Why Are We Reading This? Hermeneutic Inquiry into the Practice of Teaching (with) Literature

Bibliographic Data

ID8923682
AuthorsMorgan Schaufele (0009-0006-8966-0620, University of Lethbridge, corresponding author)
Year2019
Volume56
Issue2
Pages145-159
Publication date2019-12-02
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueEducational Studies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0013-1946 • E-ISSN: 1532-6993
PublisherTaylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/00131946.2019.1695212
OpenAlexW2924560788
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited16

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

Epistemology · Hermeneutics · Linguistics · Mathematics education · Pedagogy · Reading (process · Sociology · Teaching method · Ethics, Aesthetics, and Art · Philosophy · Philosophy, Ethics, and Existentialism · Psychology · Theatre and Performance Studies

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