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Abstract
Starting from the premise that reading is a social act rather than an individual act, the article pursuits some reader-response theories that provide a foundation for a literature-based instruction. J.Langer's term of envisionment -text worlds in mind- also informed my approach to literature. The article is a plea to the importance of engaging students actively with the literary text and their entering the text- worlds by responding individually and then sharing them in a collaborative social work that will result in developing their critical skills and further on in developing qualitatively different options.
We build environments all the time when we make sense of ourselves, of others, and of the world. ?nwsionment building, in which one constructs and negotiates meanings through conversations with others and 'meaning-making', are desired instructional goals and we want to make these things happen in our academic classrooms. Understanding helps us grow personally, socially and intellectually. How we read is more important than what we read. By teaching students how to read gives them the power to think creatively as well as critically.
Keywords: literary meaning, envisionment building, text-worlds, reader-response, understanding.
Motto: "Literature sets the scene for us to explore both ourselves and others - to define and redefine who we are, who we might become, and how the world might be ... In its best sense, literature is both intellectually provocative and humanizing, allowing us to use various points of view to examine thoughts, beliefs, and actions."
(Langer Enwsioning literature 5)
Introduction
Literary understanding, i.e. what happens when we make sense of literature in the development of mind, is more important than its content and cultural knowledge. Understanding helps us grow personally, socially and intellectually. How we read is more important than what we read. By teaching students how to read gives them the power to think creatively as well as critically. It builds in them literary as well as life skills: they learn that everyone's opinion counts; they learn how important it is to listen more to one another; they learn that agreement is not required and how important it is to back up your idea when disagreeing.
In 1995 Judith A. Langer introduces the term envisionment in her work Envisioning Uterature: Uterary Understanding and Uterature Instruction....