As one of the most enduring theories in communication, gatekeeping suggests that stories have to move from one gate to another gate before being published. During this process, some stories are selected, while others are rejected. Previous studies heavily focus on traditional news media and explore the influence of internal and external forces on story selection. Very few studies, however, look at gatekeeping in new areas of technology. This case study extends this literature into social media. It looks at how editors at The Asian Magazine (TAM) select stories for its WeChat public account. Interviews with editors identify news values and news categories that these gatekeepers think are important. Results of the WeChat content analysis between May and August 2014 indicate that TAM editors do not strictly rely on established news values to select WeChat stories. News categories better predict story decisions. Examining which WeChat items generate the most reader engagement gives evidence of how well news content matches what attracts readers online. News category priorities closely match what readers want to read. / Master of Arts

Les théories et pensées de la lecture ont, au tournant du XXIe siècle, valorisé des approches pragmatiques de la lecture et de l’expérience qu’elle procure. De manière synchrone, le récit contemporain français réinvestit les figures de la lecture et du lecteur. Habituellement rattachées à une tradition parodique et anti-romanesque, elles constituent en fait une force de relance narrative et permettent de repenser les imaginaires littéraires et critiques de la lecture. À l’heure où la démocratisation des outils numériques semble transformer le rapport des sujets au livre et aux savoirs, interroger ces représentations dans les textes littéraires permet de mettre en évidence l’influence du numérique sur les pratiques de lecture comme les attitudes de la réception. Par leur manière d’impliquer le lecteur, de mettre en récit ou en abyme la lecture, et d’accueillir dans le livre de nouvelles figures de la réception, les textes du corpus dessinent et déclinent différents arts de lire. En faisant un objet de fiction du rapport des sujets aux signes qui les entourent ou les traversent, ces récits mettent à distance les méthodes de déchiffrement héritées des théories du texte et du moment formaliste de la théorie. Une pensée de la lecture s’élabore ainsi depuis les textes littéraires. Matière fictionnelle et narrative, elle fonctionne comme relance romanesque, et fait ressurgir la tentation critique d’une parole théorique des écrivains / Theories of reading and reader-response criticism have, since the turn of the 21st century, emphasized pragmatic approaches to reading and the reading experience. Meanwhile, contemporary French fiction has also been focusing on representations of reading and the reader. Although such representations are usually seen as part of a parodic, anti-novelistic tradition, they have in fact had a revitalizing impact on contemporary narratives and suggest new ways of looking at fictional and critical visions of reading. At a time when the democratization of digital tools seems to be revolutionizing the reading subject’s relationship to books and knowledge, a study of the representations of reading in literary texts can illuminate the impact of digital data on reading practices and reception. By devising new strategies of reader involvement and new embodiments of reception in the text, as well as by their fictionalization or mise en abyme of reading, the narratives of our corpus evolve and express new and diverse “arts of reading”. They turn our relationship to the signs in our world and in ourselves into fiction and thus call for a rethinking of our interpretive processes, away from classical hermeneutics and from formalist-inspired theories. Innovative thoughts and imaginings about literature are thus produced by literary texts themselves. They have a re-energizing impact on contemporary fiction and also explain why writers of fiction are once again lured into adopting theoretical discourses

In this thesis – concerning didactics of literature – I perform a reading and theoretical analysis of two pivotal works within reader-response theory, more precisely: Literature as Exploration (1938) and The Reader, the Text, the Poem – The Transactional Theory of the Literary Work (1978), both written by Louise M. Rosenblatt. The object of this analysis is to examine whether Rosenblatts’ theory and methodology can be used to accomplish understanding for ”the other”, what Martha C. Nussbaum have called ”narrative imagination”. For a theoretical basis I use postcolonial theory, implicating a poststructuralistic och constructivistic understanding of language and linguistics. The reader-oriented theory and methodology of Rosenblatt – what she calls an aesthetic transaction, or a ”total situation” – has been discussed as problematic in relation to ”narrative imagination” mainly because reader has to be understood as centered, i.e. to be able to understand why a reader performs a specific reading Rosenblatt focus is fixed on the reader her-/himself, ignoring the linguistic, social and discursive context surrounding her/him. I have, with reference to postcolonial theory made the argument that teaching literature must be understood as a discursive practice in which context and discourse limits and influences the readers’ perception and appreciation, and thereby found Rosenblatts method restricted and unsatisfactory. Finally I have, in the light of the results above, proposed a postcolonial version of ”narrative imagination” in which ambitions to understand ”the other” is not formulated in terms of personal, empathic and cosmopolitic cultivation, but rather a reflective practice in which the limitations and principles of discourse is taken into account. A certain attitude or a certain reading must be recognized as a concretion of an institutional (social and linguistic) order of thought. This is a theoretical aspect that needs to be considered in future research, as well as in the classroom.

