Week 6 discussion

Chapter two  ‘Model of Reading’ out of the course text "Reading Writing & Children's Literature" mainly explores the four cuing systems, which supply the reader with information to construct meaning.  It was stated that when we read we draw on and combine information from these cueing systems constantly, in order to read fluently.        
    
The four-cueing systems include:

·      Semantic information: This cueing system refers to the meanings that are presented in the text and in the mind of the reader. The reader will use semantic cues when they consider information, ideas and feelings in a text. The semantic cues include word meaning, subject-specific vocabulary, figurative language and meanings presents in images. The semantic cue system allows the reader to connect the information they receive from the text to their prior knowledge on the specific topic of the text.

·      Grammatical Information: This cueing system allows the reader to maintain fluency and to predict what word might come next, by having a sound knowledge of languages and the way it works. If the reader has grammatical knowledge they know; how text are constructed to accomplish their purpose, how different types of sentences are structured and how different kinds of words work to create meaning within the text.

·      Phonological information/ Graphological information: this cueing system refers to the reader having knowledge about how the sounds of language relate to the printed words.

·       Visual/pictorial information: This cueing system refers to the reader having an understanding about the images used in a text. The reader should combine the meaning from both visual and print features to create meaning from the text.

Chapter 2 also discusses the four roles of the reader. These are skill which efficient readers do as they read and to understand a text. 

The four roles of the reader are:

·      Code-breaking practices

·      Text-participant practices

·      Text-user practices

·      Text-analyst practices:

The second chapter assigned was ‘ The reader and the text’ which illustrates that different types of texts have different purposes and are structured using distinct features to achieve these purposes. For example the purpose of literacy texts is a lot different to factual text. We read literacy texts to engage in the pleasure and excitement of entering into the world of the book, where as we read factual texts for many reasons, such as; tell real facts about the world, describe how to do real tasks, argue a point of view, compare points of view and recount events that have happened. This reading also explains we read and write texts within our social and cultural context.

These two readings have given us a deeper understanding on the 4 cueing systems, illustrating the roles of the reader an how they construct meaning from the text. The readings also explained the different features and purpose of different types of text, which has advanced our understanding and we now have knowledge to successfully structure specific types of texts.