Taking a critical stance while reading
Louise Rosenblatt (1938, 1978)
– defines stance as the orientation the reader takes toward a text during
reading
– identifies two stances:
• aesthetic – the lived through experience of the text (emotions,
“heart”)
• efferent – a concentration on the information and concepts
– The distinction comes from what the reader does, the stance that he
adopts and the activities he carries out in relation to the text.
(Rosenblatt, 1978, p. 27)
We can also look at a third stance for the reader, the critical stance.
The Critical Stance
The focus of the reader is not on the lived through experience of the text, nor
on the information to be extracted, but on the attitudes, values and beliefs
that lie beneath the surface of the text.
What is critical literacy?
– an active, challenging approach to reading
– an analysis and critique of the relationships between texts, language, power,
social groups and social practice
– a way of looking at written, visual, spoken, multimedia and performance
texts to question and challenge the attitudes, values and beliefs represented
Critical literacy includes
– examining meaning between texts
– considering the purpose of the text and the author’s motives
– understanding that texts are not neutral, that they represent particular views
and silence other points of view
– questioning and challenging the ways in which the texts have been
constructed
– analyzing the power of language
– emphasizing multiple readings of texts
– taking a stance on the issues
– taking opportunities to consider and clarify your own thinking
– seeing opportunities to take social action
Critical Literacy Questions
Consider both the writer’s intent and your reading stance
for all of the following questions.
What are the structures and features of this text?
Who or what is in this text?
Whose viewpoint is expressed or heard in this text?
Who holds the power or interest in this text?
What does the author want us to think or believe?
Whose view, or reality, is presented in the text?
Who is the author?
How can we use information from the text to promote awareness,
justice, or change?
Examples of queries
• Initiating Queries
– What is the author trying to say here?
– What is the author’s message?
– What is the author talking about?
– What are the intentions of the author?
– What does the author want the reader to think?
• Follow-up Queries
– What does the author mean here?
– Did the author explain this clearly?
– Does this make sense with what the author told us before?
– How does this connect with what the author has told us here?
– Does the author tell us why?
– Why do you think the author tells us this now?
• Narrative Queries
– How do things look for this character now?
– How has the author let you know that something has changed?
– How has the author settled this for us?
– Given what the author has already told us about this character, what
do you think he is up to?
Try to concern yourself with
what the text does to you,
rather than trying to figure out
what the text “means.”