| dc.description.abstract | Social reading, the process of reading a text with others in an online format, allows readers to interact through comments, replies, and the integration of media. The present, qualitative study explores the ways students interact online when interpreting and commenting on a literary text, notably Faïza Guène’s 2004 novel Kiffe kiffe demain. During the spring 2019 semester in an intermediate French class at Vanderbilt University, students read Kiffe kiffe demain on the digital annotation tool SocialBook. Four times throughout the semester, students posted original comments and replies to their peers regarding various excerpts of the text. Open coding of student content posted on SocialBook revealed codes such as Textual Interpretation, Personal Reflection, and Speculation. These codes emerged from the data and indicate that social reading transforms the reading experience and heightens critical cultural awareness. The axial codes “Cultural,” “Interactional,” “Personal,” and “Textual” further categorize the types of content students produced during the study.
Findings suggest that students engage in critical reflection and interpretation when using a digital annotation tool. The social reading platform gives students agency to connect personal experiences with the text, which increases personal reflection and provides students with a platform to express their reflections. Due to its collaborative nature, reading a text via a social reading platform gives students the opportunity to work together to make meaning and interrogate their own thoughts and presuppositions, as well as learn from one another’s own histories. This approach transforms the reading experience in the second language classroom. Additional findings inform the pedagogy of literature in the second language classroom and the ways texts may be integrated at all levels of instruction. Framing the study within sociocultural theory and multiliteracies, this research expands upon previous work to include a triangulation with textual content as an intercultural means of learning via communication. | |
