Responding to Literature

Responding to literature is the way in which one reacts to something that has been read or listened to (Cooper, 1993). This process begins before reading as one thinks about what is to be read and continues during and after reading (Martinez & Roser, 1991). Rosenblatt (1938/1976; 1978) has contended for many years that individuals construct their own meanings by transacting with the text. When response activities are the natural things one does with texts that have been read or listened to, they help students develop deeper understandings and help them relate what they have read to their own personal experiences (Gambrell, 1986; Hickman, 1983). It is through this process that individuals learn to construct meaning or comprehend (Cullinan, Harwood, & Galda, 1983).

Response activities teach children to read and write in several ways:

Relates Ideas to Own Experiences

Response activities provide students with the opportunities to relate narrative or expository text to their own personal experiences (Martinez & Roser, 1991). Through this personal transaction with the text, students formulate their own meanings and develop their overall abilities to construct meaning (Cullinan, Harwood, & Galda, 1983; Eeds & Wells, 1989). By responding to literature, students see models of writing that they will ultimately incorporate into their own writing (Dressel, 1990).

Types of Response

Researchers have found that readers respond to literature in a variety of ways -- by retelling, summarizing, analyzing, and generalizing (Applebee, 1978). Very young children are able to respond in these ways on a very simple level (Many, 1991). As students become more experienced readers and writers, they develop more sophisticated abilities to construct meaning by analyzing and evaluating literature (Kelly & Farnan, 1991). Writing is one form of responding to literature (Harste, Short, & Burke, 1988). By giving a written response to literature, students are learning to construct meaning through writing; they are further developing their ability to think critically (Tierney & Shanahan, 1991).

Teacher/Student Modeling

It is important for the teacher to model different types of responding behaviors for students (Martinez & Roser, 1991). For example, the teacher might show students how to ask good questions about a book, make an oral comparison for students, or give an oral summary of a book. Through these procedures, the teacher is also modeling the constructing of meaning through response activities (Roser & Martinez, 1985; Cochran-Smith, 1984). When children have opportunities to discuss books that have been read, they are also modeling responding for each other as well as modeling the construction of meaning (Eeds & Wells, 1989).