An Analysis of Teaching Practices in Literature Classes for the Tolerance of “Multiple Selves”: Using the Methodology of Interactive Essays

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the theory and methodology of classroom teaching practices in literature classes from the perspective of tolerance, in terms of learners’ own reading, which may differ from the teacher’s reading, as well as the problem that emerges when learners actually submit their own “multiple” readings (i.e., the totality of selves producing such readings) to the classroom.

In a fifth-grade class at an elementary school, students were asked to write their impressions of a literary work in the form of a dialogue between two persons, A and B, and to engage with other learners who had read the same work. It was found that the creation of an interactive essay made those “multiple selves” visible, and that dialogue with others using interactive essays helped bring about awareness of the value and meaning of each “multiple self.”