Reading and responding: Effects of a prompted approach to literature

The purpose of this study was to determine the efficacy of reader response as a vehicle for eliciting use of higher-order, abstract thinking skills in elementary and secondary school-age children. The study includes an historical overview of reader-response criticism, an examination of reader response as a strategy which honors reading and writing as complementary language skills, and discussion concerning the relationship between reader response and the cognitive developmental theories of genetic epistemology and information processing. It was hypothesized that when students were prompted to respond with analysis and evaluation to what they had read, they would use response patterns indicative of higher-order thinking skills, as defined by Piagetian psychology.

Students in Grades 4 (n = 27), 8 (n = 31), and 11 (n = 38) read a book of their choice and then responded in writing to Thinking About Books (TAB), an activity with one summary-writing and two reader-response prompts. Responses were analyzed using a content analysis scheme based on Piagetian categories which described trends in cognitive development. The summary-writing prompt elicited knowledge-based response patterns indicative of concrete operations in 100% of fourth graders, 100% of eighth graders, and 97% of eleventh graders. The reader-response prompt, which asked students to associate what they had read to their own lives, elicited patterns indicative of higher-order thinking skills in 89% of fourth graders, 84% of eighth graders, and 92% of eleventh graders. These results were statistically significant and suggested that prompted approaches to literature affect whether students remain at literal, concrete levels of thought or whether they utilize higher-order thinking skills. The reader-response prompt which asked students for an evaluation of what they had read also elicited response patterns indicative of formal operations. These patterns occurred in 48% of fourth and eighth graders and in 66% of eleventh graders. These latter results were not significant, supporting past research indicating that students have difficulty producing elaborated evaluations. This study seemed to suggest that students from ages 9 to 17 at both high and low ability levels are capable of using higher-order thinking skills when prompted in a reader-response mode.