Response to "A Response-Based Approach to Reading Literature"

Interpreting literature is dandy if you have solid skills in scansion and can identify symbols, allusions, poetic techniques, how diction and syntax can affect tone, etc. As teachers it is our prerogative to assist our students in learning and becoming proficient with those skills. Those skills should be the point of reference that Langer describes. If a student can't read Romeo & Juliet then it might negatively affect his or her interpretation of Romeo & Juliet.

I believe that the discursive orientation has been more prominent because it becomes the point of reference to teach and reinforce to students the reading skills I listed above. As the CCSS becomes implemented and students will be educated to higher standards, students that enter the secondary level should already have the necessary skills to provide for literary orientation. This would allow for literary comprehension to take place with reasonable faith that students have the necessary reading skills to make based interpretations and would help create a comprehensive education.

Though Langer argues for allowing students the time and space to evolve interpretations of literary texts and advance their literary orientation (the 8 points), an emphasis should be placed on comprehension and scaffolding comprehension of those texts to students right now until the CCSS have been implemented and bear results. Literary orientation is where we want to go, but discursive orientation needs to fulfill the gap until the CCSS can close it.

I'm not saying that we disallow students to make interpretations at all--we want to lead discussions and conversations that provide for critical thought and interpretations--but that we ensure that the students have the basic skills necessary to make quality analysis and interpretation. As students gain proficiency, their interpretations should be based in textual evidence and reason.

It also seems to me that discursive orientation and its contrasting literary orientation reflect the male-female contrast.