Borderland

In an article about active comprehension strategies, Michael Pressley delineated the strategies that effective readers demonstrate.

Good readers are extremely active as they read, as is apparent whenever excellent adult readers are asked to think aloud as they go through text (Pressley & Afflerbach, 1995). Good readers are aware of why they are reading a text, gain an overview of the text before reading, make predictions about the upcoming text, read selectively based on their overview, associate ideas in text to what they already know, note whether their predictions and expectations about text content are being met, revise their prior knowledge when compelling new ideas conflicting with prior knowledge are encountered, figure out the meanings of unfamiliar vocabulary based on context clues, underline and reread and make notes and paraphrase to remember important points, interpret the text, evaluate its quality, review important points as they conclude reading, and think about how ideas encountered in the text might be used in the future. Young and less skilled readers, in contrast, exhibit a lack of such activity (e.g., Cordón & Day, 1996).

I can’t help but make a connection to how I read when I’m writing a blog entry. I’m usually reading something, and I’m making predictions about what I expect to find there. I associate the ideas I find with what I already know, and I note the accuracy of my predictions. If I’ve encountered something that I didn’t expect to find, I revise my previous ideas. Unfamiliar words have to be figured out. I make connections between texts, and find links to post. I make notes and bookmarks to remember the ideas that flow as I form the rough draft. I think about how the ideas I’ve encountered might be used in my writing.

This sounds like an echo from Will’s post about connective writing. I see this process as the expression of a discourse stance toward reading and writing. A critical reader instinctively knows this, but as Pressley said, “Young and less skilled readers…exhibit a lack of such activity.” So how might they learn it? I’m certain that the teacher-bloggers have some ideas. Blogging is a slam dunk for encouraging a writer to think critically. We can also teach students about the stance of a reader. If writing flows from reading, then we need to devote time to that aspect of the process, as well. Asking post-reading questions about a text, as is commonly done in school, however, is not comprehension instruction. We need to help students learn to monitor their thinking while they read.

From a sociolinguistic perspective a discourse stance is the conceptual angle we take on a social situation. How we see ourselves as participants in any discussion or in any interaction with a text is central to the stance we take. When we present students with a list of prepared questions following their reading, we are letting them know that none of the ideas that they may have had while reading are going to matter in the long run. This kind of training encourages passivity and apathy toward reading and writing in our students.

One way to help students become strategic readers is to engage them in a process called reciprocal teaching. Reciprocal teaching is an instructional method that involves dialog between students and teacher, usually in a small group. The teacher models the thinking strategies of summarizing, questioning, clarifying and predicting with the students, eventually releasing responsibility to the students, themselves, to lead the group. This method of teaching leads the students to learn how to socially construct meaning, while the teacher monitors their comprehension.

Reading can be much more than a cognitive process. We have to first recognize that without a reader, any text is utterly meaningless. When reading is viewed as a transaction between the reader and the text , the reader approaches the text with the intent of participating in a symbolic “performance” of it, creating a meaning that is unique to that reader at a particular moment in time. Transactional theory was developed by Louise Rosenblatt, who wrote Literature as Exploration in 1968. She compared the stances of readers who read for information with those who approach a text from a more aesthetic position. These two stances are not mutually exclusive, They are seen as existing on a continuum. And it’s worth noting that a particular stance is more or less appropriate to a given set of conditions. We don’t read a dictionary like we’d read a haiku, for instance.

Will said

…we are “empowered” by the ability to enter space with the author. As we read, we connect to ideas and personal knowledge with the intent to respond, not simply to passively, internally grapple with the meaning.

Will mentioned empowerment of the reader, and I completely agree. When readers understand that they play a necessary role in the construction of meaning, they no longer approach a text as a passive recipient. Strategic readers create meaning in a negotiated process that honors the uniqueness of their emotions, their connections, and their identities. Meanings are explored in light of their possibilities instead of their limitations.

We teach dancers, musicians, athletes, and even typists how to position themselves. We should do the same for readers and writers. The blogger’s stance is entirely consistent with what we should be aiming for.