| Drawing from research and theory in reading, writing, and cognition, this dissertation proposes a problem-solving theory of reading literary narratives, thus laying the groundwork for developing a unified theory of reading and writing as problem-solving processes.;Chapter Three then explores cognitive learning theory, explaining how readers learn while reading, and exploring how readers perceive problems: problems occur when readers are "surprised," when what they read does not accord with what they expect. Based on this definition of problems as misexpectations, Chapter Four distinguishes between literary and non-literary reading, arguing that, in literary reading, readers expect to misexpect.;Chapter Five continues to describe the problem-solving process, exploring how, once surprised, readers draw upon stored knowledge, or schemas, to solve problems. After discussing the ways readers use these schemas, the chapter then illustrates this process by showing how a reader might perceive and solve a problem while reading Thomas Hardy's The Mayor of Casterbridge.;The concluding chapter situates the preceding cognitive model in the reader's affective, historical, and cultural context, exploring how readers select and resolve problems as a result of personal interests, of time, and of place. The chapter ends with a discussion of one particular context--the classroom--where, it is suggested, teachers can help students read literarily by modelling the problem-solving process and by asking students to write about what they read. In so doing, teachers can provide students with the opportunity to make literary reading into an experience of problem-solving that promotes learning. Such learning experiences, it is hoped, will therefore continue to be valued in our society.;Each chapter applies to literary reading a principle drawn from composition theory. Thus, Chapter One explores reading as a process in which readers actively participate in making meaning. Chapter Two provides a rationale for literary literacy, arguing that, since the reading process (like the writing process) promotes learning, everyone has a right--and should be encouraged--to read. |
