ERIC Number: EJ1470530
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2025-May
Pages: 8
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1741-4350
EISSN: EISSN-1741-4369
Available Date: 2024-08-15
Novice Interpreters, Transmedia Fictions and the Afferent Stance
Margaret Mackey1
Literacy, v59 n2 p177-184 2025
Louise Rosenblatt's well-known concept of stance distinguishes between efferent reading (reading to take something away from the text) and aesthetic reading (reading for the experience of dwelling in the text). This article proposes a refinement to this binary, adding the concept of afferent reading. Afference, in biology, means a bringing-to, and afferent reading includes what interpreters bring "to" a text. This article particularly considers how afference works in a world of transmedia iterations of a story. What do young readers bring "to" their interpretation of a version of a story from other versions of the same story or the same story world? How does the concept of afference improve the ability of teachers and other adult observers to consider different renditions of the same story as a potential asset to young interpreters rather than simply a form of repetition?
Descriptors: Reading Processes, Reading Comprehension, Reader Text Relationship, Story Reading, Interpretive Skills, Story Telling
Wiley. Available from: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030. Tel: 800-835-6770; e-mail: cs-journals@wiley.com; Web site: https://www.wiley.com/en-us
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Evaluative
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: 1School of Library and Information Studies, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada