Minding the Gap: Annotation as preparation for discussion

This research project examines classroom discussion in its relationship to reading as made visible through the practice of textual annotation. In order to develop a rich description of student reading/discussion processes, we targeted multiple undergraduate seminars at a liberal arts college as they encountered the first two Acts of Shakespeare’s King Lear . We collected triangulated data from these class sessions including targeted reading surveys, student reading annotations, natural- istic observation of real-time seminar discussion behavior, and student reflections. Our analysis of the students’ annotations relies upon reading theorist Wolfgang Iser’s conceptions of interpretive gap, consistency building, and individual reper- toire. Our discussion considers the theoretical implications of this local, in-depth data for the broader analysis of student reading and discussion practices.