Hmmm...This has been fun to think about. I agree that your purpose for reading
can greatly affect what you get from the text. I think we can always infer the
author's message from fiction or non-fiction. Our schema is also going to
affect the message we get ...not just our purpose for reading it. I am watching
the HBO movie about John Adams right now on DVD. The Declaration of
Independence... a non-fiction text....what was it's purpose? Was it to unite
the colonies? Inspire the masses? How would King George have understood it?
Based on his ethics and experiences, he may have gotten a very different
message than a colonist would have received.
Since comprehension is an interaction between reader and text...I think we have
to say that this will always be a gray area. Meaning is both made up and author
provided...a negotiation between the author and reader. Sometimes one has more
to add than the other. Both are always involved.
Jennifer Palmer
Reading Specialist, National Board Certified Teacher
FLES- Lead the discovery, Live the learning, Love the adventure.
"Children grow into the intellectual life around them."
-Vygotsky
________________________________
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] on behalf of [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Wed 7/16/2008 11:11 PM
To: Special Chat List for "To Understand: New Horizons in ReadingComprehension"
Subject: Re: [Understand] Chapter 8
I agree that different texts lend themselves to different degrees of
interpretation.
Maybe it depends what you mean by make up.
It's OK with me if a student says that a character in a book is mean and
another student says that same character is nice as long as both students can
point to places in the text that support those thoughts. If the students just
say, "Because I made it up," I can't accept that answer.
Jan
------------ Original message from Dana Williams <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>: ---------
> Jan,
I think your question of how much of a text a reader needs to use to understand
is really dependent on the text itself and what purpose the reader sets for
reading. I do believe that, at times, a readers (or a viewer of art or a
listener of music) is free to make up their own meaning, in a sense. An example
might be poetry - where you and I could read the exact same text yet come away
with two very different understandings. I think Ellin illustrated this point a
couple times in her opening vignettes in MOT. I know I have experienced this in
a book club I belong to made up of fellow teachers - we have all read the same
book yet come away with different understandings of characters and author's
> message. So I think it's true that readers do bring their own meaning.
However, there are times, too, when understanding, or meaning, would depend on
the author's message. I'm thinking of nonfiction books, especially, that you
are reading for a purpose. Here, wouldn't the reader be dependent on the
> author's message?
> Or what about if you're teaching theme to a group of third graders? Doesn't
> their understanding of theme somewhat depend on the author's intent?
> Sooooo..... my initial response to your question would be - it depends on the
> text, on the reader, and on the purpose of reading.
> Just my initial thoughts..... which are subject to change, and frequently do,
> upon reflection. :)
> Dana
>
>
>
> >>>>
> Another question that keeps coming up in my mind is how much of the text a
> student needs to use to understand. In one chapter there seems to be the idea
> that readers (viewers of art too) can make up their own meaning. But in
> another
> place is says that making meaning includes the author's intended message. I
> see
> a contradiction here. Can someone point to the text to show me where I can
> reconcile this contradiction. Or am I missing something? Can you tell what I
> think students should be doing? :)
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