Literary Studies: A Preparation for Tertiary Education (and Life Beyond)

My argument is that a literary education should build on a primary level of responsivity towards literature, involving empathy and immersion in the world of the text. To engage with literary works from the past involves a play between familiarity and strangeness, and this play should be located as part of a reader’s response to texts, rather than expecting students to imbibe the ‘dead knowledge’ about literary periods and authors in which textbooks and literary guides traffic. Literary responsiveness involves sensitivity towards the specific character of the text, which means locating it in relation to other texts belonging to that genre without reducing it to being merely illustrative of a genre’s so-called characteristics. In all these respects, contemporary educational standards reflect questionable assumptions about the development of a capacity to respond to literary texts, especially the supposition that a ‘mature’ response to literature somehow involves moving beyond personal response to more analytical forms of engagement.     

谈女性小说的影视改编--兼以《橘子红了》为例

当前。对女性作家的小说改编后的电视剧往往消解原著中的性别意识，回归到既定的性别形象和性别关系图式。由于创作者不同的社会性别观念和意识，在文本叙事中会体现出不同的性别视角。本文以《橘子红了》为例，通过对小说和剧本两个文本进行细读。从聚焦选择、人物描写、人物关系三个方面进行文本的叙事学分析，揭示文本中隐藏的性别视角，分析不同性别视角下文本的性别内涵。     

Students’ genre expectations and the effects of text cohesion on reading comprehension

This study raises the question what makes school texts comprehensible by analyzing whether students’ genre expectations about literary or expository texts moderate the impact of different forms of text cohesion on reading comprehension, even when the texts are similar regarding their genre. 754 students (Grade 9) from comprehensive schools read one of four text versions with similar content, but different degrees of local and global text cohesion. The four more or less cohesive texts were introduced as literary texts (part of a story) or as expository texts (newspaper article), although the different genres were only purported and the texts contained both literary and expository passages. Reading comprehension was assessed with multiple-choice-items, semi-open, and open-ended questions. Results demonstrate that global cohesion was profitable for reading comprehension with expository expectations, but not with literary ones. Local text cohesion and both forms of cohesion in combination did not interact with students’ genre expectations and had no main effect on comprehension. When students reading skills and prior knowledge were considered, the interaction was still apparent. Moreover, students with lower levels of reading skills tended to profit especially from texts with global cohesion, whereas the readers with higher reading skills achieved equal means in reading comprehension irrespective of the degree of global text cohesion. The findings are discussed with respect to theoretical aspects of text–reader-interactions, cognitive and emotional components of genre expectations, and the composition and instruction of comprehensible school texts.     

Staying with the text: the contribution of gender,achievement orientations,and interest to students’ performance on a literacy task

This study addresses concerns about boys’ underperformance on literacy tasks compared to girls, by investigating male and females students’ responses to narrative texts. Participants were 142 Grade 9 and 10 students. Achievement orientations, including goals, self‐efficacy, and self‐handicapping, were measured and approach and avoidance factors identified. Boys scored higher than girls on the avoidance factor. The task presented to participants involved reading sections from two narrative texts representing typically male or typically female reading interests. Interest ratings for the narrative text topics and interest levels while reading the texts were monitored, and students’ answers to multiple‐choice questions on text content recorded. Regression analyses confirmed that the influence of gender, achievement orientation, and on‐task text interest on reading performance varied with different patterns of task interest. The findings suggest that students’ achievement orientations and task interests are both important for understanding gender differences in students’ response to narrative texts.     

The use of source-related strategies in evaluating multiple psychology texts: a student–scientist comparison

Multiple text comprehension can greatly benefit from paying attention to sources and from using this information for evaluating text information. Previous research based on texts from the domain of history suggests that source-related strategies are acquired as part of the discipline expertise as opposed to the spontaneous use of these strategies by students just entering a field. In the present study, we compared the performance of students and scientists in the domain of psychology with regard to (a) their knowledge of publication types, (b) relevant source characteristics, (c) their use of sources for evaluating the credibility of multiple texts, and (d) their ability to judge the plausibility of argumentative statements in psychological texts. Participants worked on a battery of newly developed computerised tests with a think-aloud instruction to uncover strategies that scientists and students used when reading a text. Results showed that scientists scored higher in all of the assessed abilities and that these abilities were positively correlated with each other. Importantly, the superior performance of scientists in evaluating the credibility of multiple texts was mediated by their use of source information. Implications are discussed in terms of discipline expertise.     

