SQR4

Emily Perez & Monica Torres

Eng. Comp

Trang Phann

09/24/10


Rhetorical Reading Strategies and the Construction of Meaning

Christina Haas and Linda Flower. “Rhetorical Reading Strategies and the Constructions of Meaning”. College Composition and Communication, Vol. 39, No. 2 (May, 1988), pp. 167-183

Summary:

Christina Haas and Linda Flower believe reading should be thought of as a constructive process. Using a think aloud procedure they watched as readers tried to make meaning of the text known as “rhetorical reading” page 167. As well as when readers attempt to construct a good statement many things may be required such as “searching, inferencing, and transforming one’s own knowledge”. Page 168.Rhetorical Thinking is when you take something you already and add more to your knowledge by reading more about it. In the article “College composition and Communication” they refer to a good reader as having large vocabulary can, read quickly and, are able to do well in compression tasks” page 170. Other students assume if they understood all the words they’ve read it correctly. When experienced readers write comments on what they have read they use “content strategies” page 175. Comments in which don’t include much detail on the readings are referred to a “function/feature strategies” page 175. There is also a third strategy known as “rhetorical strategies” page 176 these strategies help readers uncover the actual event of the text. In the article, they state their first attempt would be to introduce rhetorical reading [insert something to make it more understandable]. The readers shouldn’t be taught how to read the text but how to understand it well enough to write about it.

Question:

Will these strategies become productive to student readers?

Response:

There are three different strategies in this article and from my understanding they are suppose to help students out. I personally think they will help students out because the article talks and explains how everything is used, and if it is taught well the students will pick up these strategies quickly and use them. The article also lets students know that reading and understanding a fraction of what is read doesn’t necessarily help. Many students seem to have that problem of reading the text and not having a clue on what they just read. In order to help the reader understand better, the student should search and use basic knowledge to become more influenced by the topic. These strategies allow the readers to identify if they are “good readers” and with better ways to fully understand exactly what they read.