Skip to main content

Anna Soter

Ohio State University, College of Education and Human Ecology, Faculty Member

Columbus College of Art and Design, Liberal Arts, Adjunct

Followers

67

Following

14

Co-authors

5

Public Views

I am Professor Emerita and Academy Professor at The Ohio State University (USA). I was also Adjunct Professor at the Columbus College of Art, and taught a semester language-pedagogy course while visiting Australia in 2016 at Murdoch University in . I enjoy teaching and editing across a variety of genres including academic papers for early career academics, M.A. Ph.D. theses and general interest papers and books. I also provide workshops on writing for well-being (e.g., Humanism in Medicine/The Arts in Medicine) and have a decade's history in that area with medical/health professionals as well in a cancer-survivorship program at a major medical campus in the US. I am currently in Australia again (WA) Australia). Messages can be posted on my page and/or through LinkedIn.
Phone: 6145815932
Address: 3143 Walden Ravines

less

University of Zagreb

Uppsala University

University of East London

University of Leicester

Gwen Robbins Schug

University of North Carolina at Greensboro

Gabriel Gutierrez-Alonso

University of Salamanca

Macquarie University

Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul

Swansea University

Jesper Hoffmeyer

University of Copenhagen

Uploads

Papers by Anna Soter

Reading and writing poetically for well-being: language as a field of energy in practice

Journal of Poetry Therapy, 2016

ABSTRACT While recently revisiting three years of post-workshop feedback from participants in a W... more ABSTRACT While recently revisiting three years of post-workshop feedback from participants in a Writing and Poetry for Well-being program that I offered through a major medical center for cancer survivors as post-treatment rehabilitation, I realized that a concept I had developed for language pedagogy in 2005, namely that “language is a field of energy,” might serve to explain why the workshop participants (several of them returning across time) regarded the workshops as significantly transformative. The concept, “language as a field of energy,” appears to offer explanatory power for the therapeutic benefits of incorporating poetry reading and writing. In the process of engaging with language imaginatively and playfully, participants in a series of workshops I provided for a cancer survivorship arts-based program, found avenues for understanding the role of language in shaping and reinforcing what and how we think and feel.

The Academy of Teaching 30 The Use of Discussion as a Pedagogical Tool in the University Context

What the discourse tells us: Talk and indicators of high level comprehension

A B S T R A C T The purpose of this study was to validate and extend the findings of an exhaustiv... more A B S T R A C T The purpose of this study was to validate and extend the findings of an exhaustive literature search in Year 1 and a meta-analysis in Year 2 of a 3-year project in which nine (9) small-group discussion approaches were identified. Having identified parameters of discussion that were, to a greater or lesser extent, present in these nine discussion approaches, our goal in the study being reported in this paper, was to evaluate the nine discussion approaches on a common set of discourse features known to characterize 'quality' discussions. Although there is overlap among some studies in the nature of the measures used, the extant literature does not afford a uniform basis on which to evaluate student talk as an indicator of student understanding and critical thinking. In the present study, we identified features of classroom discourse that might serve as proximal indices of students' learning and comprehension and we employed each of these proximal indices...

What's the "Discipline" in Education?: A Personal Perspective

If we take “A Discipline” in an academic field to mean “a branch of knowledge” (so defined as one... more If we take “A Discipline” in an academic field to mean “a branch of knowledge” (so defined as one of several meanings in most reputable dictionaries), I am puzzled as to why the field of Education is not considered “A Discipline.” Since entering academic life as a tenure-track Assistant Professor at The Ohio State University in the Autumn Quarter, 1986, I’ve struggled with this, both because of my own perceptions of this field as well as that of many colleagues who are in what are unarguably defined as “Disciplines.”

Language as a Field of Energy: A Critical Question for Language Pedagogy

Critical Questions in Education, 2017

This essay offers a reorientation of our views on the interrelationships of language and thought ... more This essay offers a reorientation of our views on the interrelationships of language and thought as a field of constantly reprogrammable energy, and provides an argument as to why we believe this new metaphor (i.e., language as a field of energy) matters in language pedagogy, in classrooms at all levels, as well as within teacher education and teacher professional development. We define language as a field of energy in the following way: as language operating as a “region” in which a force (in this case, words and their rhetorical functions) operates to bring about some influence resulting in an effect or having an impact on one’s own behaviors, on the behaviors of others, as well as having the capacity to influence emotions, and/or the course of events. Following a brief introduction in which we state our purpose, we present the case for the above argument in the context of current language and literacy education. In doing so, we delineate language-thought-perceived reality relatio...

