The Nature of Engaged Reading in Classroom Discussions of Literature

The goal of this investigation was to gain an understanding of engagement as fourth graders and their teachers attempted to construct meaningful interpretations during classroom discussions of literature. Data from videotaped discussion, field notes, and interviews with students and teachers were analyzed inductively. Engagement occurred when students and teachers used interpretive tools to select, connect, and organize information in the text to construct meaningful interpretations. The context of the literary act and the culture of the classroom influenced engaged reading. There were cognitive, metacognitive, and motivational components to the engagement observed.