study • Most previous research before literature-based programs. • Few Canadian studies in this area. • Trade book market has exploded with a wealth of information books. • Large population (1200) followed for three years. • Construct was examined within the literacy instruction context. • Variety of data-gathering tools used.

4. Theoretical Framework • Bruner’s “Ways of Knowing” • Narrative/Paradigmatic • Each order experience, construct reality • Each requires different forms, different uses of language • Don’t reduce one to the other or favor one over the other. • Not two distinct world views but both make a complete picture

5. A Dichotomy exists … • One for science – one for art • One for knowledge – one for understanding • One narrative – one exposition • Work of language – play of language • One for pleasurable reading – one for reading for information.

6. Collapse the Dichotomy • Focus on the source of the texts; • Focus on the aesthetic value of each, both in their form and in the process that led to their creation. • Both text forms can develop literacy skills and • Both text forms can motivate students to read.

7. The Research Focus • Would elementary students generate written response to reading information books? • Would elementary students generate aesthetic and efferent responses?

8. Rosenblatt as Foundation • Transactive nature of reading – two stances – aesthetic & efferent. • Reader may adopt either stance for either text type. • Forget the “either-or habit” where one text is for aesthetic - other for efferent. • Advises teachers to develop students’ ability to read either text from either stance (1991).

9. Population and Location • 1 urban school & 2 suburban/rural schools. • Grades 1thru 3 and grades 4 thru 6 followed for three years. • Teachers – use literature-based programs – commercially available and supplemented with their own materials and themes. • Well-developed school library programs with full-time teacher-librarian; also open book exchanges.

10. Collecting Written Responses • Sets of 50+ pre-selected information books in classrooms for 3 weeks. • Book talk by researcher; books set up in display. • Children read books for independent reading and completed a written response. • Prompt: Write anything you want about the book you just read. (Many & Cox studies)

11. Many & Cox Studies • Grade five students written responses to reading fiction. • Aesthetic response – focus is on the “lived-through experience” of the reader who relates personnel feelings, ideas, emotions and story extensions. • Efferent response – focus is on an analysis of the text and tell little of what the reader experienced while reading. • Many & Cox – 2 efferent, 4 aesthetic categories plus many “mingled” responses.

12. Analysis of Written Responses • Over 1500 responses collected from grades 1-6. • Holistic framework used to comb responses and find similarities. • Ten categories of response emerged; 331 responses identified as ”mingled” • Two research assistants gave very high – inter-rater reliability. • 5 aesthetic and 5 efferent categories named and described. • Exemplars chosen for each of 10 categories.

13. Distribution of Responses • After mingled pulled out – 1178 left. • Table 1: shows total number of responses by grade and gender. • Table 2: Response Categories by Grade and Gender • Not much variance by gender • Figure 1: Responses by Category & Grade

14. Figure 1

15. Aesthetic Responses to Information Books • Cat. 1: It reminds me of … • Cat. 2: I wonder why … • Cat. 3: I didn’t know that … • Cat 4: I liked it when … • Cat. 5: Text triggered a personal narrative.

16. Efferent Responses to Information Books • Cat. 6: Reader gives a “review” or recommendation for the book. • Cat. 7: Attraction to a special feature of the book. • Cat. 8: Simple retelling of things remembered – This book is about … • Cat. 9: Rates the difficulty of the reading level for them or for others. • Cat. 10: Simple like/dislike for the book – almost a non-response.

17. Summary of Results • Elementary children can respond to information books from either an aesthetic or efferent stance. • Purpose set for the reading influences response (Rosenblatt). • Responses are as varied as when they read fiction • Analysis of written responses by gender showed no difference in response types or frequency of completing a response.

18. Implications • Literacy educators need to “let” children read information books for other purposes that just fact-finding; i.e. pleasurable reading. • Residual data indicated these students were excited about being free to read information books during silent reading time. • Literacy educators need to teach students to read different texts for different purposes, i.e. information books have an aesthetic role in developing literacy. • Literacy educators need to help children develop a complete picture of the world by using both text types to represent the world.