The Effect of Teaching Approach on Third-Grade Students' Response to Literature

TLDR

The study examined how different teaching approaches influence third‑grade students’ responses to three picture books. 120 third‑grade students were randomly assigned to one of three conditions: literary analysis, literary experience, or no discussion, with the former two emphasizing either critique of literary elements or immersive engagement with the storyline. Students in the literary‑analysis group emphasized literary elements in their written responses, those in the literary‑experience group engaged more with the story world and viewed literature aesthetically, while the no‑discussion group tended to retell the story.

Abstract

This study examined effects of teaching approaches on students' responses to three picture books. One hundred and twenty third-grade students were randomly assigned to treatments: literary analysis, literary experience, and no discussion. The literary-analysis approach focused on identifying and critiquing literary elements; the literary-experience approach centered on having students live through and react to the storyline. Teaching approach affected the content of students' subsequent efferent and aesthetic responses, with subjects from the literary-analysis group more likely to focus on the identification of literary elements in free written responses. Subjects from the literary-experience group wrote responses indicating more involvement in the story world, described similarities between characters and real people, and treated literature more as an aesthetic experience than a lesson or an object to be studied. Subjects who had no discussion on the stories were more likely to simply retell the story.