Developing Dialogic Critical Reading Competence Through Bakhtinian Dialogue And Rosenblatt's Reader-Response Theory: Evidence From Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni's Fiction

Abstract

Critical reading has emerged as a vital academic competence that enables learners to analyse, interpret, and evaluate literary texts from multiple perspectives. Despite the growing emphasis on critical literacy, many classroom practices continue to privilege information retrieval over reflective and dialogic engagement. Addressing this gap, the present study develops an integrated framework by combining Bakhtin's theory of dialogism with Rosenblatt's Reader-Response Theory to enhance critical reading competence through the selected fiction of Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni. Bakhtin's concept of dialogic interaction encourages readers to engage with diverse voices, cultural contexts, and competing viewpoints, while Rosenblatt's efferent–aesthetic continuum explains the reciprocal relationship between the reader and the literary text. Bringing these complementary perspectives together, the study demonstrates how meaningful classroom dialogue and personal reader responses foster deeper interpretation, critical reflection, and independent meaning-making. Divakaruni's narratives, with their rich portrayal of migration, identity, gender, memory, and cultural negotiation, provide an effective platform for examining these processes. The proposed framework highlights the role of literature as a space for intellectual inquiry rather than passive consumption, encouraging learners to question assumptions and construct informed interpretations. The study contributes to contemporary literary pedagogy by presenting a practical and theoretically grounded model that supports critical literacy, dialogic learning, and learner-centred reading practices in higher education.