“Can children be literary critics?”: Aidan Chambers' contribution to literature teaching

Abstract

Aidan Chambers is a renowned English writer dedicated to young audiences who, in parallel to his artistic activity, studies and develops practices for teaching literature in schools. The purpose of this article is to describe the approach in which "literary conversation" as a meaningful social practice in school and in life is based. According to Chambers (2007b, 2011b), the "Tell Me" sessions are not a method but an approach that understands that children can become literary critics. To this end, the discussion is divided into four parts: the author's presentation and production, the game of voices (Bakhtin, 2002) present in Chambers' proposition, the categorization of the discursive line on the reception and effect of aesthetic works (Barthes, 2000, 2013; Dewey, 2010; Iser, 1999, 2002) and, ultimately, the description of the "Tell Me" approach. The results obtained lead to the systematization of the discursive link that sustains the proposition of a pertinent approach to literary reading in the classroom, which originates from an individual reading and moves to a collective action, negotiating and sharing the meanings of the aesthetic object. Due to the fact that Chambers' works have not been translated into Portuguese, this exercise is understood as a contribution to the field of literature teaching in Brazil.