The Social Construction of Meaning: Reading literature in urban English classrooms

by John Yandell

This book takes a fresh look at secondary urban English classrooms and at what happens when students and their teachers explore literature collaboratively. By closely examining what happens in English lessons, minute by minute, it reveals how literary texts function not as a valorised heritage to be transmitted, but as a resource for the students’ work of cultural production and contestation. The reading that is undertaken in classrooms has tended to be construed as either a poor substitute or merely a preparation for other reading, particularly for that paradigmatic literacy event, the absorbed and simultaneously discriminating consumption of the literary text by the independent, private reader. This book argues for a different understanding of what constitutes reading, an understanding that is informed by historical and ethnographic perspectives and by psychological and semiotic theory. It presents the case for a conception of reading as an active, collaborative process of meaning-making and for a fully social model of learning. Drawing extensively on data gathered through classroom observation and filming of English lessons taught over the course of a year by two teachers in a London secondary school, the book explores students’ engagement with literary texts and the pedagogy that facilitates this engagement. The book offers new insights into reading, and reading literature in particular. It challenges the paradigm of reading that is offered in government policy and the assumption, common to much work within the field of ‘new literacies’, that ‘schooled literacy’ is the already-known, the default, against which the alternative literacy practices of homes and communities can be defined. It will be valuable reading for researchers, teachers, teacher educators and postgraduate students, and will have particular appeal for those with an interest in the fields of English studies and literacy.

212 pages, Hardcover

First published November 13, 2013

Reviews

[Helen Arnold · Rating 5 out of 5]

So much enjoyed reading this and helpful to reflect on my teaching practice so far. Plus, Yandell's voice just pierces through and it is salient reminder of what can happen in the classroom when you take students seriously. This is an antidote to the noise around teaching - repetition, recall, the 'science of learning' which I have always found so bland and banal, an approach that assumes students are empty vessels that need to be filled with the right kind of knowledge. For example, The social construction of meaning brings to light how there is a history at play in a class, where learning and developing (deeply social) happens over a long period of time and thus can never be captured by a 10 minute learning walk and a praise postcard about my use of a timer on the board. And so in that respect, this study feels so validating to me, when thinking about all those moments, struggles and success I have felt in my English lessons to date. The argument here is about the social space of the classroom - the world students are navigating is vast and they bring so much to it.. and as a teacher you have to believe in the value of what you are teaching and what the students bring as readers, and it's that integrity of belief that will harness the energy and direction of a lesson. Easier said than done though. My god teaching is a stressful game.

I started this book in about March in response to deep frustrations I was feeling in conversations and approaches with colleagues about teaching. Returned to in December when on a classroom sabbatical.

[Abaan · Rating 5 out of 5]

the goat man… so many of the chapters or extracts were so instrumental during the pgce but reading it in context in full #wowzers.