Transactional Theory/Model of Reading

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Transactional Theory/Model of Reading

• EDC565 Group Presentations -
• Jen Moretti and Tara Walsh

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Principles of a Transactional Model of Reading

• Reading is developing meaning from a combination
  of a particular reader, at a particular
  time/context, with a particular text. It is a
  transaction between the author, reader, and text.
• Reading is a choosing activity. Readers bring
  feelings, attitudes, expectations, and a purpose
  to each text, and this leads to meaning, or
  evocation.
• Our stance toward reading could be efferent
  (scientific, reading for info) or aesthetic
  (artistic, feeling). Different texts lend
  themselves toward one or the other, usually, but
  readers stance determines the experience they
  will have with that text.
• Teaching reading requires a teacher to raise
  questions that grow more complex reading
  transactions, and construct and facilitate
  activities in an environment that encourages the
  reader to make meaning of their own.

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Aligning Transactional Models of Reading With
Historical Eras

• Sociocultural Learning Era of 1986-1995 and the
  Engaged Learning Erra of 1996-Present
• Sociocultural Learning
• a sociocultural, collaborative experience shaped
  by aesthetics
• a shared understanding of many rather than the
  private knowledge of one (Alexander and Fox)
• Engaged Learning
• meaning is made of a combination of physical,
  personal, social, cultural factors chosen at a
  particular moment
• cognitive, aesthetic, and sociocultural elements
  work together to make meaning (Alexander Fox)

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Conditions that prompted Transactional Models of
Reading

• Many students failing to thrive in explicit
  training programs.
• Learning was now being acknowledged as
  individualistic.
• General skepticism of formal, traditional,
  scientific knowledge. Suspected as a tool of the
  government to dominate.
• More attention to varied methods of instruction
• Swing toward the natural/sociocultural view.
• Rosenblatt taught 10 years of courses in
  literature and composition. She also had a
  background in anthropology.
• Influence of Neils Bohrs (1959) explanation that
  the observer is part of the observation.

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Leading Researchers of Transactional Research in
Reading

• Louise Rosenblatt (created theory)
• Dewey Bentley (philosophers- Knowing and the
  Known (1949) advanced the thought that learning
  wasnt an interaction (2 separate things work
  together). It was a transaction (2 things become
  1 entity).
• Vygotsky (social and cultural anthropologist-a
  word acquires its sense from the context in which
  it appears)
• Bates iceberg metaphor public meaning of a word
  (dictionaries) just the tip vs. private
  associations

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How does a Transactional model inform research in
reading?

• A. New Areas of Research Focus
• Human transaction with speaking, reading writing
  and the environment
• Qualitative information and aesthetic aspects of
  reading, mainly various components of meaning
• Questions for Research
• How do humans make meaning? (This will help us
  understand how we make meaning of transactions
  with text.)
• How can we best support the aesthetic and
  efferent aspects of text transactions equally?
• B. Methodologies
• Most effective if a researcher plans and works
  with a classroom teacher in a qualitative study.
• Also, longitudinal studies and interdisciplinary
  studies are needed.
• Instructional Recommendations
• Guide efferent and aesthetic aspects of reading
  equally.
• Teach reading in terms of individual experiences
  and social interactions.

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Visual of Transactional Theory
Meaning