Text as Connected Discourse Reading and Writing

Summary

This lesson introduces the concept of text as connected discourse, highlighting the distinction between text and discourse. It explains that while text consists of grammatically structured sentences, discourse focuses on utterances with coherence. The video also covers the reading process, defining it as a cognitive interaction between the reader and the text to extract meaning. Three effective reading strategies—previewing, skimming, and scanning—are explored to help readers engage with content efficiently. The lesson emphasizes understanding text coherence and applying strategies to gain and share information for academic, personal, or professional purposes.

Takeaways

• 📚 A text is composed of sentences with grammatical structure, while discourse involves sentences that maintain coherence and logical flow.
• 📝 Text analysis focuses on cohesion, which refers to how sentences are connected using grammar and language features.
• 🔄 Discourse analysis investigates coherence, meaning the logical progression and unity of ideas throughout a piece.
• 📖 Text is considered a physical product, while discourse is a process involving the reader's interaction with the text.
• 🔍 Reading is a cognitive process of decoding symbols to derive meaning, requiring active interaction between the text and the reader.
• 💡 We read for various reasons, including academic, personal, and professional purposes, to gain and share information and ideas.
• 👁️ Previewing involves looking at visible parts of the text to familiarize yourself with its content and focus on key information.
• ⏱️ Skimming is a reading strategy used to quickly grasp the main point of the text and identify the ideas that support it.
• 🔎 Scanning involves searching for specific information by moving your eyes quickly over the text's lines.
• 📹 The next video in the reading and writing series will provide further insights, so remember to subscribe and hit the notification bell.

Q & A

What is the main difference between text and discourse?

Text consists of sentences with grammatical structure, while discourse refers to the use of these sentences in context, focusing on coherence and how meaning is constructed through the interaction between the reader and the text.

What is cohesion in text analysis?

Cohesion refers to how the different parts of a text fit together, providing structural and grammatical links that make the text flow logically.

How does discourse analysis differ from text analysis?

Discourse analysis investigates coherence, which is concerned with how meaning is created from the text, while text analysis focuses on cohesion, the structural links that hold the text together.

What is the process of reading?

Reading is a cognitive process where the reader decodes symbols (words and sentences) to derive meaning from a text, and it is an interaction between the text and the reader.

What makes a text connected discourse?

A text becomes connected discourse when the reader actively interprets it, deriving meaning and constructing a coherent narrative from the words.

Can you explain the concept of previewing in reading strategies?

Previewing involves looking at the visible parts of a text to familiarize yourself with the content, helping you identify key points and focus on the important information.

How does skimming differ from scanning?

Skimming involves quickly reading through a text to grasp the main ideas and identify key arguments, while scanning focuses on looking for specific information, such as facts or statistics.

What role does coherence play in discourse?

Coherence in discourse refers to how meaning is constructed from the text as a whole, rather than focusing solely on the grammatical structure of individual sentences.

Why is understanding both cohesion and coherence important?

Understanding both cohesion and coherence is important because they work together to ensure that a text is both grammatically correct and meaningfully connected, enhancing the reader's comprehension.

How does the limerick example illustrate connected discourse?

The limerick demonstrates how text, when read, becomes connected discourse through the reader’s interpretation, as the coherence of the poem’s meaning is understood from the reader’s perspective.