Reader Response Theory

1. This theory supports the idea that the knowledge that the reader gains from the text depends on the readers response to the text.

1.1. This results in the text not having one specific interpretation.

2. Two Types of Reading:

2.1. Efferent/Informal Reading

2.1.1. The readers attention is focused on what is learned or remembered from the text.

2.2. Aesthetic Reading

2.2.1. The reader is focused on what experience they gain from the text.

3. Created by Rosenblatt in 1938

4. Prominent influence on literature instruction

5. Questions that prompt the reader response perspective:

5.1. How do you feel when reading a specific book or poem?

5.2. Why do you feel that way after reading a certain passage?

5.3. In what ways do readers read the text differently?