This essay aims to examine the applicability and relevance of subjective reader response in relation to second language (L2) motivation within literature education in the classroom of English as a Foreign Language (EFL). With support from previous research within the field of reader response theory (RRT), this essay argues that a subjective reader response approach contributes to increasing students’ motivation in relation to literature education Thus, this essay answers the following questions: 1) Does subjective reader response contribute to creating motivation among students in EFL (literature) teaching, and if so, how can this theory be implemented? 2) Does subjective reader response support students’ construction of what Zoltán Dörnyei refers to as “Ideal L2 self”? 3) What are the main benefits of using a reader response approach? The results support the hypothesis that a subjective reader response approach contributes to increasing students’ motivation in relation to literature education. Additionally, the study shows that the self-explorative nature of subjective reader response enables students to construct their “Ideal L2 self”.

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Every reader will respond to and think in a different way about a book. They will have different interpretations of the book. It is not possible to say with scientific certainty in what way a reader will interpret a book. To address this issue, this study focuses on the reader response theory as explained by Iser and Jauss. However, the reader response theory is at present supported by research from the cognitive theory to narratology. This study attempts to understand how a reader reasons with regards to a certain text. A further aim is to understand why a specific reader will think about and interpret the text in the way he or she does. In this study the books 30 Nagte in Amsterdam (30 Nights in Amsterdam) by Etienne van Heerden and Swartskaap (Black Sheep) by Odette Schoeman is used to test the hypothesis. Qualitative research methods were used and the data was processed in different stages as is displayed in the addendum DVD. Cognitive theory wants to explain how the reader will respond to the book as a whole, characters, events and the places and spaces represented in the novel. In this study, it was found that a reader's response will always be influenced by his/her background. Readers use their background either to make sense of the book and the story it tells or to make sense of what has happened in their own lives in order to accept and understand it. On account of the results reached in the study it can be argued that readers should be taken into account when books are reviewed and discussed, because they are the ones that have to do the actual reading. Because of this finding, this study puts forward the suggestion that a review model is developed so that readers can make informed decisions as to which book will be best suited to them. / Thesis (M.A. (Afrikaans and Dutch))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2012

Um dos últimos textos a ser publicado em vida pelo autor, Le Voyage d\'hiver, de Georges Perec, teve um destino diverso no âmbito da crítica literária perecquiana e do OuLiPo. Essa disparidade de tratamento parece estar vinculada ao tipo de análise que o papel do leitor suscitou na crítica até então. O objetivo dessa dissertação é realizar uma análise alternativa deste papel de modo a explicar a diferença apontada. Tentando evitar as aporias que a crítica perecquiana enfrenta na compreensão da obra do autor, esta dissertação traz também a análise de alguns aspectos do manuscrito preparatório de Le Voyage d\'hiver. / Le voyage d\'hiver - one of the last texts to be written and published by Georges Perec- has drawn different levels of attention to itself. Not having been frequently analysed by the critics, it has been used by the literary group known as the OuLiPo as a springboard for the production of a series of texts that repeated and expanded the themes dealt in Perec\'s text. This difference of approach seems to be related to the way the role of the reader is viewed by the critics. Therefore, the aim of this dissertation is to propose an alternative approach to the study of the role of the reader in Le Voyage d\'hiver. Moreover, in order to deal with some of the problems that the critics face when studying the work of Georges Perec, this dissertation analyses certain aspects of the Le Voyage d\'hiver manuscript.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-26T18:18:09Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Isabela Pereira Barros.pdf: 896920 bytes, checksum: 7808554fc79e449ddf13c25ec1db84a9 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2009-08-28 / The research "To the Press Office of the Diary - A review of the letters from readers of the Diário de S. Paulo" aims to conduct a semiotic analysis of the discourse of the newspaper dai1y readers of the newspaper and further understanding, through semiotic examination, the relation between those and the newspaper. The choice of the Diário is justified by the popular character of the newspaper and its experience in this field through the years (125). Hence, By maping these readers reactions, their points and requirements it will be possible to understand what place has the newspaper achieved in their lives. Additionally, it aims to analise if the responses of the readers make new topics emerge on the daily draft of the newspaper. The concept of immersive reader will be used in this research as a fundamental point of analisis of the point of views of the readers who found themselves embraced by a new concept of reading, marked by the interactivity of the ciber space.Thus, the comparison between the attitude of readers of a newspaper printed and readers of blogs on the intemet will be crucial to this work as it examines the changes brought by intemet and the immersive lector that it introduces. The corpus of this research is composed by a selection of letters to the Diário de S. Paulo. It will be considered the letters published in 2007, 2008 and 2009 (from January to March). The reactions of the readers after cases of great commotion, related to religion, sexuality and policies. The methodology involves the discourse analyisis of the contents of the letters and also the newspaper that are connected, as well as bibliographic and documentary literature. Among the authors selected as main references are Roland Barthes, Eugênio Bucci, Lúcia Santaella and José Luiz Fiorin / A pesquisa "À redação do Diário - uma análise das cartas dos leitores do Diário de S. Paulo" objetiva realizar uma análise semiótica do discurso dos missivistas do jornal Diário de S. Paulo e entender através desse exame semiótico a relação que se estabelece entre eles e o jornal. A escolha do Diário de S. Paulo justifica-se pelo caráter popular do jornal e pela sua antiguidade (125 anos). Mais especificamente, trata-se de avaliar se os conteúdos veiculados pelo jornal são considerados relevantes para esses leitores e de descobrir que temas geram cartas. Será verificado se as demandas variam em função do momento político, a que tipo de noticiário reage o leitor interativo. Analisar como esses missivistas reagem e se essas respostas lançam novos temas na agenda do periódico. Ao mapear a enunciação dos leitores, seus temas e demandas, será possível entender que espaço é o jornal para os seus missivistas. Ponto fundamental para esta pesquisa, o conceito de leitor imersivo será utilizado para analisar a postura do leitor que se vê diante de um novo modo de ler, marcado pela interatividade do ciberespaço. Assim, a comparação entre a postura dos leitores de um jornal impresso e dos leitores de blogs na internet será fundamental para este trabalho na medida em que analisa as transformações trazidas pela internet e pelo leitor imersivo que ela introduz. O corpus da pesquisa é constituído por uma seleção de cartas enviadas ao Diário de S. Paulo. Serão consideradas as cartas publicadas em 2007, 2008 e nos três primeiros meses de 2009: janeiro, fevereiro e março. Serão analisadas as cartas cujo conteúdo esteja relacionado a três temas: religião, sexualidade e política. O objetivo é acompanhar às reações dos leitores diante de casos recentes de grande repercussão local e nacional, sempre a partir dos temas delimitados; analisar como esses missivistas reagem e se essas respostas geram novos temas na agenda do jornal; mapear a enunciação desse grupo de leitores. A metodologia envolverá a análise do discurso das cartas e dos textos do jornal que têm ligação com essas, pesquisa bibliográfica e documental. Entre os autores selecionados como referência teórica estão Roland Barthes, Eugênio Bucci e Lúcia Santaella

