Response-Based Approach to Reading Literature

Response Based Approach to Reading Literature

            Langer puts an easily understood concept that affects the way nearly everyone reads literature into simple words. Essentially, Langer says that the new ideas are experienced in the overall sense of “the whole,” but that as the reader understands more and more of “the whole,” it redefines the new ideas. Though the “two-way” model has always been present, seeing it explained in such simple terms makes the reader really think about how the ideas of a work has changed from the beginning to the end of the reading. Furthermore, Langer explains that the individual reader’s experiences totally change the outlook on the final work. This explains why every reader can come to a different conclusion on the same text.

            Langer than goes on to describe how, despite all of these different possibilities for outcomes to reading literature, literature is usually taught as a right and wrong subject. Instead, Langer seems to suggest that instead of teaching literature in a way that has students build towards a single type of response, that the multitude of literary understandings should be embraced and explored. Carrying this philosophy into the classroom is relatively simple, encourage students to write, speak, or discuss their interpretation as long as they have textual evidence to back their opinion up. This accomplishes two goals, it allows students to grow their confidence of forming and professing an opinion while fostering the skills to analyze text and make textual references and connections in writing and discussion. The ability to make textual connections is an important and required skill in many college classes, so helping students to develop these skills is important to our work as teachers.

            The last important thing that Langer mentions is that integrating literature into all classrooms is an important and useful way to teach. Allowing students in a history class to connect to a subject through literature can be a useful means of instruction that students may not otherwise get. Because it allows students to create and modify their own worlds and understandings, students can learn using their own perspectives that a teacher may not have thought to teach from.