Readers of english literature confronting quiet members with critical literacy in the act of mentoring

Abstract

In response to many years of a one-way teacher-oriented teaching approach in Iran, there have been some attempts in research to identify young learners as resourceful learning material themselves. Over a period of two semesters, the researchers as teacher-researcher and co-teacher full-time participant observer explore the diverse ways for inviting thirty English Literature majors to voice their own spontaneous learning challenges in reading English literature through mentorship; and characteristics of a popular mentor in critical reading practice and the ways in which a mentor may share her voice with mentees. For this purpose, a qualitative case-study methodology is conducted at Alzahra University (the only-woman university in Iran) for an in-depth understanding of the language and act of reading when Iranian women English literature readers participate in a mentorship interaction. The findings indicated that the mentors/mentees and the teacher create a subtle relationship throughout the semesters by sharing how to read and search for literary texts; how to review literary texts after hearing one another’s writing styles; how to voice their critiques with courage; how to overcome competition; and how to invite quiet members to their circles.