Intertextual Connections During Discussions About Literature

Content

Susan Lenski used a formative experiment design to learn about ways in which a teacher used questioning strategies to help students expand their intertextual boundaries during discussions about literature. Background is provided for teacher questioning as it relates to developing comprehension through discussion, the use of formative experimental design, and how the intertextual connections students made were influenced by teacher questioning.

Context

Based on the transactional theory of reading, constructivism, and semiotics, the author proposed the following three premises: (1) intertextual links that readers make are situated in individual learners, (2) discussion is a textual site that can be used as a resource for the construction of meaning, and (3) variety in intertextual questions during discussions creates more possibilities for making meaning. Without teacher guidance, students draw on a narrow range of connections to make meaning and those connections tend to be superficial. However, teachers' questions can affect how students interpret texts and may promote the creation of deeper and richer intertextual links, thus increasing student meaning and comprehension.

Methodology and Results

Using a formative experimental design that analyzed one group across time as the intervention was implemented and refined, the goal of this study was to expand the number and variety of intertextual references a teacher and students made during discussions about literature, focusing on the teacher's ability to ask questions in a variety of intertextual domains. The Directed Reading-Connecting Activity was the intervention used in a third-grade classroom in a large Midwestern city. The class consisted of 25 students: 14 girls and 11 boys. Twenty-two students were Caucasian, one was Hispanic, and two were Asian. Three students were identified as having learning disabilities; four students were identified as gifted; and one student was identified as having a behavioral disorder. The teacher was a white female who had taught for eight years. Data were collected during seven sessions, each lasting approximately 30 minutes. Data were transcribed and coded into message units. Eight intertextual domains were identified in two categories, social and knowledge-based references. Social references included references to personal experiences, the wider community, and common human experiences. Knowledge-based references included the text under discussion, other texts, school learning, and general knowledge. Inter-rater reliability was 82 percent. Although intertextual references varied by session, the number of references grew steadily from the first session to the fifth, decreasing slightly in the sixth and seventh session, but remaining far above the initial session.

Significance

This study demonstrates that a formative experimental design can be used to describe and guide a teacher's questioning strategies, allowing the investigator to change the treatment in response to the data. The importance of the role of the teacher in promoting rich construction of meaning is underscored by the findings in this study and can lead to the more conscious development of intertextual references to promote student meaning and understanding.

Source

Lenski, S. D. (2001). Intertextual connections during discussions about literature. Reading Psychology, 22, 313-335.