In this post, we step away from our previous few topics and come back to a question that we believe is a crucial one for anyone interested in the study of literature in schools: how does meaning arise? Not an easy question to answer, but in the light of recent curriculum reform in English, debates… Continue reading Transactions and worlds: Reading, interpretation and meaning

In schools in England, class readers are typically read incrementally for a portion of each lesson, preceded by an introduction to the day’s reading and followed by a task related to the section that has been read. As a result, reading the book itself can become a lengthy process. This means that students’ experiences of… Continue reading Reading identity: experience, expertise and preference

In our previous post, we discussed Richard Gerrig’s work on reading as a form of transportation. We argued that Gerrig’s ideas offer useful ideas for teachers to think about when planning lessons and talking about reading with their students. We outlined how Gerrig’s research showed that readers who felt greater levels of transportation were more… Continue reading The willing construction of disbelief

Whether a book, a film, a television show, or a story someone has told us, we’ve all experienced that sensation of getting lost in a story. It’s a feeling that the rest of the world has faded away, become muted; that we’ve travelled to another place and become somehow closer to the story world than… Continue reading Getting lost in a good book… in the classroom?

Look at this image: what do you see? Well, what’s visible is either a framed black cross (against a white background), or four white boxes against a black background. As you look at the image, one part of it will always stand out to you against the background of the other. It’s impossible to see… Continue reading Attention in the Classroom!

Reading a set text with a group of students in a classroom is both a highly familiar staple of school English, and a relatively odd type of reading experience. That is, if we think about other contexts in which we read and discuss texts, such as at a book group, out with friends, curled up… Continue reading Narrative schemas: conceptualising classroom reading

Welcome to studyingfiction! We are two university researchers interested in making links between cognitive linguistics and education. We have set up this blog to share our research and ideas, and generally encourage new ways of thinking about literary study in the classroom. The kinds of topics this blog will discuss include: literature and the mind,… Continue reading Welcome to our blog!