We argue that literary reading education, at secondary school and CEGEP levels, can contribute to the development of diverse subject readers—i.e., plural, changing and contradictory subjects—within a historical perspective but able to distance themselves reflexively, aided by their own interpretation of the text and the interpretations of other readers. Firstly, we developed a model for understanding subject reader diversity, based on the critical analysis of a uniform, homogeneous and essentialist concept of the subject that the school should teach and the culture that it wishes to pass on. Secondly, we examined to what extent the diversity of interpretations actually produced by students can effectively establish the mediation of the understanding of self and others as a diverse subject reader. This understanding is inevitably transitory, fragmented, intersubjective and reflexive, given that it is based on the confrontation between different interpretations produced successively by the same reader and simultaneously by several readers. Thirdly, we described and explained how students develop several interpretations of a literary text by using their various subjectivity resources while at the same time appropriating interpretive elements developed jointly with their peers and teacher. In keeping with these hermeneutic and praxeological objectives, we have designed a teaching sequence, based on La plage des songes by S. Péan (1998). This sequence incorporates individual and collaborative reading, writing and speaking activities. It was tested by two teachers, during the first year of lycée studies in France and as part of a CEGEP-level course in Quebec. Our qualitative methodology is intended to promote thorough understanding of seven reader paths, using data gathered through classroom observation, student texts and interviews. This multi-case study confirms that students are capable of linking different subjective resources (cognitive, epistemic, psycho-emotional, sociocultural, axiological), taking a step back from their interpretations and those of their peers, and reflecting on their reading experience. Intersubjective exchanges (particularly between the reading committees) play a significant role in students’ reflexive understanding of the singularity and diversity of their interpretative paths.
Diverse literary readings : devloping diverse subject readers