| Secondary English teachers who were advocates of reader response were selected as participants for this study. The nine teachers, eight women and one man, represented seven Southwest Idaho high schools, enrollments ranging between 300 and 1500, in a largely agricultural area of the state. One private school was included.;A series of four interviews and a scheduled observation of each participant demonstrating reader-response practice provided the foundation for the case studies. The primary concerns of the study revolved around three research questions: (1) To what extent do secondary teachers who subscribe to a reader-response approach to the teaching of literature actually employ distinct reader-response strategies? (2) When secondary teachers who subscribe to a reader-response approach to instruction depart from reader-response methods, what are the reasons for their departures? and (3) When secondary teachers who favor reader response actually employ reader-response strategies, what are the reasons for their choices and what do they perceive to be the results? Participants' selection of Thinking Skills, Social Context, and Personalistic model descriptors to describe their own teaching, indicated that teachers who are reader-response advocates are evenly distributed across a variety of instructional models; no single descriptor works to identify reader-response-oriented teachers. The Behaviorist model, only, was rejected by all participants. Admitting that instructional choices are often complex, and that no single instructional approach can serve all of the time, the study concludes that teachers well-versed in reader-response theory and practice are more likely to experiment with different practices in the classroom and employ practices that fulfill commonly accepted aims of reader response. The study suggests that teacher training programs need to provide language arts teachers with a foundation in contemporary theory, specifically, reader-response theory, along with exposure to practical applications. Additionally, schools and school districts should recognize the importance of providing continued opportunities for teachers to become informed in those matters of theory that impact their disciplines. |
