Reading as Subject Matter in a Literature Survey
Keywords:
Teaching Reading, Student confidence, Meta-cognitive, Literature SurveyAbstract
This study compares two sections of a sophomore level British literature survey, one taught with the traditional aims of covering a body of literature, and one with additional theoretical and metacognitive materials. I set out to discover the value of removing some content from the survey in favour of lasting benefits for the students’ confidence and ability reading literary texts. Students’ confidence did improve as questionnaires demonstrate, as did the depth of their responses on qualitative measures such as journals and essays. Teaching students to take stock of their own reading practices and focus on the process of reading resulted in higher grades, higher levels of reported confidence in approaching new texts, and more productive engagement with the texts assigned for class.
References
Adler, M. and Van Doren, C. How to Read a Book, revised Ed. New York: Touchstone for Simon and Schuster, 1972.
Bain, K. What the Best College Teachers Do. Cambridge, MS: Harvard UP, 2004.
Burke, J. Reading Reminders. Portsmouth, NH: Boynton/Cook, 2000.
Delbridge, K. “What We Know about the Teaching of Adolescent Reading.” What Research REALLY Says about Teaching and Learning to Read. Ed. S. B. Kucer. Urbana, IL: NCTE, 2008. 158-75.
Dwerk, C. S. Mindset: The New Psychology of Success. New York: Random House, 2006.
Dominowski, R. L. Teaching Undergraduates. London: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 2002.
Doyle. T. Helping Students Learn in a Learning-Centered Environment. Sterling, VA: Stylus, 2008.
Foster, T. C. How to Read Literature Like a Professor. New York: Harper Collins, 2003.
Kucer, S.B. “What We Know About the Nature of Reading.” What Research REALLY Says about Teaching and Learning to Read. Ed. S. B. Kucer. Urbana, IL: NCTE, 2008. 29-61.
Littau, K. Theories of Reading. Cambridge: Polity Press, 2006.
Manguel, A. A History of Reading. London: Penguin, 1997.
McWhorter, K. T. Guide to College Reading. 6th ed. New York: Longman.
National Research Council. How People Learn. Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press, 2000.
Ramsden, P. Learning to Teach in Higher Education. 2nd Ed. London: RoutledgeFalmer, 2003.
Snow, C.E., Griffin, P. and Burns, M.S. Knowledge to Support the Teaching of Reading. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2005.
Wolf, M. Proust and the Squid: The Story and Science of the Reading Brain. New York: Harper Perennial, 2007.
