|
Showing 1 - 4 of
4 matches in All Departments
Of interest in their own terms as a significant cultural practice,
reading groups also provide a window on the everyday interpretation
of literary texts. While reading is often considered a solitary
process, reading groups constitute a form of social reading, where
interpretations are produced and displayed in discourse. The
Discourse of Reading Groups is a study of such joint conceptual
activity, and how this is necessarily embedded in interpersonal
activity and the production of reader identities. Uniquely in this
context it draws on, and seeks to integrate, ideas from both
cognitive and social linguistics. The book will be of interest to
scholars in literacy studies as well as cultural and literary
studies, the history of reading, applied linguistics and
sociolinguistics, digital technologies and educational research.
Of interest in their own terms as a significant cultural practice,
reading groups also provide a window on the everyday interpretation
of literary texts. While reading is often considered a solitary
process, reading groups constitute a form of social reading, where
interpretations are produced and displayed in discourse. The
Discourse of Reading Groups is a study of such joint conceptual
activity, and how this is necessarily embedded in interpersonal
activity and the production of reader identities. Uniquely in this
context it draws on, and seeks to integrate, ideas from both
cognitive and social linguistics. The book will be of interest to
scholars in literacy studies as well as cultural and literary
studies, the history of reading, applied linguistics and
sociolinguistics, digital technologies and educational research.
Over the last two decades, reading groups have become increasingly
popular in the UK and the USA. More and more people seem to be
interested in sharing their reading experiences and hearing other
readers discuss their views on books, whether this is online,
through the mass media, or in face-to-face contexts. In light of
this explosion in popularity of reading groups, this ethnographic
study focuses on several reading groups based across a variety of
settings: public libraries, public houses and in readers' homes. A
range of methods are used to investigate the practices of the
individual readers and the groups, including participant
observation, interviews, and audio-recordings of meetings. Reading
groups are found to be highly ritualized and potentially
competitive places in which matters of identity and taste are often
at stake. The groups studied are conceptualized as communities of
practice, and the literary interpretations and evaluations offered
within each group are shown to be a product of shared norms
established by this group.
Over the last two decades, reading groups have become increasingly
popular in the UK and the USA. More and more people seem to be
interested in sharing their reading experiences and hearing other
readers discuss their views on books, whether this is online,
through the mass media, or in face-to-face contexts. In light of
this explosion in popularity of reading groups, this ethnographic
study focuses on several reading groups based across a variety of
settings: public libraries, public houses and in readers' homes. A
range of methods are used to investigate the practices of the
individual readers and the groups, including participant
observation, interviews, and audio-recordings of meetings. Reading
groups are found to be highly ritualized and potentially
competitive places in which matters of identity and taste are often
at stake. The groups studied are conceptualized as communities of
practice, and the literary interpretations and evaluations offered
within each group are shown to be a product of shared norms
established by this group.
|
|