Cultural factors affecting the construction of literary meaning among three urban first graders

The research question addressed is Which cultural factors affect the construction of literary meaning among three urban first graders? What each reader brings to reading is unique what he or she takes away is also as individual as his or her cultural background and schemata. This capstone is based on the work of Louise Rosenblatt, who acknowledged that each learner has a vast amount of knowledge in place when he or she begins to read and write, a foundation established in culture. Although she published her first book on the culture affects meaning topic over 70 years ago, Rosenblatt\u27s ideas remained in development for several decades. This research investigates which aspects of culture affect three pre-emergent readers during Reader\u27s Workshop lessons in a diverse, urban classroom. To fully support and facilitate whole language literacy instruction, teachers must encourage students to respond to text by tapping their unique cultural backgrounds