“It’s Great to Have Allies As Long As You Can Ignore the Thought That You’ll Have to Kill Them”: A Cultural Critical Response to Blurred Ethics in The Hunger Games Trilogy

Deconstructing "Aesthetic Response" in Small-Group Discussions about Literature: A Possible Solution to the "Aesthetic Response" Dilemma

English in Education, 2010

conducting a federally funded study on the role of small-group discussions as possible mechanisms... more conducting a federally funded study on the role of small-group discussions as possible mechanisms for the development of high-level comprehension (Soter et al., 2008; Wilkinson, Soter, & Murphy, 2007), we conducted an exhaustive narrative analysis of over 500 scholarly products, including empirical research, conceptual and theoretical scholarship, and instructional applications, to identify parameters of productive small-group discussions. These parameters included stance toward literary texts, of which two were Rosenblatt's (1978) aesthetic and efferent stances. We also conducted an intensive analysis of classroom discussions about and around literary text, from transcripts provided by the proponents of nine recognized small-group discussion approaches. Through our study of classroom talk about and around literary text, we discovered that our application of Rosenblatt's (1938/ 1995, 1978) "aesthetic" stance to elementary (primarily Grades 4-6) students' affect...

Reading across Cultures. Teaching Literature in a Diverse Society. Language and Literacy Series

Students' Resistance to Engagement with Multicultural Literature Exploring Multicultural Lite... more

Literary Theory and Appreciation: Learning about the Literary Craft

Journal of Children’s Literature, 1998

ABSTRACT Presents two scenarios representing two very different critical perspectives: a text-foc... more ABSTRACT Presents two scenarios representing two very different critical perspectives: a text-focused and a reader-focused approach. Argues that using literary theory to look at a literary text anew results in a richer engagement with that text and helps students to want to engage with the work. (SC)

It’s (Not) Just a Figure of Speech: Rescuing Metaphor

P may grind their teeth, chagrin and impatience coursing through their arteries with the above co... more P may grind their teeth, chagrin and impatience coursing through their arteries with the above commonplace metaphoric declarations. These declarations pervade what may go down on record as the hottest summer (2012) since weather records have been kept. I won’t concern myself with teasing apart various metaphoric cousins (most commonly, simile, metonymy and personification) on the grounds that all language is essentially metaphorical, and equally important. We essentially think in metaphor as Bartel, Lakoff & Johnson, Ricoeur, and others have also argued. “Metaphor” wrote Jose Ortega y Gassett “is probably the most fertile power possessed by man” (cited in Ivie 1). And yet, we may well wonder why metaphor and other kinds of figurative language have caused so much anxiety in schools. Why has metaphor, in particular, created concern for countless nonplussed and hapless students as they hunted for an example in poetry or attempted to explain what such a metaphor “means?” We encounter me...

It ’ s ( Not ) Just a Figure of Speech : Rescuing Metaphor Anna

P may grind their teeth, chagrin and impatience coursing through their arteries with the above co... more P may grind their teeth, chagrin and impatience coursing through their arteries with the above commonplace metaphoric declarations. These declarations pervade what may go down on record as the hottest summer (2012) since weather records have been kept. I won’t concern myself with teasing apart various metaphoric cousins (most commonly, simile, metonymy and personification) on the grounds that all language is essentially metaphorical, and equally important. We essentially think in metaphor as Bartel, Lakoff & Johnson, Ricoeur, and others have also argued. “Metaphor” wrote Jose Ortega y Gassett “is probably the most fertile power possessed by man” (cited in Ivie 1). And yet, we may well wonder why metaphor and other kinds of figurative language have caused so much anxiety in schools. Why has metaphor, in particular, created concern for countless nonplussed and hapless students as they hunted for an example in poetry or attempted to explain what such a metaphor “means?” We encounter me...

