Chapter 3: Reading and Listening
Reading is Key
Writing scholar Kenneth Burke (1941) describes the exchange of ideas as entering a never-ending conversation.
Let’s think about that for a moment. Imagine you enter a friend’s apartment or dorm room and notice an animated conversation already underway in the living room. You’re curious about it, so you sit down on the couch and listen to what they’re talking about. After a little while, you get a good sense of what they’re talking about and feel like you have something to add. You speak up, offering something new to the conversation. The conversation continues, your contribution taking it in a new direction. One of your friends arrives so you jump up and go over to the kitchen to greet them. The conversation in the living room continues, and in some ways, keeps going even outside of the walls of the apartment or dorm room when the people in the living room leave the party and take that conversation with them into the world.
I like thinking about scholarly writing like this. Not only does it transform reading into a place of curiosity and opportunity for contribution, but it helps us reflect on the ways that ideas move.
In order to enter a research conversation, we have to listen to what’s already being said in that conversation. But how do we learn how to listen attentively? In this chapter, you will discover strategies that will help you read scholarly articles in a way that stimulates not only your comprehension, but also your own critical thinking and engagement.
QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION
- Free-write without stopping for five minutes, reflecting on an early memory of reading or being read to. Where were you? What was the book/text? Who was there? How did it feel?
- What experience do you have reading and engaging with academic or scholarly articles?
- What are two or three words that come to mind when you think about approaching an academic article?
Student Narrative
It’s hard to say exactly how I learned to read and write because I don’t necessarily remember. It’s almost as if it just happened overnight and all of a sudden, I was able to read, write and converse in three different languages. My parents were definitely the biggest contributors in teaching me Korean and Japanese because it was important for them that I could understand their language and culture. My father would always tell me stories about my grandparents and his childhood in Korea, even if I could not fully understand, he always wanted me to hear what he had to say. I’ve come to realize that telling stories is what makes up our culture. Sharing experiences and memories with friends and families are what brings us closer together and this is not just in Korea, this is everywhere. Life is filled with stories; from the children books and fairy tales we would hear as a kid to the fictional novels we loved reading as a teen and now to scholarly articles we are required to read in university.
References
Burke, Kenneth. (1941). The Philosophy of Literary Form. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Media Attributions
- reading-study-2643599_1920 © Mohamed Hasan is licensed under a CC BY (Attribution) license
- Think © Kirby Wu is licensed under a CC BY (Attribution) license
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