Topic and audience

What assumptions about readers' knowledge does the text make?

'Taking up the concept of ideal reader,the writer attributes to his/her ideal reader
certain knowledge (schemas) and beliefs or ideas specific to the topic being dealt
with Taking those attributes for granted, the writer can build a message aimed at a
target reader' (!agano"#$$%"&'() )an* texts, although dealing with a global issue,
are produced in a local context +ow much is shared between author and reader?
What can an author take for granted about the schemata of intended readers? To what
extent do learners understand the local context of situation in which a text is
produced? ,o gi-en texts pro-ide enough of a recognisable context for the reader to
make intelligent .udgments about the intended audience, the interpersonal relations
between author and reader and the ideational purposes of the text?
Topic uni-ersalit* ma* not be the prime issue when considering the factors that
enable readers to successfull* decode/ intended audience is more likel* to be more
important (considering the allowances that authors can make for intended audiences'
-ar*ing needs for filling0in)
+ow can learners become part of the intended audience of a gi-en text?
)aterials/Tasks
,o materials (particularl* if the* are not authentic) pro-ide enough richness for the
reader to detect and exploit lexical networks? 1re there, for example, naturall*
occurring kinds of simple repetition, s*non*ms, general words and superordinates?
,o initial stages of a task (or indeed of a test that focuses on reading) allow learners
to acti-ate schemata?
,o initial tasks encourage learners to"0
a) predict
b) extrapolate
c) utilise
lexical networks?
What tasks best de-elop strategies for identif*ing and using lexical networks?
Word field diagrams could be used 'to highlight the relations between items'
(2airns"#$(3"$3) 4exical networking tasks can also be actuated through tree
diagrams, grids and the representation of h*pon*m0 superordinate relationships (5ee
2airns"#$(3"$60$( for examples)
,o tasks, and tests, o-erall enable an obser-er to measure to what extent the text,
when it is designed as a coherent piece of connected propositions and not a colon*, is
a coherent piece in the reader's mind and not an ill0assorted collection of fragments
from which, *es, the learner can extract bits of information? 1nd what degree of text
coherence will satisf* a learner? The intended audience of the text?
,o tasks facilitate the simultaneous use of bottom0up and top0down processing, using
at once both textual data and the learner's own conceptual contribution to the text?
Teaching
,oes classroom acti-ation of schemata based on such elements as -isual aids,
headings, ke* words and the social context of the text deli-er the lifelong
independent0learning message that the learner is the acti-e constructor of the text, a
producti-e consumer rather than the passi-e recipient of information?
7s the essential classroom acti-it* one where the learner's own personal relationship
with the text, using her own experience of similar texts, the world and its lexical
representation is at the centre00and the teacher increasingl* marginalised?
7f so, the process of producti-e consumption is effecti-el* in place
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