Writing: A Third "Language" for Second Language Learners Becoming Members of New "Rhetorical Communities

A study explored the notion of writing as a sociocultural act in order to discover whether and ho... more A study explored the notion of writing as a sociocultural act in order to discover whether and how native cultural literacy and literary influences manifest themselves rhetorically and stylistically. Data were collected from 223 students in Australian grades 6 through 11, and representing three linguistic and cultural groups: Vietnamese, Arabic-speaking Lebanese, and native English speaking (NS). Each subject wrote a simple narrative bedtime story which was rated using a holistic/analytic evaluation scheme, and rhetorical and stylistic patterns. The results indicated the following: (1) stories from all three groups contain attributes of settings, character, and action, although the manner in which these are presented differs; (2) the groups place different emphases on action and event, with the VIetnamese students appearing more concerned with presenting context for their stories than aid the other groups; (3) when a plot is present, the stories show characteristic beginnings and ha...

ESL Students in the English/Language Arts Classroom. An Annotated Bibliography for the Regular English/Language Arts Teachers

Recent research on writing: implications for writing across the curriculum

Http Dx Doi Org 10 1080 0022027870190504, Jul 9, 2006

The Journal of Higher Education

On literacy and its teaching: issues in English education

Choice Reviews Online

Incorporating the metaphors of daily life into the English/language arts curriculum

Literacy Learning the Middle Years, 2014

Recent Research On Writing: Implications For Writing Across the Curriculum

Journal of Curriculum Studies, 1987

Literary Theory and Appreciation: Learning about the Literary Craft

ABSTRACT Presents two scenarios representing two very different critical perspectives: a text-foc... more ABSTRACT Presents two scenarios representing two very different critical perspectives: a text-focused and a reader-focused approach. Argues that using literary theory to look at a literary text anew results in a richer engagement with that text and helps students to want to engage with the work. (SC)

Beyond Relevance to Literary Merit Young Adult Literature as “Literature&#8221

The ALAN Review, 2009

... Asked to explain why they think this is the case, they often tell Sean that they have not con... more ... Asked to explain why they think this is the case, they often tell Sean that they have not considered this question before and, perhaps more significant, their perceptions of what counts as ... Is not Cormier&#x27;s The Chocolate War on a par with Hardy&#x27;s The Mayor of Casterbridge? ...

Reading and writing poetically for well-being: language as a field of energy in practice

Journal of Poetry Therapy, 2016

ABSTRACT While recently revisiting three years of post-workshop feedback from participants in a W... more ABSTRACT While recently revisiting three years of post-workshop feedback from participants in a Writing and Poetry for Well-being program that I offered through a major medical center for cancer survivors as post-treatment rehabilitation, I realized that a concept I had developed for language pedagogy in 2005, namely that “language is a field of energy,” might serve to explain why the workshop participants (several of them returning across time) regarded the workshops as significantly transformative. The concept, “language as a field of energy,” appears to offer explanatory power for the therapeutic benefits of incorporating poetry reading and writing. In the process of engaging with language imaginatively and playfully, participants in a series of workshops I provided for a cancer survivorship arts-based program, found avenues for understanding the role of language in shaping and reinforcing what and how we think and feel.

The Academy of Teaching 30 The Use of Discussion as a Pedagogical Tool in the University Context

What the discourse tells us: Talk and indicators of high level comprehension

A B S T R A C T The purpose of this study was to validate and extend the findings of an exhaustiv... more A B S T R A C T The purpose of this study was to validate and extend the findings of an exhaustive literature search in Year 1 and a meta-analysis in Year 2 of a 3-year project in which nine (9) small-group discussion approaches were identified. Having identified parameters of discussion that were, to a greater or lesser extent, present in these nine discussion approaches, our goal in the study being reported in this paper, was to evaluate the nine discussion approaches on a common set of discourse features known to characterize 'quality' discussions. Although there is overlap among some studies in the nature of the measures used, the extant literature does not afford a uniform basis on which to evaluate student talk as an indicator of student understanding and critical thinking. In the present study, we identified features of classroom discourse that might serve as proximal indices of students' learning and comprehension and we employed each of these proximal indices...

