Reading Into Writing 4 Rhetorical Models of Understanding Claire Kramsch

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Another article is the same series as the previous one I posted by William Grabe. This article examines the interpretation of texts (both written and spoken) and the construction or reconstruction of meaning, adding an element of intertextuality to the process. Instead of just the traingulation of reader, text and author an extra element is added - 'rhetorical co-construction of meaning':

'The way teacher and students talk to one another about the text, and about each others' interpretations of the text, what each one chooses to say and to leave unsaid, are among the many interpretive procedures that help co-construct learners' representations of the world disclosed by the text. Even in the individual silent reading outside the classroom, the readers' ability to imagine the worlds evoked by the text is mediated by their interactions with prior texts, prior conversations on texts, and by the schooled and unschooled ways in which they have learned to take knowledge from written texts and to make sense of that knowledge.'

I am sure reading this article will evoke 'pleasant' memories of the many hours of grammar analysis we laboured 'conscientiously' through last semester.