“前景化”理论与文学翻译

“前景化”这一概念源于俄国的形式主义,它指的是不同寻常地运用某种手段来突出某一文本的一个元素或特质。前景化现象在文学语言中表现得最为充分,因此文学文本翻译成功与否,在很大程度上取决于充溢于原文本的“前景化”手段在目的语中是否实现。文章讨论了前景化的发展历史、表现形式及其译者在充满前景或陌生化的文学文本中应如何穷尽语言的表达力,挖掘可译性潜势,保持原文本的异质性和新奇感。     

Motivation and learning — The role of interest in construction of representation of text and long-term retention: Inter- and intraindividual analyses

The present work examined the influence of topic interest on the strength of différent components of text representation and long-term retention according to the model of text processing by van Dijk and Kintsch (1983). A Series of relevant personality characteristics were assessed to control for alternative explanations of interest effect. A total of 286 8th, 9th, and 10th grade students was assigned to either a high topic interest or a low topic interest group. The participants had to read tow différent texts (two weeks). Immediately afterwards, various process variables were assessed: Finally, participants weren given a recognition and verification tests, designed to assess the strength of the verbatim, propositional, and situational text representation. One Week after reading, students completed a recall rneasure: The interindividual finding with respect to the components of the representation of text revealed that the verbatim and the prepositional representation were not very predictable. The intraindividual analyses were more successful. The results were more consistent and interpretable with respect to the recall of text. It was shown quite clearly that the effects of interest are not only short-term. Most importantly, it could be shown that topic interest is related to text recall independently of other significant predictors.     

Reading biographical texts: a gateway to historical disciplinary reading

We examined the response of high school students in Israel to biographical texts. Students were exposed to three sub-genres of biographical texts (a literary-biographical text, an autobiographical text and a scientific-biographical text). These texts all differ from the conceptual schema of ordinary school texts. The data were collected from 64 participants from three classes in two different public schools in Israel. The ability of students to apply historical disciplinary reading skills was evaluated for each text, with an emphasis on ‘sourcing’ and ‘corroboration’. The basic premise was that the texts the students are exposed to influence not only their level of knowledge but also their disciplinary concepts and skills.

We contend that it might be that biographical texts, and especially autobiographical and literary-biographical texts, evoked historical reading in students, and strengthened their disciplinary reading abilities.     

Personal Social Networks and the Cultivation of Expertise in Magic: An Interview Study

The purpose of the present study was to examine expertise in magic by interviewing 16 prominent Finnish magicians who were identified earlier through a social network analysis of 120 Finnish magicians. A semi-structured interview was administered that addressed the participants’ histories; their relationship to magic, the nature of their expertise, the networked development of expertise, their engagement with magical expertise and their motivation for cultivating such expertise. The results indicated that expertise in magic is cultivated, to a great extent, by informal networks of expertise without formal training. The participants had become excited about magic as children and started to pursue an expertise in the field from a relatively early age (4 to 14 years). In accordance with other domains of expertise, it had taken about 10 years of cultivating skills and competencies before becoming professional in the field, with a few exceptions. Ego-centric network analyses revealed that there were three or four magicians who had significantly shaped the Finnish field of magic and affected most of the participants’ development and career. Most of the participants were clustered, forming a core of Finnish magicians, and those magicians working abroad and collaborating with international magicians were located at the periphery of the Finnish network or formed an isolated network of clusters within it.     

主位推进模式在文学语篇分析中的应用

主位推进模式是文学语篇构建的重要形式手段。文学语篇比其它类型的语篇呈现出较为复杂的主位推进模式,常常是多种模式的交叉配合使用;主位同一型、主位派生型、述位分裂型和延续型是文学语篇中最为常用的主位推进模式。主位推进模式在文学语篇的构建和解读过程中发挥着重要作用,恰当的主位推进模式可以帮助作者实现其语篇目的;利用主位推进模式对文学语篇进行分析,有助于深刻理解语篇内容以及作者组织语篇信息的方法。为了从更高的层面上来描述和分析语篇中的主位推进模式,还引入了句群主位的概念。     

Computerized Presentation of Text: Effects on Children’s Reading of Informational Material

This study examined whether children’s reading rate, comprehension, and recall are affected by computer presentation of text. Participants were 60 grade five students, who each read two expository texts, one in a traditional print format and the other from a computer monitor, which used a common scrolling text interface. After reading each text, participants were asked to recall as much as they could from what they had read and then answered questions that measured text recall and comprehension. Children took more time to read the passage and recalled more of the text material that they had read from the computer monitor. The benefit of computer presentation disappeared when efficiency variables, which take time into account, were examined. Children were, however, more efficient at comprehending text when reading from paper. The results suggest that children may take more time to read text on computer screens and that they are more efficient when reading text on paper.     

