ABSTRACT

Of interest in their own terms as a significant cultural practice, reading groups also provide a window on the everyday interpretation of literary texts. While reading is often considered a solitary process, reading groups constitute a form of social reading, where interpretations are produced and displayed in discourse. The Discourse of Reading Groups is a study of such joint conceptual activity, and how this is necessarily embedded in interpersonal activity and the production of reader identities. Uniquely in this context it draws on, and seeks to integrate, ideas from both cognitive and social linguistics.

The book will be of interest to scholars in literacy studies as well as cultural and literary studies, the history of reading, applied linguistics and sociolinguistics, digital technologies and educational research.

chapter 1|29 pages

Introduction

Reading Groups and the Study of Literary Reading

chapter 3|30 pages

Mimetic Reading and Reader Identities

chapter 5|29 pages

Reading Groups and Institutional Discourse

chapter 6|24 pages

Reading Online

chapter 7|22 pages

Conclusion

Developing an Integrated Analysis of Reading Group Discourse