SQR4

Lisa Marie Lopez
English 1301
Ms. Phan
September 18, 2010
SQR4
Rhetorical Reading Strategies and the Construction of Meaning
Christina Haas and Linda Flower. “Rhetorical Reading Strategies and the Construction of Meaning”. College Composition and Communication, Vol. 39, No. 2 (May,1988), pp. 167-183
Summary:
This article talks about how different strategies are used to construct and create written essays. One strategy introduced to us at the beginning is called “rhetorical reading” which is a strategy that is mostly used by the more experienced writers, is a type of tool that helps writers and readers understand the meaning of what they are reading. The article talks about how imagination is helpful when it comes to reading and writing. Emotional connection, simple association, or subordination, stated by the author in the article, is the cognitive process of reading and writing. The article explains how “multiple-representation thesis” helps explain transformations and the process of constructing. An experiment is done on three students testing to see how they think when they read, if they understand what they have read, and how fast they have read. “Content strategies” is explained in the article as a strategy that helps the reader better understand what they are reading. The article differentiates the differences between experienced readers and writers, and student reader/writers. It also talks about how rhetorical reading is being taught to students.
Question:
What do you think is good reading? How would you define rhetorical reading?
To me, good reading is when a person can comprehend what they have read. A good reader is someone who actually takes mental notes, or takes actual notes of something they read to better understand it. I am the type of reader that needs to jot down notes and reread what I have read so that I could not only understand what I am reading but also so I could imagine it. A good reader is someone who could analyze what they have read and criticize. They ask themselves questions and imagine in their minds what they have read. Rhetorical reading is a strategy used to help the reader criticize, identify, and analyze in their own words and ways. I often use this tool whenever I read because it really helps me to create imagery and helps me to foresee what is to come, or what I didn’t understand. Rhetorical reading is not really used by students; it is mainly used by those who are experienced. It is recommended that students use rhetorical reading because it helps the reader and writer with structure in their reading skills. When I had to do summer reading for high school, I couldn’t really comprehend what I was reading so then and there I used rhetorical reading. I got out my pencil and jotted down notes and characteristics on all the characters in the book. It really helped me understand who the character were and what their purpose was.