PETAL

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On the concept of "writerly" teaching

As some of you know, my dissertation is an exploration of how Roland Barthes’s concept of readerly and writerly texts can lead us to rethink our understanding of interaction in online instruction, although I strongly believe that it is equally applicable to any kind of instruction.

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For Barthes, readerly texts, which constitute the majority of texts, have a very limited number of possible interpretations. On the other hand, writerly texts require the reader to participate in the creation of meaning, where the act of reading becomes an act of rewriting.

Of course, there is neither time nor space for me to adequately explain or explore those concepts here (although I am sure they will be visited frequently in the coming weeks and months), but I would like to offer an analogy that might bring a little light to the concept.

Consider the difference between writerly texts and readerly texts to be similar to the difference between poetry and prose. Whereas prose will attempt to cover everything that needs to be covered, poetry, on the other hand, only points the reader in the direction she needs to go, gently telling her to go over there and look around.

Another apt literary analogy might be the difference between fiction and drama. Like the prose example above, a short story will fill in all the gaps. It will provide details and descriptions, everything you need, but a play, at least in literary form, leaves much to the imagination, such that the act of reading is essentially the act of acting, directing, and producing all at the same time.

I don’t know if anyone has ever tried to faithfully rewrite Hamlet as a novel, but I certainly hope not.