“I am no Othello. I am a lie”: A Consideration of Reader-Response Theory as Language Learning Pedagogy and Teacher Philosophy

Abstract

This paper seeks to articulate the understanding of transactional/reader-response as theory and its use in the language classroom as both teaching philosophy and pedagogy. First, I map the terrain of reader-response theory, its history, in general, and how it has been articulated in literary studies, in particular. Next, I briefly synthesise studies that sought to empirically study reader response in the classroom and question why these inevitably fail to engage meaningfully with it -and seem to instead only result in teacher "lesson plan" ideas.

Chinese Transnational Adolescents’ Responses to Multicultural Children’s Literature in Culture Circles

“…On the other hand, collective identity reconstruction is based on the conclusion of responses from readers. Elsherief (2017) suggested that applying reader's response theory into Freire's culture circle setting gives participants an opportunity to interact with each other and better understand the concept of a literacy community.…”

“…Grujicic-Alatriste (2013) conducted psychoanalytic literary criticism of Holland's DEFT (Defense, Expectations, Fantasy, and Transformation) model as a reader response tool in a language classroom. She found that the DEFT model helps non-English language speakers confidently respond to texts because they can express their personal feelings and opinions rather than merely examining the understanding of the story plot Elsherief (2017).…”