Date of Award
1995
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Department
Psychology
Abstract
This study was conducted with male juvenile offenders who were incarcerated at a juvenile treatment facility operated by the State of Indiana. The students were aged 13 to 18 and were enrolled in grades seven through eleven. Thirty-three students were selected for the final analysis because only those 33 had completeEducational records available at the facility. The students were asked to respond to two short stories by Robert Cormier. The stories, "The Moustache" and "President Cleveland, Where Are You?" were chosen because of Cormier's reputation as a popular author of adolescent literature. The stories also were chosen because the stories involved protagonists in situations where they had to make difficult choices. Students were asked to read each of the short stories after the stories had been broken down into six parts. After each part of the story, the student was asked to "Please tell me about the story." All responses were obtained in writing. After students responded, their responses were coded and placed into categories developed by James Squire. The categories were literary responses, narrational responses, interpretational responses, prescriptive judgments, self-involvement, and miscellaneous. Students in this study chose narrational responses nearly 75% of the time. Students' responses were also labeled as correct or incorrect based on the definition that a correct response was any response that could be supported by the text. Students' incorrect responses were analyzed as to the types and the frequency. The study showed no connection between a student's reading level and the number of incorrect responses. In fact, students with lower reading levels made fewer errors than did those with higher reading levels. This might be explained because students with lower reading levels made little, if any attempt to interpret, and with narrational responses, there is little room for misinterpretation.
Recommended Citation
Sheese, Judith Griffin, "The Reader Response Of Male Juvenile Offenders To Two Short Stories By Robert Cormier" (1995). All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 903.
https://scholars.indianastate.edu/etds/903