In Using Reader-Response Theory in the Introductory Literature Classroom, Anderson adopts the pedagogical principle: Reader Response, also known as the rhetorical approach to literature to incorporate literary theory into the classrooms. As Louise Rosenblatt points out, in order to produce meaning, the reader and the text should work together by engaging in a transaction, each influencing the other in the creation of meaning (Rosenblatt, p.29). For this, every reader is assumed to employ his background knowledge and experiences to critically analyse and interpret the text, and in the process, reconstruct it, making it not only unique to him but also meaningful to his understanding of the text as well as the subject as a whole. Keeping in mind the significance of respecting students’ responses, this theory undeniably empowers students. Also, the reader is allowed to recreate the text in each reading, accepting multiple literary interpretations. Here, Anderson further sheds light on the active role played by the reader to make meaning of the text in hand.
However, its applicability is bound to be questioned in the Singaporean Secondary classroom. Although the theory is built on the notion that readers are co-creators of the text, often times students are deprived of the opportunity to form interpretations based on their beliefs and experiences and have to mostly succumb to a response that has been approved by …show more content…
Karolides
In The Transactional Theory of Literature, Karolides argues for “giving equal voice to all sides” (p.15), placing importance on the perception that all readers are entitled to their own interpretations. In order to define the true nature of reading a text, he believes in the notion that each reader produces rather different responses as “all readers do not come away from reading a text with the same impressions” and these “differences expand the meaningful potential of the text and of the readers' transactions with it” (Karolides,
However, its applicability is bound to be questioned in the Singaporean Secondary classroom. Although the theory is built on the notion that readers are co-creators of the text, often times students are deprived of the opportunity to form interpretations based on their beliefs and experiences and have to mostly succumb to a response that has been approved by …show more content…
Karolides
In The Transactional Theory of Literature, Karolides argues for “giving equal voice to all sides” (p.15), placing importance on the perception that all readers are entitled to their own interpretations. In order to define the true nature of reading a text, he believes in the notion that each reader produces rather different responses as “all readers do not come away from reading a text with the same impressions” and these “differences expand the meaningful potential of the text and of the readers' transactions with it” (Karolides,