Emotional factors of causal coherence in text comprehension

The current study tested the effects of positive and negative emotion at the beginning and end of texts, as well as the consistency in valence throughout a text on readers’ response choice to items on a multiple-choice reading comprehension assessment. Multinomial logistic regressions were performed on 1,161 college participants’ assessment responses to test whether emotion in narrative and informational text items significantly predicted which distractor response options readers chose in comparison to the correct response option. Overall, consistent emotion throughout text and positive and negative emotion at the beginning and end of text were significant predictors of readers’ response choices. The results are discussed in terms of emotion being an indicator of readers’ causal processing. Specifically, findings provide a better understanding of how emotional features in narrative and informational texts may influence how readers develop causal coherence and comprehension during reading. This understanding could also help inform the development of instructional tools that encourage readers to focus on aspects of text (i.e., emotion) which could, in turn, help improve comprehension for readers who struggle.     

Gender differences in reading: Examining text-based interest in relation to text characteristics and reading comprehension

Reading is a key competence for knowledge acquisition and learning processes. One important source of reading motivation is interest. Even though students' text-based interest often differs by gender, it remains unclear which text factors underlie these differences and whether text-based interest relates to reading comprehension among boys and girls. In a sample of 514 elementary students (47.2% girls), this study examined whether text topic, protagonists' gender, and text difficulty affect boys' and girls' text-based interest and whether interest and reading comprehension are intertwined. Based on a repeated within-subject design using fourteen narrative texts, the results indicated that boys' interest was higher in texts with male-attributed topics, male protagonists, and in more difficult texts. In contrast, girls’ interest was only affected by text difficulty. Text-based interest and reading comprehension were significantly related, albeit stronger for boys than for girls. The findings are discussed regarding future implications for research and educational practice.     

异域文豪的心灵之约——《红楼梦》与《浮士德》的精神对话

论文立足于文学文本,力求在异质文学之间寻求一种文本解读方式.据此,笔者以灵肉母题范型为主线,将中西方两部文学经典--<红楼梦>与<浮士德>互为参照,展示出灵肉母题呈现过程中的同步性和相似之处,彰显中西方两位文学大师的精神契合点,并发掘文学经典的魅力所在.     

作为版本批评资源的新文学序跋

新文学序跋因其内容指涉文本,涉及作品出版的情况、作家对文本的修改以及作家对文本的阐释等,所以,它对厘清版本源流、找出版本间的文本差异以及追索版本修改动因等可提供重要的线索和依据,是新文学版本批评的一个重要资源。     

Effects of two types of task instructions on literary text comprehension and motivational and affective factors

This experimental study investigated the effects of two types of task instructions on text comprehension, motivation, and emotional involvement. In all, 226 9th graders in low academic tracks were randomly assigned to complete reader-oriented (RO), text-based (TB), or no tasks after reading literary texts to elaborate their mental text representation. Whereas RO tasks encouraged emotional engagement and indirectly stimulated text analysis through creative activities, TB tasks focused on cognitive activity and directly encouraged text analysis. After students completed the tasks, they answered test items on content- and form-related text comprehension. The results indicate that form-related comprehension improved when students elaborated their mental text representation through TB tasks. By contrast, RO students were more interested in the tasks, and they showed slightly more emotional involvement. As the two types of task instructions seemingly have different effects, they may be considered complementary elements in instructional practices for lower academic tracks.     

Situational Interest in Literary Text

This study examined relationships among text characteristics, situational interest, two measures of text understanding, and personal responses when reading a literary text. A factor analysis of ratings made after reading revealed six interrelated text characteristics. Of these, suspense, coherence and thematic complexity explained 54% of the variance in interest. Additional analyses found that situational interest was unrelated to a multiple choice test of main ideas; but was related to personal responses and holistic interpretations of the text. These results suggest that multiple aspects of literary texts are interesting to readers, and that interest is related to personal engagement variables, even when it is not related to the comprehension of main ideas.     

The influence of diglossia in Arabic on narrative ability: evidence from analysis of the linguistic and narrative structure of discourse among pre-school children

The aim of the present study is to examine the influence of diglossia on linguistic and narrative structures in Arab kindergarten children by testing performance in production and comprehension. The 30 children who participated in our study were asked to retell one narrative text that was read aloud to them in Literary Arabic and another narrative text that was retold to them in Spoken Arabic. Then they were given a comprehension test that included questions pertaining to each of the two stories. In addition, two questionnaires were filled in by their parents, for collecting personal data and evaluating the level of the children’s exposure to Literary Arabic at home. The findings show a significant advantage in the retold spoken text over the retold literary text and in understanding the narrative-discourse. In addition, the findings show that the linguistic gap between Literary and Spoken Arabic seems to impact the level of mastery over linguistic structures in both forms of Arabic. Both of these findings indicate that, despite the fact that the exposure to Literary Arabic at a young age is informal and indirect, pre-school children are able to use linguistic structures from the literary language and to comprehend narrative texts. These results, with a particular emphasis on spoken and literary linguistic knowledge in pre-school children, are discussed herein in light of previous behavioral findings and models of development of narrative abilities in the Arabic language.