Research in English: Impoverished Students Respond to a Story about Hard Times

10-second review: “When nine-year-old Jade was asked to write in her journal in response to the prompt, ‘What are some signs of hard times?’ she had plenty to say. From first line to last, Jade filled her paper with experiences….”

Title: “What ‘Hard Times’ means: Mandated Curriculum, Class-privileged Assumptions and the Lives of Poor Children.” E Dutro. Research in the Teaching of English (February 2010), 255-291.

Summary: When the topic of poverty was introduced in a basal reader story, impoverished third-grade children responded with heart-wrenching stories of their own experiences on the topic.

Comment: A story can release in readers emotional responses of experiences related to the theme of the story. In other words, a story is not just a story. It has personal meaning to children in similar circumstances. This particular story was about “hard times.” Students responded in their reading journals about their personal hard times.

I’m not quite sure what this research means except that stories don’t stop with asking questions about main idea, inference and vocabulary. RayS.