READING SKILL Lectured by: Miss Yanna Queencer Telaumbanua, M.Pd.

2. Text-attack Skills: Signification and Cohesion a. Text and Discourse 1. A text could consist of a single sentence 2. A text can be also composed of a number of sentences organized to carry a coherently structured message. 3. The message may be a story, a body of information, an argument etc. 4. The way the meanings in a text are organized to convey the message is DISCOURSE.

CONTINUED... 5. Discourse analysis is the study of how discourse is produced and organized.

Continued... b. Four Kinds of Meanings Four levels of meaning: conceptual meaning, propositional meaning, contextual meaning, pragmatic meaning. Conceptual meaning: the meaning of a word can have on its own. Concepts/notions are found at any level (from the whole text down to a single word or morpheme)

Continued... Every lexical item embodies a concept, sometimes simple (e.g. Blue), sometimes complex (e.g. Probability) Whole books  complex concepts like probability/truth. The smallest meaning units of all  other concepts like plurality. Making a text involves concepts together to form propositions (bring the next kind of meaning)  other kind of meaning rest on conceptual meaning.

Continued... b) Propositional meaning: the meaning of a sentence can have on its own. It is same as signification or plain sense. It is the meaning of a clause or sentence can have even if it is not being used in a context, but is just standing on its own. a). E.g. Misleading carries no propositional meaning. b). Examination results are misleading.

Continued... To deny the truth of the proposition (examination results are not misleading), to doubt, question, etc has a truth value. The signification of a sentence (its propositional meaning) is the only kind of meaning, it can have when it is cited, except in a limited number of cases (perhaps it gives a kind of value). E.g. A thermometer is an instrument for measuring temperature (be described as a generalization while clearly as a definition)

Continued... c) Contextual meaning: the meaning of a sentence can have only when in context. It is same with functional value, which is a sentence is used in a given situation or context. The value is from the writer’s reason for using it, and from the relationship between one sentence (utterance) and others in the same text.

Continued... E.g. You should not expel my son just because he has failed  it has the value of an explanation or justification. Explanation/justification are often called rhetorical acts. Explanation/justification are sequenced/organized into patterns to display the writer’s thoughts, by combining the patterns into larger patterns until the overall pattern of the whole to reach the writer’s overall message.

Continued... d) Pragmatic meaning: the meaning of a sentence has only as part of the interaction between writer and reader. It is the meaning which reflects the writer’s feelings, attitudes etc, and its intention is the reader should understand these. It is the intended effect of the utterance upon the reader.

Continued... E.g. Examination results are misleading E.g. You should not expel my son just because he has failed  a father asks as a complaint/protest E.g. How true  a headmaster answers but suggested not replied at all since it is construed as an offensively sarcastic way of refusing to discuss the matter further. If it is not meant to be offensive, it is pragmatics of the conversation badly wrong.

Continued... Pragmatic meaning involves interaction and it is seen in conversation. Reading is an interactive process, the kind of meaning can be seen too in a text.

Continued... c. Meanings in the Text and Reader’s Understanding Every sentence has the four kinds of meanings when it is used in a text (sometimes one is more important than another). 2. Possible to get the writer’s message when understanding only bits of the text/some kinds of meaning.

Continued... To do that one, read it more carefully if inconsistencies are found. It can be understood the sentence because you understand the one before it and the one after it. Interpret the value of an utterance without being able to explain propositional meaning. E.g. You listened the dialogue of the father’s complaint to the headmaster, so without understanding ‘misleading’, you know the father protests.

Continued... The reader should continually shift from one focus to another – concentrate on the plain sense – on the other kinds of meaning which later it will lead you to understand the plain sense. E.g. However, she naturally did so. The sentence is not understood since it is taken from a text. It is tied in the meaning as a part of the text. It is said as COHESION.

Continued... d. Problems in Understanding Texts Concepts  it’s not the job of the language teacher since it is assumed the students have reasonable understanding of the concepts. 2. Vocabulary and sentence structure  possible to understand the writer’s idea without understanding the signification of every sentence.

Continued... 3. Cohesive devices  the ways of tying sentences together to create a cohesive text such as pronoun reference, elliptical sentences. 4. Discourse markers  words such as however, although, furthermore, namely. They are extremely useful signals to the reader (helping a careful reader to establish the signification).

Continued... 5. Problems beyond the plain sense  it is about the interpretation of value, the relationship between the utterances in a text, between (writer, reader, text).

For your attention. Any thing to be discussed?