Bibliography: leaves 310-320. / One of the main hypotheses under scrutiny is that a child's responses to a children's book are likely to be influenced to a significant degree by his stage of cognitive development. A second major premise is that domains of human development and existence other than the cognitive (such as the emotional, physical and social) will also play a role in such responses. The two main components of the dissertation are: (a) a literature survey (Section B, Ch. 2 - 6, Section C, Ch. 7 - 8); and (b) an empirical study (Section D, Ch. 9 - 10). The literature survey comprises two fields, viz (a) child development theories, including those of cognitive development, with particular reference to the writings of Piaget; and (b) aspects of children's literature in general, as well as an analysis of the book selected for the empirical study, viz Sendak's Where the wild things are. An outline of the methodology of the empirical study precedes the analysis of the data obtained in a study of the responses of 104 subjects, selected by random sampling at a Cape Town public library during afternoons over a four-week period in March 1984. The subjects ranged in age from 7 to 12 years, i.e., the Piagetian period of concrete and formal operations respectively. Data were collected by the completion of an interview schedule or a questionnaire, identical in wording to the interview schedule. The method of data-collection depended upon the reading and writing ability or the preference of the subject. Time allowed for the reading of the book by the subject (or by the researcher on behalf of the subject) and for the answering of the questions was unlimited. Critics' views upon controversial aspects of the book, discussed in the literature survey, formed the basis of the eleven questions, five of which were dichotomous and six of which were open. The aspects were: (a) the possibility that there are fear-inducing elements in the book; (b) the effect upon the child of the handling of the anger of Max, the protagonist, by the author-artist; (c) the realisation by the child reader that Max's mother loves her son; and (d) the awareness on the part of the child of the distinction between fantasy and reality. The subjects were divided into two groups, viz those in the period of concrete operations (7 to 10 years) and those in the period of formal operations (11 to 12 years). Responses (with the exception of those to the last question, which required literature appreciation responses) were classified with reference to the cognitive, emotional, physical and social domains to yield quantitative and qualitative results. These results substantiate the main hypotheses. It was also found that, although some respondents experienced fear or anger during exposure to Where the wild things are, the impact of these negative emotions could be offset by an awareness on the part of the majority of the subjects of the love directed at Max by his mother. The majority of subjects were able to distinguish between the fantasy world and the reality of Max's home.

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"The purpose of this paper is to develop a list of printed materials in the fields of fiction and biography for use with adolescents who are blind, deaf, or crippled. The books selected are presented in an annotated bibliography arranged alphabetically under two classifications, fiction and biography. An attempt was made to identify all available books for grades seven to twelve which meet the criteria established for this bibliography and have value in the education or treatment of physically exceptional adolescents"--Introduction. / "January, 1953." / At head of title: Florida State University. / Typescript. / Advisors: Sara K. Srygley, Louis Shores, Professors Co-Directing Paper. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 35-36).

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationships among and between three factors that were hypothesized to affect a reader's evaluation of an author of persuasive material as credible or not. The three factors examined were the following: (1) the occupational status of an author; (2) the gender of an author; and (3) the gender of the reader. The instruments used in the study included a questionnaire, ranking and rating scales, and a set of four persuasive articles with corresponding response scales. The questionnaire was used to obtain a list of relevant and controversial topics. The ranking and rating scales were used to determine the order of preference or importance of each topic and the attitudes concerning the issue. The four persuasive articles were written by the researcher in a letter-to-the-editor format. Each article was attributed to a male author associated with a high and low status occupation. Each article version was accompanied by a response scale. Subjects were to rate their feelings regarding the credibility of each author. Subjects for the study were freshman and sophomore sociology students at The University of Arizona. A total of 223 students participated in the study. Significant differences were found regarding author occupational status. For two of the persuasive articles, the high occupational status author was rated as more credible than the low status occupation author regardless of author or reader gender. Significant differences were also found for reader gender. Female readers overall rated authors as more credible than did male readers for two of the persuasive articles. No significant differences were found regarding author gender.

Thesis (M.L.S.)--Brigham Young University. / Chiefly tables. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 143-144).

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This study is concerned with the social production of adolescent readers of fiction and with the formation of their responses to the fiction they read. It was conceived from within the mainstream "progressive" tradition of secondary English teaching, but is written from a perspective informed by more recent developments in literary theory. The overall problem addressed is: how do adolescents become confirmed readers of fiction? It is investigated in two ways. The first seeks to identify those working practices and social relations in secondary schools most likely to promote adolescent fiction reading. The second seeks to understand the perceptions that adolescents have of the fiction that they read. The report is based upon a longitudinal study of six teaching groups in three comprehensive schools. A combination of ethnographic and survey methods was employed. In two of the schools fiction reading was found to decline sharply over the two year period. Readership patterns were closely associated with social class origins, gender and school ability grouping. In the third school, however, which had the highest proportion of working class students, fiction reading did not decline, nor was it influenced by ability grouping, gender or social class. These different reading outcomes are shown to relate closely to the working practices and the exercise of power within the schools. One school functions as a reaing community; the other two do not. The significance of the findings is discussed in relation to contemporary theories of cultural and social reproduction. Schools, it is concluded, have the capacity to do very much more than reproduce and legitimate existing socio-economic differences at and by the cultural level. As for the individual response to literature, the original intention was to present case studies of representative readers from the sample. All three schools sought to initiate their students,ith varying degrees of success, into a particular discourse, the discourse of personal growth, in which fiction reading is held to contribute to the reader's enhanced understanding of the self, others and the world. This view, however, rests upon assumptions about language and texts, the reading process and subjectivity which the intervention of structuralism and later developments in literary theory have rendered untenable. In order to understand the theoretical limitations of this discourse, its disabling classroom consequences and the possibilities for its transformation to more radical and liberating approaches to texts, the case study presented here is of the discourse itself, rather than of those readers who sought access to it.