Abstract:

A mixed-methods quasi-experimental study evaluated the effects of a pedagogical intervention in literature education on Austrian upper secondary high school students’ attentional focus, modes of engagement and self-insight. The intervention is based on the newly developed NDR-model, the letters in the abbreviation representing the basic practices of narration, dialogue and response underlying the model. Two cycles of NDR interventions on the identity issues of “happiness” and “relations” were implemented.

Each cycle consisted of six phases:
1. autobiographical narratives,
2. narratives in interaction,
3. personal comments on literary texts,
4. intra- and intertextual analyses and interpretations,
5. literary discussions, and
6. personal narrative projects.

Students adopted identity learning, perspective taking and plot understanding as principal learning strategies.

In order to test the effects of the implementation of the given model of literature instruction, NDR students were compared to students who received regular literature teaching (RLT) focused on the analysis and interpretation of literary texts as well as on literary history (N = 70). Participants’ self-reported scores differed significantly between the experimental and control groups, thus indicating that the intervention based on the NDR-model increased the students’ attentional focus, fostered their narrative engagement with literary texts and triggered self-insight, whereas RLT did not. Qualitative analysis of interview and artefact data suggested that NDR students experienced insight into the self and the other because they were stimulated to engage with literary texts in the context of their personal identities.
Limitations and implications are discussed.

Keywords:

Literature education, scientific study of literature, narrative engagement, insight.