From Reader to Reader

In recent years there has been considerable interest in the work the reader of a text is expected to perform, and in how the text shapes the kind of reading it receives. Yet little attention has been given to methods of teaching or to the interpersonal settings in which the text is studied. The result has been a gap between theory and practice. This book seeks to repair this gap by mapping the terrain between literary criticism and the study of group process. Ben Knights argues that teachers' and students' experience of "English" and literature has been largely one of groups (seminars, classes or tutorials), but that this aspect of learning is often overlooked when they write about the subject. Drawing on his own wide teaching experience, Ben Knights proposes a new model for looking at study groups, and suggests the kind of varied and liberating readings that might ensue. He argues that there is a reciprocal relationship between the text and the study group and that claims for the value of textual study need to be grounded in the social and dialogue nature of learning.