Originally Posted by toledo_mudhen
Interpreting Texts..... Who Knew!
Yes - It DOES have a life of it's own.....
Have you ever watched a movie with friends and then held a discussion afterwards in which you all completely disagree about how good the movie was? This is strange because surely you have all experienced exactly the same film, and so you should all have exactly the same response, right?
Of course, it is not so simple. Depending on the type of text that was experienced, the cultural backgrounds of the various audience members, and countless other reasons, it is possible for different people to respond to different texts in different ways.
Such things interest us in English classes, but there is an important clarification to make here: we are not focused on whether a text is good or bad, but rather how effective it is.
There are three broad questions we can ask to help us determine this:
What is the intended purpose of the text?
How does the creator attempt to achieve their intended purpose?
How effectively does the creator achieve their intended purpose?
Or, put more bluntly:
Why was the text created?
How was the text created?
How well was the text created?
Just as different people will agree or disagree about how good or bad a movie is, so too will different people offer different answers to these three questions.
In other words, everyone can offer a unique interpretation of a text.
Interpretation - a critical explanation of what a creator is trying to achieve in a given text.
When it comes to offering a textual interpretation, what matters is the evidence we use to support our claims. And what form should this evidence take? To make a convincing case in favor of our unique interpretation, we need to make specific references to the elements and techniques used by the creator to communicate meaning.
This is the reason we spend so much of our time in English classes pulling texts apart to see how they work. Once we can identify and understand the different "pieces" of a text, we can use this knowledge to establish what a creator is trying to achieve, and evaluate how effectively they accomplish this.
Importantly, this process involves finding connections between the different elements and techniques within a text. Just as the engine of a car needs lots of small components to work together to generate motion, so too do the different components of a text need to work together to create meaning.
Sharing Findings
Having formed an interpretation of what a creator is attempting to accomplish through their work, it is no good keeping this interpretation to ourselves—we need to share it!
This process begins with classroom discussion. Here, we have a chance to share our interpretations verbally with one another. It is through this sharing of ideas that we begin to unlock the underlying messages within texts, often catching things we missed the first time.
Our final interpretation of a text is usually shared in a more formal manner. This could be an essay or oral presentation, or some other medium which allows us to express our ideas in a comprehensive way. Here, we need to put together everything we have learned from our analysis to offer a convincing interpretation for our audience.
Importantly, we should not be afraid to change our interpretations throughout any stage of this process. Other students may challenge us in classroom discussions, and we may receive specific critiques in our draft feedback. This is good, as it encourages us to reconsider our interpretations, and improve them if the feedback is justified.
Top tip! Be willing to alter your interpretations based on what others have to say.
Literary texts are wonderful things, and the more we learn about how they work, the more we can appreciate their aesthetic qualities. We can also learn to admire or critique what they are trying to achieve, and then share our unique interpretations with others.
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