[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"doc-seo-577473-105":3,"doc-detail-577473-en":80,"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":96},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"ok",{"site_id":7,"language":8,"slug":9,"title":10,"keywords":11,"description":12,"schema_data":13,"social_meta":73,"head_meta":75,"extra_data":77,"updated_unix":79},105,"en","reading-up-close-and-personal-connection-making-and-the-classic-american-short-story","Reading Up-Close and Personal: Connection-Making and the Classic American Short Story","","A reader-response approach frames reading as a creative process in which learners become co-authors rather than passive receivers of an author’s message. Centered on O. Henry’s “Transients in Arcadia,” the discussion analyzes irony in the desire for temporary wealth and highlights linguistic challenges for EFL readers. Using examples from the five-page narrative about Mamie Siviter and Jimmy, it argues for making text-to-self, text-to-text, and text-to-world connections through connection-making moves as a generative teaching template across grade levels and content areas.",{"@graph":14,"@context":72},[15,34,55],{"@type":16,"itemListElement":17},"BreadcrumbList",[18,23,27,31],{"item":19,"name":20,"@type":21,"position":22},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",1,{"item":24,"name":25,"@type":21,"position":26},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/","Document",2,{"item":28,"name":29,"@type":21,"position":30},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/exam/","Exam",3,{"item":32,"name":10,"@type":21,"position":33},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/reading-up-close-and-personal-connection-making-and-the-classic-american-short-story/577473/",4,{"url":32,"name":10,"@type":35,"image":36,"author":41,"headline":10,"publisher":44,"fileFormat":47,"inLanguage":8,"description":12,"dateModified":48,"datePublished":49,"encodingFormat":47,"isAccessibleForFree":50,"interactionStatistic":51},"DigitalDocument",{"url":37,"@type":38,"width":39,"height":40},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/reading-up-close-and-personal-connection-making-and-the-classic-american-short-story/577473.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":42,"@type":43},"Lucas Martin","Person",{"url":19,"name":45,"@type":46},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-11-09","2026-10-15",true,{"@type":52,"interactionType":53,"userInteractionCount":30},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":54},"ViewAction",{"@type":56,"mainEntity":57},"FAQPage",[58,64,68],{"name":59,"@type":60,"acceptedAnswer":61},"What does the reader-response framework claim about reading?","Question",{"text":62,"@type":63},"Reading is treated as a creative process that elevates readers into co-authors, not just consumers of the author’s message.","Answer",{"name":65,"@type":60,"acceptedAnswer":66},"Why is “Transients in Arcadia” considered ironic and relevant for readers?",{"text":67,"@type":63},"It comments on the everyday desire to experience wealth, even if only temporarily, and prompts reconsideration of values.",{"name":69,"@type":60,"acceptedAnswer":70},"What teaching issue in EFL contexts is highlighted regarding vocabulary decoding?",{"text":71,"@type":63},"Teachers and students may focus on decoding at the vocabulary level by confirming meanings word by word, which can lead to laborious reading rather than deeper connection-making.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":32,"og:type":74,"og:title":10,"og:site_name":45,"og:description":12},"article",{"robots":76,"canonical":32},"index,follow",{"doc_id":78,"site_id":7},577473,1792031803,{"code":4,"msg":81,"data":82},"success",{"doc_id":78,"user_id":83,"nickname":42,"user_avatar":84,"doc_module":4,"category_id":33,"category_name":29,"doc_title":10,"doc_description":12,"doc_content":85,"file_id":86,"file_url":87,"file_type":88,"file_size":89,"view_count":30,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":22,"is_downloadable":22,"audit_status":22,"page_count":90,"language":91,"language_code":8,"site_id":7,"html_lang":8,"table_of_contents":92,"faqs":93,"seo_title":94,"seo_description":12,"update_tm":79,"read_time":95,"preview_page_count":4},8796095360427,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_994ba38a5ba835b3df7d355c54d3ed8d","SPENCER SALAS AND BERNADETTE MUSETTI  \nUnited States  \nReading Up-Close and Personal: Connection-Making and the Classic American Short Story  \n“Mr. Farrington,”she said, with the smile that everyone in the Lotus loved,“I want to tell you something. I’m going to leave early tomorrow morning because I must go back to work. I work selling women’s clothes at Casey’s shop. That dollar is all the money I have. I won’t have more until I get paid at the end of the week. You’re a real gentleman and you’ve been good to me. I wanted to tell you before I went.”  \n–O. Henry,“Transients in Arcadia”  \nI n 1908, William Sydney Porter, otherwise known by his pen name,  \nO. Henry, published a collection of short stories, The Voice of the City:  \nFurther Stories of the Four Million , in which “Transients in Arcadia”appeared. It is available for teachers and readers on the American English website (see Henry 2023) .  \nThe brief five-page narrative opens in the lobby of a luxurious NewYork City hotel, the Hotel Lotus. It is July in the early 1900s.The Hotel Lotus is a summer oasis for the rich to temporarily escape the intense heat and noise of the bustling city. A guest, the mysterious Madame Héloise D’Arcy Beaumont, is rumored to be a great lady. In an elaborate dress decorated with roses, she descends the grand staircase into the hotel’s restaurant, where a team of waiters meticulously serves her the evening meal. In the dining room, she meets Harold Farrington, rumored to bea great man. Over the next week, the two guests become fast friends—and, from the point of view of the other hotel guests, a good match.The night before Madame Beaumont’s rumored departure for Europe, she reveals—as quoted above—that she is not Héloise  \nD’Arcy Beaumont. Her identity is fiction. Her real name is Mamie Siviter, and she works in a department store selling women’s clothes. It took her more than a year to save the money she needed to experience the Lotus for a short week as a wealthy woman; she has not finished paying for the dress she is wearing. The gentleman smiles and reveals that his real name is James McManus—or“Jimmy.” He isn’t a great gentleman either, he says. Instead, he is employed at O’Dowd and Levinsky—by coincidence, the store where Mamie bought her elegant dress. His week at the Hotel Lotus was something he had saved for, too—wanting to experience, even if temporarily, the lifestyle of the rich and famous.The story ends with Mamie and Jimmy agreeing to meet again (as themselves) at Coney Island, a working-class beach park in Brooklyn.  \n2  \nENGLISH  \nTEACHING  \nF ORUM  \n2 02 4  \n[americanenglish.state.gov/forum](americanenglish.state.gov/forum)  \nIn a reader-response framework, reading is more than the consumption of an author’s message or a definitive interpretation. It is a creative process that elevates readers as co-authors.  \n“Transients in Arcadia” is a celebrated ironic commentary about the desire of everyday men and women to experience wealth—however temporarily. It is a lot to think about; and stories like “Transients in Arcadia,” whether they be five pages or 500 pages long, challenge us to reconsider our values. But for a variety of reasons, reading O. Henry stories can bea challenge for anyone studying English as a foreign language (EFL).The story’s title, for example, might require a dictionary if not an encyclopedia to decipher.“Transients”?—an antiquated expression for persons staying or working in a place for only a brief period.“Arcadia”?—a once unspoiled and idyllic region in the Greek Peloponnesus and playground of the dryads and nymphs of ancient mythologies.  \nIn previous collaborations, we have leveraged classic American short stories to explore how teachers working within a prescribed literature curriculum might take up new language and forms in participatory formats (Salas, Mraz, et al. 2019), visualize a storyline (Salas,Williams, et al. 2021), and develop deep comprehension through layered question-making (Salas, Mraz, G","cbCaijdrueboTjwn","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaijdrueboTjwn","pdf",159965,10,"English","# Reader-Response Framework\n## Connection-Making Through O. Henry\n# The Linguistic Challenge for EFL Readers\n## Decoding Vocabulary vs. Meaning-Making\n# Connecting Text-to-Self, To-Text, and To-World","[{\"question\":\"What does the reader-response framework claim about reading?\",\"answer\":\"Reading is treated as a creative process that elevates readers into co-authors, not just consumers of the author’s message.\"},{\"question\":\"Why is “Transients in Arcadia” considered ironic and relevant for readers?\",\"answer\":\"It comments on the everyday desire to experience wealth, even if only temporarily, and prompts reconsideration of values.\"},{\"question\":\"What teaching issue in EFL contexts is highlighted regarding vocabulary decoding?\",\"answer\":\"Teachers and students may focus on decoding at the vocabulary level by confirming meanings word by word, which can lead to laborious reading rather than deeper connection-making.\"}]","Reading Up-Close and Personal: Connection-Making and the Classic American Short Story | PDF",25,{"code":4,"msg":81,"data":97},[98,102,106,109,114,119,124,129,134,137,140],{"id":22,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":99,"show_sort_weight":100,"slug":101},"Story & Novel",90,"story-novel",{"id":26,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":103,"show_sort_weight":104,"slug":105},"Literature",80,"literature",{"id":33,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":29,"show_sort_weight":107,"slug":108},70,"exam",{"id":110,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":111,"show_sort_weight":112,"slug":113},5,"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":115,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":116,"show_sort_weight":117,"slug":118},6,"Technology",50,"technology",{"id":120,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":121,"show_sort_weight":122,"slug":123},7,"Healthcare",40,"healthcare",{"id":125,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":126,"show_sort_weight":127,"slug":128},8,"Research & Report",30,"research-report",{"id":130,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":131,"show_sort_weight":132,"slug":133},9,"Religion & Spirituality",20,"religion-spirituality",{"id":132,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":135,"show_sort_weight":132,"slug":136},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":90,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":138,"show_sort_weight":90,"slug":139},"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":141,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":142,"show_sort_weight":110,"slug":143},19,"General","general"]