Using Comprehension Questions and Reader-Response Strategies with Second-Semester University Spanish Students

Abstract

For most of the 20th century, literary criticism has focused on uncovering the author’s intended meanings of a given text. In contrast, reader-response theorists have concentrated on the role of the reader in literary interpretation. This article details an exploratory study which documents second-semester university Spanish students’ perceptions of their experiences reading children’s novels in Spanish. Learners participated in curricular engagements designed to facilitate their understanding and promote the development of their own interpretations of the books. Results of the study suggest that such engagements may either contribute or impede students’ comprehension and interpretation of literary texts due to various contextual factors.

Keywords

• literature
• comprehension
• reader-response
• children’s literature
• interpretation