STANCE TOWARDS A LITERARY WORK: APPLYING THE TRANSACTIONAL THEORY TO CHILDREN'S RESPONSES

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Abstract
The purpose of this study was to examine childrens’ responses to a literary work from a reader response perspective, specifically the concepts of stance and personal meaningfulness drawn from Rosenblatt's (1978) transactional theory. Data were the free, written responses of 38 fifth‐grade children to nine works of realistic literature and film. Classification systems were developed to characterize stance on an efferent to aesthetic continuum, and level of personal understanding reached. Results revealed 1) between‐text differences for stance and understanding, 2) book and film differences for stance, but not for understanding, 3) the majority of responses were written from an aesthetic stance, and also went beyond the simplest literal level of understanding, and 4) the use of an aesthetic stance ‐ when responders focused on the lived‐through experience of the work ‐ was associated with significantly higher levels of understanding, clearly providing empirical support for the theories of Rosenblatt and other reader response critics. Two children in a fifth‐grade class each write in response to reading Where the Red Fern Grows, Wilson Rawls’ (1961) novel about a boy and his two hunting dogs in the Ozarks of the early twentieth century. I like the book Where the Red Fern Grows because it made me feel nice. The Ozarks, where Billy lived, seemed just like the perfect place to grow up. It seemed really great. It amazed me that Billy could save his money for two years without giving up, or even telling someone what he was doing. I really liked the book because it made me feel like I was on a vacation, and had all the time in the world left just for living. It made me feel free. Time just stood still. It was great. I was always sorry when time for reading the book was over in class.

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