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| Critical
Issues: Reading and Responding to Literature at the Level of Activity |
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| Richard Beach University of Minnesota | Drawing on the sociocultural activity theory of learning, this report defines the components of activity systems shaping readers’ responses to literature – the components of object/outcome, tools, rules, roles, and community change. It posits that readers respond within their participation as members of various activity systems – book clubs, classroom, chat rooms, etc. – systems shaped by these components. It also posits that readers ideally learn to frame characters’ actions at the level of activity – as part of characters’ participation in activity systems portrayed in texts. This framework is applied to responses of “advanced” and “regular” high school students, operating within an ability-grouping system, to a story about a “regular” student going on a Weld trip with “advanced” students. It is also applied to responses of teachers enrolled in a graduate writing methods course in reaction to a story about a teacher’s feedback to an essay; the teachers’ responses reflected their participation in the systems of the course itself, their own teaching, and their families. | |
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| JLR v. 32 no. 2 2000 pp. 237–251 |
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