1. Understanding Children’s
Responses to Literature
Presented by
Prof. T. Méndez Hernández
ENGL 3440 Children’s Literature in English

2. Reading Interests and
Preferences
Response refers to:
Any outward sign of that inner
activity, something said or done that
reveals a reader’s thoughts and
feelings about literature.

3. Age and Gender Differences
Age is the most obvious change in
children’s interest patterns
Children’s interest vary according to age
and grade level
Girls read more than boys but boys have
a wider interest range and read greater
variety

4. Age and Gender Differences
Girls show an early interest in adult
romantic fiction
Boys prefer nonfiction from an early
age
Children should be provided with many
reading options so they can have a
chance to explore each other’s perspectives

5. Other Determinants of Interest
Illustrations, color, format, length, and
type of print can also influence
children’s choices
Social and environmental influences
also affect children’s book choices and
reading interests
Cultural and ethnic factors also

6. Other Determinants of Interest
Impact of the immediate environment
Availability and accessibility of
reading materials at home,
classroom, and public and school
libraries
Teachers
Peers

7. Explaining Children’s Choices
As children grow and learn, their levels
of understanding change along with the
literature they choose
Children prefer stories that best represent
their own way of looking at the world
Stories that mirror their experiences,
needs, fears, and desires

8. Growth Patterns That Influence
Response
Childhood is unique
Children are not miniature adults but
individuals
They have their own needs, interests,
and capabilities which change over time
and at varying rates

9. Physical Development
Children’s experiences with literature can begin
at a very early age
Infants gain visual perception very rapidly
within their range of focus
Books designed for babies and toddlers feature
simple, clearly defined pictures with firm
outlines, uncluttered backgrounds, and bright
colors

10. Physical Development
As visual perception develops, children
begin to show fascination with details
Older preschoolers make a game of
finding “hidden” things in pictures
Children’s attention spans generally
increase with age as well as interest

11. Physical Development
Small children have trouble sitting still
even for 20 minute read alouds
It is recommended to have several short
story times
Physical development influences
children’s interests as well as their
attention span

12. Physical Development
Early adolescent stages such as puberty and
self-concept also influence book choices
Both physical maturity and social forces have
led to the development of sexual interests at a
younger age
This leads to a shortened interest in literature
for children and a choice for teenage novels and
adult fiction

13. Cognitive Development
Jean Piaget
Intelligence develops as a result of the
interaction of environment and the
maturation of the child
Children are active participants in their
own learning

14. Cognitive Development
Distinct stages in the development of
logical thinking
All children go through these stages in
the same progression, but not
necessarily at the same age

15. Cognitive Development
(Stages) Piaget
Sensory-motor period
From infancy to about 2 years of age
Preoperational period
From 2 to 7 years
Concrete operational period
From 7 to 11
Formal operations
Age 11 throughout adult life

16. Cognitive Development
Piaget recognized children as “meaning
makers”
Infants and toddlers develop sensory
perceptions and motor activity.
Rhymes of Mother Goose and tactile
books

17. Cognitive Development
During the preschool years, children
learn to represent the world symbolically
through language, play and drawing
They enjoy predictable stories

18. Cognitive Development
Elementary school children are in the concrete
operational stage
They can Classify and arrange objects in series
They are more systematic and orderly thinkers
They enjoy mysteries and understand stories
with more complex plot features such as
flashbacks or a story within a story

19. Cognitive Development
Older elementary-age children also seem to
identify more spontaneously with different
points of view
Children in the middle-school years begin to
develop abstract theoretical thought
They are no longer dependent on concrete
evidence but can reason

20. Cognitive Development
Complex novels and science fiction in
particular begin to appeal for students at
this level
Literature criticism can be introduced

21. Cognitive Development
Vygotsky stresses the ties between
development of thought and language,
the social aspect of learning, and the
importance of adult-child interaction
“Zone of proximal development” - area
in which children are asked to stretch
their ability

22. Cognitive Development
Howard Gardner proposed that there are eight
intellectual abilities or “multiple intelligences”
Appreciation of literature falls into the category
of linguistic intelligence
This theory would explain why some children
breeze through math but blank out during
discussions of literature

23. Cognitive Development
We need to remember that cognitive
development is only one part of a much
larger picture of growth patterns that
influence interests and responses

24. Language Development
Verbal participation with an adult is an
important element in young children’s
experience with literature
Very early experiences with books
encourage many aspects of language
development

25. Language Development
Language development proceeds at a
phenomenal pace during the preschool
years
They learn to express their thoughts in
longer sentences that combine ideas
They gain access to the basic structure
of grammar

26. Language Development
Children’s language growth continues through
the elementary grades and beyond
The average length and complexity of their
statements both oral and written increase as
children progress through school
Children should be given the opportunity to
read and hear good writing that is beyond the
level of their own conversation

