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Article published In:
Scientific Study of Literature
Vol. 12:1/2 (2022) ► pp.103–132

An intricate dance of intersubjectivity

The social and cognitive benefits of a digital shared reading group

ORCID logo | Lund University
| Lund University
ORCID logo | Lund University
ORCID logo | Lund University
| Lund University
ORCID logo | Lund University

This article deepens the understanding of characteristic features of Shared Reading (SR) that can shed light on health benefits of this literary practice suggested by previous research. We provide a detailed analysis of language, interaction, reading strategies and collaborative meaning-making in an online SR group in which participants read and discussed a modernist poem. We triangulate our analysis with results from a focus group with the participants. Our study is informed by psychological theories about joint attention and its effects on social cohesion, mentalisation and perspective-taking. The analysis shows how the SR format provides a space in which ingroupness, intersubjectivity, and perspective-taking are created and realised in language use and interaction. Furthermore, our study suggests that many characteristic features of SR identified in earlier research can still be observed in an online SR group. The study lays the ground for more conclusive research of the benefits of this reading practice.

Keywords: shared reading, collaborative meaning-making, joint attention, perspective-taking, social cohesion
Article outline
  • Introduction
  • Theory
  • Data and method
  • Analysis of SR session
  • Results from the focus group discussion
  • Connecting the analyses
  • Discussion
  • Conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
Available under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) 4.0 license.

For any use beyond this license, please contact the publisher at [email protected].

Published online: 13 June 2023
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/ssol.22010.gus
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