Following the article of Kainulainen & Kainulainen, I wondered how the state literature education in the Netherlands is. I found this article ‘Literaire gesprekken in groep 7 en groep 8 van de basisschool: Een onderzoek naar stimulering van literaire competentie’ (Literary discussion in class five and six of the primary school: An inquiry into stimulation of literary competence) by Gertrud Cornelissen, Maarten Dolk and Dick Schram in the journal: Tijdschrift Taal, year 3, number 5.

According to the writers of the article Dutch children score very well in literal reading compared to children from other countries, but significantly worse in the interpretation of ideas that are not literally found in the text. The text questions are divided into four key processes of reading comprehension:

A: Finding explicitly mentioned information and ideas;
B: Making references that can be found in the text;
C: Interpreting and integrating ideas and information;
D: Investigate and review the content.

Dutch children score above average on parts A, B and for part D on the aspect, or the events might be true; They score significantly less on part C: putting relationships within the text and in part D on investigating and evaluating the story structure. The students seem to master the basic skills of comprehension reading, such as searching for information and drawing direct conclusions (text comprehension). But with the processes that require more thinking and experience, such as integrating ideas and evaluating content (text interpretation), students are having more trouble. In addition, according to this study, Dutch students spend relatively little time reading books compared to pupils from other countries, like we read in the article about Finnish fifth graders. They have a negative attitude towards reading, but nevertheless, they feel positive about their own reading performance. From this you can deduce that reading for Dutch children is mainly a school activity, where they learn how to literally understand a text. This is still far from the image of a literary competent reader. A literary competent reader knows its way in the wide range of books and organizations, has knowledge of the characteristics of literary of literary texts and thus developing appreciation for those texts, and which can then formulate that appreciation.

For primary education, students must be able to read literary and fictional texts "like they experience it" at the end of group 8 (class 6), the aim is to read fiction "recognizing". In 'experience' reading, the reader seeks' primary, emotional stimuli, such as tension, sensation and drama 'in' recognizing reading 'the reader attempts to put work in his own experience world'. It has been shown that young children can not only read from experience and recognition, but also reflectively and interpreting. From research done about reading picture books as literature, it appears that children can talk about literary features of a story and, moreover, prove to enjoy it. If pre-schoolers are already capable of talking about literary features, than this is certainly possible for pupils from upper secondary school.

Primary school children can read more than just empathetic and recognizable texts. Therefore, in primary education, more attention should be given to the development of narrative skills, here meant to gain insight into the way a story is told. The central role of the reader: communicating with and about literature.

In the research discussed in this article two 5^th grades and one 6^th grade participated. The students from these classes read four books at home, in the class they discussed about these books. When reading the book at home, the children make notes about the book on post-its. These post-its form the start point of a discussion in small groups about the books. The first two books were discussed in random groups, for the third and fourth book they had the same member in each group. The fourth book was chosen by the group itself.

Characteristic of these conversations is the central place of the book. During the discussions the books are on the table. The research shows that children are spontaneously searching for quotes and sometimes they also read fragments from the book. Children experience that they can find evidence in the book for their literary discoveries.

There are two theoretic concepts to look at literature; the structuralistic view with the emphasis on the text and the reader-response view with the accent on the reader. In the first the real meaning of the literary work is confined in the text and can only be overcome by properly analysing the literary work. The teacher guides you through the text with question about the writer’s viewpoint, the theme and the structure of the text. The teacher with his knowledge of literature leads the students by asking good questions and giving feedback to this only correct interpretation. This is the way I was taught literature in high school. I could never have my own opinion about a text, because the writer already had meant the text in a certain way, and that was the way how we should see the text as well. The second concept, the reader-response view would have been way more suitable for me, to become interested in literature as a teen ager. In this concept the emphasis is not on the text, but with the reader. From their own expectations and reading experiences, readers talk about the text and create their own meaning. In the readership approach, there is no proper interpretation, interpretation depends on the reading experience of the reader, and in the interaction with literature, "new horizons of significance" can rise.

The latter view is used in literary reading at the schools. The teacher is still there to guide the students, but they can develop their own view on the text.

Each reader builds his own textual world while reading, and as the reading progresses, this text world is further expanded. Four forms of meaning can be distinguished that can occur during the reading process:

1. Get out of the text world and step back into it.
2. Be in the text world and move through it.
3. Step out of the text and think of what you know of the text world
4. Step out of the text world and objectivise the experiences.

The first two forms of meaning relate to understanding and interpreting the book. In the third form, the text world is expanded with the world outside the book. In the fourth form, readers reflect on the text and reading experience. The formulation of an argued judgment is part of the built-up text world.

Literature education aimes at making readers develop their own interpretation greatly appeals to the formulation of their own thoughts about the texts. The supportive role of teachers in this regard is to help students develop their own opinions. This means that teachers rather than judging student comments on good or wrong, try to find out what students think. The whole situation in the classroom differs from traditional literature education. It is not the teacher that asks the question, waits for the answer and judges if it is right or wrong, but the students are asking the questions, towards each other. This is how a discussion about the book starts instead of a recitation. The role of teachers is to encourage children to respond to each other and to disappear more and more in the background. This means a lot more speaking time for students and empathetic listening for the teachers. Teachers can try to involve as many students as possible in the conversation by applying certain questioning routines. There are different types of questions you can use for this:

1. A) Questions for the purpose of constructing meaning

• Knowledge questions appeal to the knowledge that readers of the book and literary concepts have.
• Experience questions invite to express their own experience of the story.
• Empathy questions appeal to the ability to link the data from the book to their own experiences and emotions
• Deepening questions invite you to clarify or justify an opinion
• Interpretation questions invite to give a personal interpretation
• Assessment and evaluation questions invite to express an opinion on the book or on a fragment

1. B) Questions with the aim of promoting interaction between the students

• Director questions invite all students to take part in the conversation. Students are asked to express their (dis)approval and to connect different ideas.
• Questions to summarize

The classes that participated in this project were all really positive, students and teacher. The project was especially effective for the weaker readers. They got more pleasure in reading. For all students there was a clear growth in terms of experience and interpretation of the texts. In the field of interpretation, children make the biggest development.

I think this article give clear examples how to develop the reading skills of 5^th and 6^th graders. Since this is also a weak point in the Finnish students (according to the article by Kainulainen & Kainulainen) I think this is relevant for all teachers. It motivates co-operative learning and gives clear handles how to make literature reading more enjoyable for the students.