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COPYRIGHT 2004 International Reading Association Inc.
The purpose of this case study was to explore a middle school student's emotions in the tutoring context in order to better understand the "struggles" facing a struggling reader. The study revolved around a sixth grader, Mitchell; his mother, Joan (both names are pseudonyms); and me--his reading tutor. When we first talked about the possibility of tutoring for Mitchell, Joan's eyes welled up with tears. She reported that Mitchell had struggled with reading since the early grades but had learned some compensatory strategies that had helped him. Now in the sixth grade, Mitchell was reading at a third-grade level, and according to Joan reading had become increasingly frustrating for him.
The terms struggling, frustrated, and tears immediately brought to mind an array of negative emotions. As a tutor, I was interested in exploring the emotions of this struggling reader. Could Mitchell's emotions offer clues about how to help him? After reading literature in cognitive psychology explaining that emotions are a result of our individual interpretations of particular situations or contexts, I was convinced that studying a student's emotions could provide clues about how that student is interpreting the tutoring context. I was also convinced that understanding the emotions of a struggling reader could benefit other tutors and teachers as well.
A cognitive explanation of emotions
According to research in cognitive psychology, emotions emerge from a conceptual appraisal process in which an individual infers and interprets to make sense of a situation. Initial or primary appraisals are made concerning the personal relevance of the situation, followed by secondary appraisals concerning perceived control over the situation (Lazarus, 1991; Smith, 1991). Emotions such as happiness or pride are linked to primary appraisals that a situation is beneficial to the individual. Emotions such as anger or fear are linked to primary appraisals that a situation is harmful to the individual. Differentiations between challenge and frustration, pride and gratitude are distinguished by secondary appraisals. For instance, pride and gratitude have identical primary appraisals of personal benefit, but they are distinguished by the secondary appraisal of accountability. Pride is a result of perceived self-accountability. Gratitude is a result of perceived "other-accountability" (Parkinson, 1994; Smith, 1991).
This appraisal process may help to explain some of the emotions encountered in previous literacy research. For example, Oldfather (1994) discovered a range of feelings associated with students' experiences when not motivated for literacy learning. Students openly expressed anger and helplessness. Some students' statements were direct appraisals that learning situations were out of their control and that they were not accountable for their frustrations. For instance, one angry student explained, "Teachers kind of get on your back and everything. I really get mad" (p. 13). If we use the appraisal process to interpret this student's anger, we know he perceives the learning context as somehow harmful, or not beneficial (primary appraisal), and that he perceives another as accountable for the situation (secondary appraisal). Also in Allen, Michalove, and Shockley (1993), one student's pride was evidenced in his comments: "I'm learning to read! ... Want me to show you? ... Want me to read it to you? ... ooh, this is my favorite part!" (p. 71). Another student was grateful to those around her for their assistance: "I read big words. Ms. Willis and Ms. Shockley read books and I read and they tell it when I don't know a word. I learn if I read. Ms. Shockley, Ms. Willis, and my sister, my eleven-year-old sister will help" (p. 105). In their quotes, these students revealed that the ability to read is personally relevant and beneficial (primary appraisals), but they differed in their secondary appraisals of accountability. The first student saw himself as accountable; he expressed the confidence and excitement that often accompany feelings of pride. The second student consistently mentioned those who helped her; she expressed gratitude toward her teachers and her sister.
A social explanation of emotions
These cognitive explanations of emotion did help me to understand our tutoring interactions; however they only seemed to scratch the surface of the emotional issues surrounding Mitchell's struggle to be a successful reader. Thus, after analyzing data for only a short period, I realized that there were themes that were better explained by social theories. In essence, I realized that Mitchell's struggle was not just a result of his individual interpretation of one particular context--Mitchell's struggle was being socially constructed in a variety of contexts and in numerous relationships.
Social constructionism emphasizes that knowledge is formulated between participants in a social relationship (Hruby, 2001). This theory is somewhat different from the social constructivism attributed to Vygotsky, in that constructivism can be considered a cognitive description of knowledge and constructionism can be considered a social description of knowledge. Emotions have likewise been described from a social constructionist perspective. Scheff...
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