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Necessary indeterminacy and the microethnographic study of reading as a social process
Author(s) -
Bloome David
Publication year - 1993
Publication title -
journal of research in reading
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.077
H-Index - 51
eISSN - 1467-9817
pISSN - 0141-0423
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-9817.1993.tb00040.x
Subject(s) - indeterminacy (philosophy) , reading (process) , meaning (existential) , psychology , perspective (graphical) , action (physics) , linguistics , social psychology , epistemology , computer science , philosophy , physics , quantum mechanics , artificial intelligence , psychotherapist
This article discusses a microethnographic approach to the study of classroom reading and writing. Inherent to a microethnographic perspective is a view of reading and writing as social and cultural processes. Reading and writing are viewed as a set of social and cultural events, in which people act and react to each other. This view of reading and writing is contrasted with dominant psychologically‐oriented views. Two dimensions of reading and writing as social and cultural processes are emphasized in the article: (1) author‐reader interaction, and (2) social relationships among people during a reading or writing event. The actions and reactions that people take to each other are necessarily indeterminate in meaning and significance, their meaning and significance is negotiated and reconstructed as people continue to interact. The indeterminacy of actions, reactions, and utterances provides a basis for dialogue and the co‐construction of meaning and action. A transcript of part of a classroom reading lesson is analyzed and discussed to provide an illustration of a microethnographic approach to understanding reading and writing as social and cultural processes and the role of indeterminacy. Implications of viewing reading and writing as social and cultural processes and the concept of necessary indeterminacy are extended to the conduct of reading research.