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their subjectivity as an educational benefit. Such a realization can motivate them into
becoming better readers and thinkers. The use of response journals in the reading
classroom can capture their lived through experiences of reading and such an outcome
can lay the groundwork for using personal response questions in reading exams.
Asking students to write first person narrations that relate to either their encounters
with particular character(s) or their evaluation of people/place/time in a story/text can
be particularly beneficial. Furthermore, response questions can be framed keeping in
mind the emotional, social and moral values/judgements that accrue through students
reading involvement.
The students’ responses from their journals presented below can serve to illustrate
their deeper sense of engagement with the texts that they read. Most importantly, they
can provide some useful insights into the questions posed earlier. The students appear
to have made a definitive attempt to draw on their experiences as their sense of
involvement with the texts had been strengthened. In the views of Protherough (in
Corcoran and Evans, 1987, p. 80) they learned:
…how to project themselves into a character whose feelings and adventures
they share, how to enter a situation close to the characters, how to establish
links between their own lives and the people and events of the story, how to
become a more distanced watcher of what is described. And we suspect that
these different kinds of reader behaviour are incremental: that children extend
their repertoire and are therefore progressively able to enjoy a wider variety of
texts which make different demands on them.
The following responses can serve to support/illustrate the afore-mentioned points:
Highflier 1: I read William Cowper’s. The Poplar Field. This poem is the story of a writer
talking about transformation of nature and time. He described the different
perceptions in different time at the same place……… The poet uses powerful
words to show his feeling such as ‘winds play no longer and sing in the
leaves’ ‘The tree is my seat’ I now understand the implied meanings largely.
Highflier 2 I read the story, The Tunnel. It is about a youth couple………. For my
opinion I think their love was on the wrong way. They are not ready to
marry. Hence it can create many problems… if they have a child can they
take care of their child?
Highflier 3: I read Catch 22 by Joseph Heller. It talks about the characters in order of
importance, in the hierarchy of authority and kind of authority… I see the
dilemma in the text, if you obey the order you will die. But if you don’t obey
the order you will still die. I think this is a sad situation. Authority uses
power to kill.
Seeker 1: I read the poem, The Poplar Field. I feel sad for the poet. He is shocked by
the disappearance of poplar trees…. He always dreamt to come to this
favourite place again. He realizes that time has changed everything.