27. Moral Development
According to Piaget and Kohlberg, as
children grow in intellect and
experience, they move away from ideas of
morality based on authority and adult
constraint
They move toward morality based on the
influence of group cooperation and
independent thinking

28. Moral Development
Contrasts between the moral judgment
of younger and older children:
Young children are constrained by
the rules that adults have made
Older children understand that there
are group standards for what is good
or bad and they make their own rules

29. Moral Development
Young children believe that behavior is
totally right or totally wrong
Older children are willing to consider
that circumstances and situations make
for legitimate differences in opinion

30. Moral Development
Young children tend to judge an act by
its consequences
Older children switch to considering
motivation rather than consequence

31. Moral Development
Young children believe that bad behavior
and punishment go together; the more
serious the deed the harsher the
punishment
Older children are more interested in
finding a “fair” punishment

32. Moral Development
Stories for children present different levels of
moral complexity that can stimulate
discussions among children
Working through dilemmas allow us to move
from one level of moral judgment toward
another
Literature provides a means for children to
rehearse and negotiate situations of conflict
without risk, trying out alternative stances

33. Personality Development
All learning is a combination of
cognitive dimensions, affective or
emotional responses, social relationships,
and value orientation
This is the matrix in which personality
develops

34. Personality Development
Maslow suggests that a person develops
through a “hierarchy of needs” from
basic animal-survival necessities to the
“higher” needs that are more uniquely
human and spiritual
Literature can provide opportunities for
people of all ages to satisfy higher-level
needs

35. Personality Development
In considering any theory of
development, we need to remember that
children’s prior experiences with books
and their individual backgrounds can
have an impact on their responses to
literature

36. Guides for Ages and Stages
Adults who are responsible for children’s
reading need to be aware of child development
and learning theory and of children’s interests
They must keep in mind characteristics and
needs of children at different ages and stages
of develpopment
(See Books for Ages and Stages)

37. Response in the Classroom
Children’s perceptions and
understandings are revealed in many
different ways, as the children choose
and talk about books, and as they write,
paint, play, or take part in other
classroom activities

38. Theories of Response
The process of reading and responding is active
rather than passive
The words and ideas in a book are not
transferred automatically from the page to the
reader
Response is dynamic and open to continuous
change as readers anticipate, infer, remember,
reflect, interpret, and connect.

39. Theories of Response
The “meaning” and significance of
stories will vary from reader to reader,
depending on age and personal
experience as well as experience with
literature
Reader response theory points out that
readers approach works of literature in
special ways

40. Theories of Response
James Britton proposes that in all our
uses of language we can be either
participants or spectators.
As a participant we read in order to
accomplish something in the real world
As a spectator we focus on what
language says as an end in itself

41. Theories of Response
Rosenblatt suggests that reading usually
involves two roles, or stances
In the efferent stance the reader is concerned
with what information can be learned from the
reading
In the aesthetic stance the reader is concerned
with the experience of the reading itself

42. Types of Response
The most common expressions of response to
literature are statements, oral or written
Such responses are known as literary criticism
Children’s artwork, informal drama, and other
book extension activities also provide windows
on response

43. Interpreting Children’s Responses
(Recognizing Patterns of Change)
Every child is a unique reader and every
classroom represents a different
composite of experiences with literature
and with the world
Researchers and teachers have discovered
that students respond differently at
various grade levels

44. Interpreting Children’s Responses
(Younger Children - Preschool to Primary)
Younger children are motor oriented
As listeners, they respond with their
whole selves
They use body movements to try out
some of the story’s action

45. Interpreting Children’s Responses
(Younger Children - Preschool to Primary)
Actions to demonstrate meaning might
be given as answers to a teacher’s
questions
Children spontaneously act out stories
or bits of stories using actions, roles,
and conventions of literature in their
dramatic play

46. Interpreting Children’s Responses
(Younger Children - Preschool to Primary)
Their responses deal with parts rather
than wholes
Children at this age use embedded
language in answering direct questions
about stories

47. Interpreting Children’s Responses
(Children in Transition - Primary to
Middle grades)
Children during this age develop from
being listeners to readers.
Children become more adept at
summarizing in place of straight
retelling when asked to talk about
stories
Children classify and categorize stories

48. Interpreting Children’s Responses
(Children in Transition - Primary to
Middle grades)
Children at this age attribute personal
reactions to the story itself
Children judge a story on the basis of
their response to it
They use borrowed characters, events,
themes, and patterns from literature in
their writing

49. Interpreting Children’s Responses (Older
Children - Middle grades to Middle
school)
Older children express stronger preferences,
especially for personal reading
Some show particular devotion to certain
authors or genres or series
Children are more skillful with language and
more able to deal with abstractions

50. Interpreting Children’s Responses (Older
Children - Middle grades to Middle
school)
They can disembed ideas from a story
and put them in more generalized terms
Older children go beyond categorizing
stories toward a more analytical
perception
They use some critical terminology