Connecting Critical Reading Activities and Experiences with
Rosenblatt’s Transactional Theory of Reading
By: Denny Nugraha
TBI-B-4
IAIN Syekh Nurjati Cirebon
Introduction
This
essay will address the connection between reading activities with the
transactional theory of reading stated by Louise Rosenblatt. In this case, I
want to link my own critical reading experiences with her theory. I have
explored reading for two literary and non-literary textbooks in order to supplement
my experiences in reading.
Rosenblatt
in her theory stated that “No two readings, even by the same person are
identical. Still, someone else can read a text differently and paraphrase it
for us in such a way as to satisfy our efferent purpose. But no one else can
read aesthetically - that is, experience the evocation of – a literary work of
art for us” (Rosenblatt, p. 1375).” This quote made me conclude that the transactional
theory argues the main purposes of reading namely efferent purpose and aesthetic
purpose.
The Relationship between
Transactional Theory of Reading with Critical Reading
First, efferent
reading commonly defines reading as scientific or public activity. It means
that the purpose of reading activity is focused on learning through reading.
When I was reading non-literary books, it seemed that the texts were not
stimulating my mind to reflect the value of reading itself. I rarely can find
the other side of the texts that offer the experience of enjoyment. I feel that
efferent reading only concerns in learning about the text and not in regarding
the text as the source of unexpected information we do not know before. For
example, while I read the book “TOEFL iBT Tips” I can easily find what I want
to know information about TOEFL e.g., the Reading section, Listening section,
Speaking section etc. Thus, I conclude that the relationship between efferent
reading with critical reading depends on our perspective of dealing with the
reading purpose and our reflections.
Second, aesthetic
reading literally refers to artistic or private activity. This means that the
purpose of reading is experiencing the text and the literary world created by
the author. The readers simply read the literary book and deal with the texts
offered by literary work such as short story, novel, poetry, and so on. By contrast, In transactional theory Rosenblatt stressed that every act
of reading involved a “transaction” of reader and text in which both were
essential. In her view, any text-Toni Morrison’s Beloved, a car owner’s manual, a
poem-was lifeless without a reader who is active: active readers create
multiple readings of the same text; no reading is uniquely “correct.”
Interpretation
in which often uses while reading literary text (literature) is the essence of
this reading activity. For instance, when I was reading some short stories in
book “Selected Short Stories”, I found some things different to the definition
of aesthetic reading. Some stories such as in “An Important Piece of Water”
contained many facts about the warfares in Europe between England against the
conquerer of Spain, France and Germany (second world war). In the last, I can
conclude that aesthetic/fictive purpose is no longer dominant in literature but
it may contain such real information.
Conclusion
In
conclusion, I restate that the purposes of reading have influences to critical
reading activity. Through the transactional theory of reading by Rosenblatt, I
reflect the meaning of efferent and aesthetic reading in brief. The difference
why Rosenblatt stated that no one can read aesthetically is based on certain
experiences of reading. While in critical reading, I found that there are no
boundaries between aesthetic and efferent reading. It definitely depends on our
perspective and experiences in interpretating the codes of informational or
aesthetic symbols of reading.
References:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louise-Rosenblatt.htmlDownload Full Text Here
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