Conference Program

This study explores how Shared and Dialogic Reading Aloud (SAL) fosters equity by reshaping representations of anger among children and adolescents aged 5–18 in Italian schools—from binary, polarized models to layered, intercultural ones—aligning with reading as a promoter of democracy and equality (Batini, 2022).
The research adopts an integrated approach that combining structured interviews (administered to a sample of 500 participants aged 5 to 18) and semi-structured interviews aimed to explore deep-seated experiences and personal narratives regarding anger. This phenomenological phase is accompanied by a critical analysis of a corpus of 50 Western-produced picturebooks and young adult novels, tracing dominant narrative models. The final experimental phase involved the implementation of the SAL practice through the dialogic mediation of the book Kakèra. Histoire d’un petit morceau by Katsumi Komagata, used as an exemplary device embodying aa Japanese-rooted vision of anger.
Results reveal a close alignment: over 90% of youth responses mirrored the texts' narrative hegemony, portraying anger predominantly as a wild, binary force (repression vs. outburst) lacking generative or transformative functions. Introducing Komagata’s model via SAL dismantled this view, providing symbolic tools for reflective reworking of the emotion as "ethical intelligence" and a form of knowledge (Nussbaum, 2004).
In conclusion, the study demonstrates how dialogic reading’s equitable benefits expand emotional repertoires and deliver "narrative justice" (Tierney & Kan, 2021). SAL goes beyond emotion regulation, enhancing youth agency and transforming anger from isolation into a driver of conscious, democratic participation—offering a model for "democracy for learning.