<p>This dissertation deals with Swedish upper secondary school students’ encounter and reception of various fictional texts in and outside of school. The focus of the study is how literary instruction, based on an expanded text concept, succeeds in meeting the students’ expectations and previous experiences of fictional texts. The theoretical framework consists of theories that approach reading as a transaction between text and reader in a social and cultural context.</p><p>The study is founded on qualitative methods, and the empirical material was collected through participant observation and interviews with students and teachers in four upper secondary school classes between 2001 and 2003. The research questions are: How does literary instruction develop students’ knowledge of fictional texts and reading? In what ways are the students’ textual worlds in and outside of school dialogically interrelated? How do students use different fictional texts in building their identities? Which values regarding different texts are visible in the classroom?</p><p>Findings indicate that mismatches between teachers’ and students’ literary repertoires are common in upper secondary school literary teaching. Since the literary instruction mainly drew upon traditional fiction, the students’ construction of literary worlds was not sufficiently supported. The students’ expectations of fiction reading were characterized by strong emotional involvement, and this was particularly true for the male students. The female students reported that there was a lack of female perspectives in the literary teaching.</p><p>The pedagogical implications of the study concern the importance of identifying the students’ literary repertoires and matching those with the literary instruction. Literary pedagogy should aim to expand these repertoires, and to help students acquire new reader roles. One way of achieving this is to promote dialogical teaching that encourages both efferent and aesthetic reading. Findings of the present study also indicate that teachers’ resources for working with an expanded text concept are limited. Consequently, current teacher education programmes and further training of working teachers must deal with reading of fictional texts from new and broader perspectives.</p>

This dissertation deals with Swedish upper secondary school students’ encounter and reception of various fictional texts in and outside of school. The focus of the study is how literary instruction, based on an expanded text concept, succeeds in meeting the students’ expectations and previous experiences of fictional texts. The theoretical framework consists of theories that approach reading as a transaction between text and reader in a social and cultural context. The study is founded on qualitative methods, and the empirical material was collected through participant observation and interviews with students and teachers in four upper secondary school classes between 2001 and 2003. The research questions are: How does literary instruction develop students’ knowledge of fictional texts and reading? In what ways are the students’ textual worlds in and outside of school dialogically interrelated? How do students use different fictional texts in building their identities? Which values regarding different texts are visible in the classroom? Findings indicate that mismatches between teachers’ and students’ literary repertoires are common in upper secondary school literary teaching. Since the literary instruction mainly drew upon traditional fiction, the students’ construction of literary worlds was not sufficiently supported. The students’ expectations of fiction reading were characterized by strong emotional involvement, and this was particularly true for the male students. The female students reported that there was a lack of female perspectives in the literary teaching. The pedagogical implications of the study concern the importance of identifying the students’ literary repertoires and matching those with the literary instruction. Literary pedagogy should aim to expand these repertoires, and to help students acquire new reader roles. One way of achieving this is to promote dialogical teaching that encourages both efferent and aesthetic reading. Findings of the present study also indicate that teachers’ resources for working with an expanded text concept are limited. Consequently, current teacher education programmes and further training of working teachers must deal with reading of fictional texts from new and broader perspectives.