Reader Beliefs and Meaning Construction in Narrative Text.

This research examined how transmission and transaction beliefs about reading affect comprehension, engagement, and holistic understanding of narrative text. Transaction beliefs, which emphasize reader-generated meaning, were related positively to the type and number of reader responses as well as to the sophistication of one's holistic interpretation. Transmission beliefs, which emphasize understanding the author's intended meaning, were unrelated to all outcome measures. Transmission and transaction beliefs were unrelated to each other. These findings support the view that transaction beliefs facilitate meaning construction of narrative text, whereas transmission beliefs do not.