Literature-Based Exploration: Efferent and Aeshtetic

Graduation Date

Spring 2001

Document Type

Master's Thesis

Document Form

Print

Degree Name

Master of Science

Program Name

Education

Program Director

Madalienne F. Peters, EdD

Abstract

Efferent teaching asks the student to read for a predetermined answer, focusing on another person's ideas of the text's meaning. Aesthetic teaching allows for literature to be read and experienced as art through the reader's personal transaction with the text which focuses on one's own interest to create and understand the meaning. This paper examines sixth graders' responses to literature as they undergo reader response theory in the language arts classroom using The Giver by Lois Lowry. The case study takes place over a three week period in which the teacher recorded student discussions and kept a journal. Findings indicated that the reading experience must always include an aesthetic reading. However, the complete and thorough study of literature requires a balance between both aesthetic an efferent — a balance that begins with the aesthetic and slowly moves, when the students are ready, to the efferent.

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