CONSTRUCTING MEANING WHEN READING POETRY - AN EXPERT-NOVICE STUDY

Research in cognitive science has focused on expert performance in var ious domains, but there has been no expert-novice study on how meaning is constructed when reading poetry. In this study, ''experts'' were 8 PhD English candidates, and ''novices'' were 8 undergraduates or adva nced high school students. Participants thought aloud as they attempte d to make sense of 2 period poems. The protocol analysis, framed by 4 research questions, resulted in 4 broad findings: As in studies of exp ertise in other domains, for the experts, knowledge is an important co mponent of poetic communication. Novices did, however, have well-devel oped expectations for understanding the category of poetry as discours e. The experts employed productive interpretive strategies in making t he poems coherent. The difficulty novices had in making sense of the t exts diminished their appreciation of the poems.