Living through the pages
Subtitle: a narrative inquiry into the reading experience of four readers
By: by Sophie Hwang.
Published: 2006
Language: eng
Number of pages: 304
ISBN-13: 9780494218204
Subjects: Reading, Psychology of.; Books and reading.; Imagination.
Description: In this dissertation, I invite my fellow readers to join me in an inquiry into the reading experience of four readers (participants), of whom I am one. The focus of this inquiry is on the stories that we tell of our reading lives, our reading process and our favourite books. I use narrative inquiry as my conceptual framework and methodology to capture and make sense of the experiences under study. Narrative inquiry is a road map that guides me all through this research.I interlace, blend and contrast the stories of my participants and mine in dialogue form to preserve the multiplicity of voices. I delete certain sections from the transcripts and journals and put them together again after interlacing and juxtaposing them with literary texts.In this dissertation, I point out the significance of reading as an autobiographical reflective process. Reading is a personal experience in which readers are free to make choices. They choose books that are relevant to their quest for life meaning. When readers read they bring their own life stories into the text not only to make sense of the text, but also reflect on their lives. The readers' active engagement with texts is important for understanding what reading is, and for developing a curriculum in which teachers and students reflect on their reading experiences.In self-exploration, each of us told her stories about her reading experience, reading process and reading topics. We are the narrator, central character and critic all rolled in one. We set our own study course, a life-long reading curriculum that encapsulates our life experience.While reading the books of our own choice, we wrote down our responses in journals. As a researcher, I interviewed my participants individually and, when I was in the role of participant, another participant interviewed me. Through sharing our reading experience in these interviews, we gained a deeper insight into the significance of reading. We also explored what it means to understand life through reading. The stories we told are stories of self-knowledge and development. They form the basis of my inquiry.
Notes: Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 68-01, Section: A, page: 0068.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Toronto, 2006.

Includes bibliographical references (leaves 290-304).

Electronic version licensed for access by U. of T. users.