Reader Response Theory: Students’ Encounter and Challenges with E- Literature

• Main Authors: Rosales, Ma. Junithesmer D, Sarce, John Paolo
• Format: text
• Published: Archīum Ateneo 2019
• Subjects: electronic literature (E-Lit); reader response theory; teaching literature; hyper poem; glocalization; Digital Humanities; English Language and Literature; Language and Literacy Education
• Online Access: https://archium.ateneo.edu/english-faculty-pubs/149; https://archium.ateneo.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1150&context=english-faculty-pubs
• Institution: Ateneo De Manila University

This paper investigated the overall experience of learners with e-literature (e-lit). E-lit as a new form of economy in the field of literature and humanities prompted authors and scholars to create newborn sites of learning — videograph fiction, kinetic poetry, text tula (hyperpoem), and hyperfiction. Thus, the digitization of resource materials in literature led the researchers to investigate the outer circle of some of these new born sites by focusing on the following: readers and their experiences on understanding and learning through e-lit; textual which is concerned with performance and complexities of using this new form of literature; and cultural that deals with the racial impact and sense of belongingness of learners through the e-lit. As for method, the study did not use any sophisticated sampling method but followed a simple procedure: viewing some sample text tula or hyperpoem and interviewing participants to collect needed information. Hence, the following results were obtained: (1) text tula made the participants feel more at ease in making meaning as opposed to kinetic poetry; (2) text tula and kinetic poetry help the participants in deciphering the meaning of a word; and (3) participants felt the importance of merging literature teaching and technology to preserve the traditional or basic forms of literature. Thus, we can say that in teaching the new forms and emerging versions of literature we must first understand the complexities it can bring inside our classrooms and work on these complexities so that skills of students ranging from traditional art forms to animation can be maximized.