SAHS Academics > English Department Web Site > Philosophy & Mission Statement > Reading--Transacting with Text

Reading is an activity that requires the mind to engage in a kind of conversation with the printed word. We call this process meaning making. Meaning making involves calling forward prior knowledge before reading; posing questions, making hypotheses, predicting, comparing, and reacting during reading; and drawing inferences, conclusions, contradictions, or confirmations after reading. Competent readers can often do these things almost subconsciously. Less competent readers need to be taught how to bring these kinds of responses into their conversation with a text, and even the most competent readers will need to make these responses quite consciously when they are faced with a difficult text.

The process of consciously making the kinds of responses just described is part of strategic reading. Several factors help in deciding the kind of responses needed for meaning making. The first factor is the reader's purpose for reading. Purposes may vary from skimming to find superficial information, reading for pleasure, to reading to acquire important, complex information, or reading to analyze a theoretic or literary text. A second factor is the structure, purpose, and intended audience of the text. Is the text trying to entertain, is it trying to persuade, give directions, explain? How is it organized? Is it a time order narrative? Is it an editorial? Is it a thesis with supporting evidence? A third factor is the kind of language used in the text. Is it highly technical? Is the language from an unfamiliar time period? Is the language abstract?

Ultimately, the reader makes decisions about how quickly to read the material, whether rereading is needed, and what kinds of responses are appropriate. Sound instruction in language arts helps students learn to make these decisions.