What's the "Discipline" in Education?: A Personal Perspective

If we take “A Discipline” in an academic field to mean “a branch of knowledge” (so defined as one... more If we take “A Discipline” in an academic field to mean “a branch of knowledge” (so defined as one of several meanings in most reputable dictionaries), I am puzzled as to why the field of Education is not considered “A Discipline.” Since entering academic life as a tenure-track Assistant Professor at The Ohio State University in the Autumn Quarter, 1986, I’ve struggled with this, both because of my own perceptions of this field as well as that of many colleagues who are in what are unarguably defined as “Disciplines.”

Language as a Field of Energy: A Critical Question for Language Pedagogy

Critical Questions in Education, 2017

This essay offers a reorientation of our views on the interrelationships of language and thought ... more This essay offers a reorientation of our views on the interrelationships of language and thought as a field of constantly reprogrammable energy, and provides an argument as to why we believe this new metaphor (i.e., language as a field of energy) matters in language pedagogy, in classrooms at all levels, as well as within teacher education and teacher professional development. We define language as a field of energy in the following way: as language operating as a “region” in which a force (in this case, words and their rhetorical functions) operates to bring about some influence resulting in an effect or having an impact on one’s own behaviors, on the behaviors of others, as well as having the capacity to influence emotions, and/or the course of events. Following a brief introduction in which we state our purpose, we present the case for the above argument in the context of current language and literacy education. In doing so, we delineate language-thought-perceived reality relatio...

“It’s Great to Have Allies As Long As You Can Ignore the Thought That You’ll Have to Kill Them”: A Cultural Critical Response to Blurred Ethics in The Hunger Games Trilogy

Deconstructing "Aesthetic Response" in Small-Group Discussions about Literature: A Possible Solution to the "Aesthetic Response" Dilemma

English in Education, 2010

conducting a federally funded study on the role of small-group discussions as possible mechanisms... more conducting a federally funded study on the role of small-group discussions as possible mechanisms for the development of high-level comprehension (Soter et al., 2008; Wilkinson, Soter, & Murphy, 2007), we conducted an exhaustive narrative analysis of over 500 scholarly products, including empirical research, conceptual and theoretical scholarship, and instructional applications, to identify parameters of productive small-group discussions. These parameters included stance toward literary texts, of which two were Rosenblatt's (1978) aesthetic and efferent stances. We also conducted an intensive analysis of classroom discussions about and around literary text, from transcripts provided by the proponents of nine recognized small-group discussion approaches. Through our study of classroom talk about and around literary text, we discovered that our application of Rosenblatt's (1938/ 1995, 1978) "aesthetic" stance to elementary (primarily Grades 4-6) students' affect...

Reading across Cultures. Teaching Literature in a Diverse Society. Language and Literacy Series

Students' Resistance to Engagement with Multicultural Literature Exploring Multicultural Lite... more

Literary Theory and Appreciation: Learning about the Literary Craft

Journal of Children’s Literature, 1998

ABSTRACT Presents two scenarios representing two very different critical perspectives: a text-foc... more ABSTRACT Presents two scenarios representing two very different critical perspectives: a text-focused and a reader-focused approach. Argues that using literary theory to look at a literary text anew results in a richer engagement with that text and helps students to want to engage with the work. (SC)

It’s (Not) Just a Figure of Speech: Rescuing Metaphor

P may grind their teeth, chagrin and impatience coursing through their arteries with the above co... more P may grind their teeth, chagrin and impatience coursing through their arteries with the above commonplace metaphoric declarations. These declarations pervade what may go down on record as the hottest summer (2012) since weather records have been kept. I won’t concern myself with teasing apart various metaphoric cousins (most commonly, simile, metonymy and personification) on the grounds that all language is essentially metaphorical, and equally important. We essentially think in metaphor as Bartel, Lakoff & Johnson, Ricoeur, and others have also argued. “Metaphor” wrote Jose Ortega y Gassett “is probably the most fertile power possessed by man” (cited in Ivie 1). And yet, we may well wonder why metaphor and other kinds of figurative language have caused so much anxiety in schools. Why has metaphor, in particular, created concern for countless nonplussed and hapless students as they hunted for an example in poetry or attempted to explain what such a metaphor “means?” We encounter me...

