Assessment of Differences in Response to Literature

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the differences in response to literature among second grade students who were given the opportunity to construct and convey meaning in a self-selected response mode as compared with a single assigned response mode. A short narrative children's story, The Mitten, was read to four groups of children. Children were asked to respond to three questions about the story, in their respective assigned response modes; self-selected response mode, writing response mode, oral response mode and graphic response mode. Three questions were asked to all the children in this study; Describe one character in a situation from the story that reminded you of a personal situation. Explain how you felt at the end of this story. Use your imagination and create a different ending to this story. Prior to the study, the researcher and two second grade teachers convened to discuss and develop a scoring sheet to evaluate the responses to the story to determine degree of enthusiasm and number of creative responses. The researcher video taped all children in their assigned response modes except the oral response group in which case observational notes were recorded and answers were tape recorded. The results of this study were reported in a qualitative manner. The findings of this study indicate that children in the self-selected response mode and graphic response mode demonstrated a high degree of enthusiasm and creative responses. Observable behaviors and differences were noted and reported in the Oral response and written response groups.