SQR4

Maria Andrea Martinez

Cynthia Sanchez

ENG 1320/1301 158

Trang Phan

09/22/2010

Rhetorical Reading Strategies and the Construction of Meaning

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:

In this article Christina Haas and Linda Flower briefly explain about the growth in their field, in how reading should no longer be known as a receptive process, but as a constructive. Constructive is viewed as two different ways which are literary theory and cognitive research. Hass and Flower described how rhetoric is viewed by work, they explained the its reading is also a discourse act, which is when readers build up meanings with the point of a discourse situation, that’s when the writer of original text other readers , the rhetorical context for reading, and the history of the discourse come in handy. Good reader students are known as those who can identify topic sentences as well as introductions and conclusions, generalizations, and they can support the main details on what they are reading, because of their high standards in reading they are least to frustrate. Hass and Flower were looking forward to figure out on how readers go about “constructing” meaning and the constructive strategies. They took into consideration of how many academic topics would just give out an unfair advantage to those who were known as the experienced readers that they knew were better knowledgeable on reading automatically by invoking the best of what they can do over an academic topic.

Question:

What are the differences between constructive and rhetorical?

Response:

Constructive and rhetorical are two keywords that are some what alike, but have differences concerning meaning wise. Constructive process is what is known as an opinion that a reader predicts when he or she reads an article, novel, etc. As for the constructive strategies there are quite a couple of them; for example, content, functions/feature, and rhetorical reading, these 3 part coding scheme that are known to be distinguished. The meaning of these 3 strategies are, content is what the text is about, function/feature are used to refer to convention features of discourse. Last but not least, the meaning of rhetorical strategies is to take a step beyond the text itself. These are the 3 main strategies that the constructive process falls into. On the other hand, rhetorical process is what is known as to be or can be important feature in the process of critical reading. Rhetorical is what is also known for readers to use in text as well as for them to use their own knowledge to redo the rhetorical situation of their writing they are doing. It includes not only one representation of discourse but a unique discourse with the original author as well as a specific purpose and actual effect. These two process are mainly what reading do while their writing. Researchers have said that constructive is what real readers and writers are known for.