It ’ s ( Not ) Just a Figure of Speech : Rescuing Metaphor Anna

P may grind their teeth, chagrin and impatience coursing through their arteries with the above co... more P may grind their teeth, chagrin and impatience coursing through their arteries with the above commonplace metaphoric declarations. These declarations pervade what may go down on record as the hottest summer (2012) since weather records have been kept. I won’t concern myself with teasing apart various metaphoric cousins (most commonly, simile, metonymy and personification) on the grounds that all language is essentially metaphorical, and equally important. We essentially think in metaphor as Bartel, Lakoff & Johnson, Ricoeur, and others have also argued. “Metaphor” wrote Jose Ortega y Gassett “is probably the most fertile power possessed by man” (cited in Ivie 1). And yet, we may well wonder why metaphor and other kinds of figurative language have caused so much anxiety in schools. Why has metaphor, in particular, created concern for countless nonplussed and hapless students as they hunted for an example in poetry or attempted to explain what such a metaphor “means?” We encounter me...

Writing: A Third "Language" for Second Language Learners Becoming Members of New "Rhetorical Communities

A study explored the notion of writing as a sociocultural act in order to discover whether and ho... more A study explored the notion of writing as a sociocultural act in order to discover whether and how native cultural literacy and literary influences manifest themselves rhetorically and stylistically. Data were collected from 223 students in Australian grades 6 through 11, and representing three linguistic and cultural groups: Vietnamese, Arabic-speaking Lebanese, and native English speaking (NS). Each subject wrote a simple narrative bedtime story which was rated using a holistic/analytic evaluation scheme, and rhetorical and stylistic patterns. The results indicated the following: (1) stories from all three groups contain attributes of settings, character, and action, although the manner in which these are presented differs; (2) the groups place different emphases on action and event, with the VIetnamese students appearing more concerned with presenting context for their stories than aid the other groups; (3) when a plot is present, the stories show characteristic beginnings and ha...

ESL Students in the English/Language Arts Classroom. An Annotated Bibliography for the Regular English/Language Arts Teachers

Recent research on writing: implications for writing across the curriculum

Http Dx Doi Org 10 1080 0022027870190504, Jul 9, 2006

The Journal of Higher Education

On literacy and its teaching: issues in English education

Choice Reviews Online

Incorporating the metaphors of daily life into the English/language arts curriculum

Literacy Learning the Middle Years, 2014

Recent Research On Writing: Implications For Writing Across the Curriculum

Journal of Curriculum Studies, 1987

Literary Theory and Appreciation: Learning about the Literary Craft

ABSTRACT Presents two scenarios representing two very different critical perspectives: a text-foc... more ABSTRACT Presents two scenarios representing two very different critical perspectives: a text-focused and a reader-focused approach. Argues that using literary theory to look at a literary text anew results in a richer engagement with that text and helps students to want to engage with the work. (SC)

Beyond Relevance to Literary Merit Young Adult Literature as “Literature&#8221

The ALAN Review, 2009

... Asked to explain why they think this is the case, they often tell Sean that they have not con... more ... Asked to explain why they think this is the case, they often tell Sean that they have not considered this question before and, perhaps more significant, their perceptions of what counts as ... Is not Cormier&#x27;s The Chocolate War on a par with Hardy&#x27;s The Mayor of Casterbridge? ...

Use of a coding manual when providing a meta-analysis of internal-validity mechanisms and demographic data reported in peer-reviewed educational journals

by Anna Soter, Sean Connors, and Lucila T Rudge

This article emerged from issues Soter encountered during a 3-year qualitative investigation fund... more This article emerged from issues Soter encountered during a 3-year qualitative investigation funded via the Spencer Foundation which, in its first year, focused on identifying converging evidence about the use of group discussions to promote high-level thinking and comprehension of literary text. In that project, we conducted an intensive narrative analysis of extant research drawn from nine different approaches to small group discussion. Subsequently, we included studies that used quantifiable measures in a meta-analysis to study effect sizes on the use of discussion and the development of high-level comprehension. We excluded 74 qualitative studies from the meta-analysis because their methodology precluded inclusion. Such exclusion raises issues about what is considered scientifically-based evidence .