Why Are We Reading This? Hermeneutic Inquiry into the Practice of Teaching (with) Literature. Issue 2 (3rd March 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Schaufele, Morgan
• Is Part Of: Educational studies. Volume 56:Issue 2(2020)
• Page Start: 145
• Page End: 159
• Publication Date: 2020-03-03
• Subjects: Education -- Book reviews -- Periodicals; Education -- Periodicals; Éducation -- Recensions de livres -- Périodiques; Éducation -- Périodiques; Electronic journals; 370
• DOI: 10.1080/00131946.2019.1695212
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0013-1946

Abstract

Abstract: Drawing upon my own experiences as a high school English Language Arts teacher, I seek a satisfying response to offer students when they ask, "Why are we reading this?" Such a query often leads teachers and students to consider broader questions of the purposes of literature. This paper presents a hermeneutic exploration of the practice of teaching (with) literature in the high school classroom. Using the writings of Gadamer (1989/2013) and Sumara (1996, 2002), and their conceptualizations of aesthetic (literary) experience, I outline a process of engaging with students in their desire to understand their roles as readers in the classroom. In doing so, I make an argument for playful and dialogic interactions between reader and text – an approach that both retains the integrity of aesthetic experience, and also invites a relational pedagogy among those who share a literary reading.