This study focuses on meaning construction as it occurs in the reading act. It explores and challenges the view that the reader usually uses language to construct meaning in a referential way. This study envisages that the reader who engages in a literal reading of the text may encount~r serious epistemological and ontological problems which ensue from such a narrow reading of the text. In the context of the dynamics of meaning construction, this study subsequently problematizes the notion of language vis-avis the notion of subjectivity and representation. It challenges the taken for granted assumption that meaning is pre-ordained and which has to be extracted by a sovereign and authoritative reading subject. The question of precision and correctness of grasping textual content is addressed by exploring those views which seek to go beyond Cartesian representationalism. This study therefore critically explores an alternative reading theory by examining the pioneering dialogical views of earlier theorists to include, ultimately, those subversive attempts of radical theorists. The latter group clearly seeks to subvert and even displace the dialogical reading practices of their predecessors. This study ultimately proposes the notion of a differential reading discourse. Such an integrative theory postulates an alternative theory of reading which in fact provides a more expansive, yet inclusive, framework of reading. This would entail a form of reading which would combat the mere consumption of meanings and acquiescence into ideology-building. It would be a reading framework that is more in keeping with our socio-political reality in South Africa, in which people can enjoy a far more critical and comprehensive view of themselves and of the society in which they operate. / Information Science / D.Litt. et Phil. (Information Science)

This study focuses on meaning construction as it occurs in the reading act. It explores and challenges the view that the reader usually uses language to construct meaning in a referential way. This study envisages that the reader who engages in a literal reading of the text may encount~r serious epistemological and ontological problems which ensue from such a narrow reading of the text. In the context of the dynamics of meaning construction, this study subsequently problematizes the notion of language vis-avis the notion of subjectivity and representation. It challenges the taken for granted assumption that meaning is pre-ordained and which has to be extracted by a sovereign and authoritative reading subject. The question of precision and correctness of grasping textual content is addressed by exploring those views which seek to go beyond Cartesian representationalism. This study therefore critically explores an alternative reading theory by examining the pioneering dialogical views of earlier theorists to include, ultimately, those subversive attempts of radical theorists. The latter group clearly seeks to subvert and even displace the dialogical reading practices of their predecessors. This study ultimately proposes the notion of a differential reading discourse. Such an integrative theory postulates an alternative theory of reading which in fact provides a more expansive, yet inclusive, framework of reading. This would entail a form of reading which would combat the mere consumption of meanings and acquiescence into ideology-building. It would be a reading framework that is more in keeping with our socio-political reality in South Africa, in which people can enjoy a far more critical and comprehensive view of themselves and of the society in which they operate. / Information Science / D.Litt. et Phil. (Information Science)

This dissertation brings together aspects of writing-in-the-disciplines research, reader-response theory, and empirical reading research in an investigation of literary scholars reading poems and constructing arguments. I begin with a review of literary criticism published over the past 70 years on Donne's "The Flea," Milton's "Song: On May Morning," Hopkins' "God's Grandeur," and Eliot's "Conversation Galante." This review suggests that certain New Critical interpretive conventions persist in scholarship. In particular, literary scholars continue to read lyrics as dramatic utterances and as organic wholes. I then present findings from a think-aloud study in which English professors read the aforementioned poems and planned a hypothetical conference talk about them for the MLA conference. Reader-response theorists have argued that readers activate certain text-making conventions in order to read literature as literature. In my study, participants' disciplinary reading conventions were so deeply ingrained that their initial processing of the four poems mirrored the interpretive patterns in published criticism of those poems. Next I analyze the think-aloud data and follow-up interviews from the perspective of writing-in-the-disciplines research. Previous researchers found that scholarly literary argument relies on a limited set of special topoi and is not always directed toward the accumulation of new knowledge. The scholars in my study relied more heavily on some topoi during initial interpretation of the poems, while other topoi were used more often during argument planning. The picture of literary argument that emerges is a hybrid of ceremonial rhetoric and communal knowledge building. Finally, I analyze the think-aloud data from the vantage-point of expert/novice research in cognitive psychology. Previous researchers have used the term "generic expertise" to describe expert knowledge that all members of an academic discipline possess. Despite the belief of some within literary studies that their discipline lacks a core, participants in my study demonstrated generic expertise both in their interpretations of poems and in their argument planning. I conclude by arguing that previous descriptions of scholarly literary argument need to be revised. Literary scholars relate to their objects of study in a unique way that ensures the distinctness of literary argument. / text

Ordet läsning har och har haft olika betydelser. Studien undersöker hur ordet läsning varierats i svensk dagspress mellan år 1900–2016. Sammantaget identifieras 60–70 variationer av ordet. I studien undersöks även om det finns förändringar när dessa ordvariationer används. I studien kombineras två ämnesfält. Det är ämnesfältet läsning och dess historia och ämnesfältet språk och dess utveckling. Detta område undersöks ur ett biblioteks- och informationsvetenskapligt perspektiv, utifrån en teoribildning som beskriver en intensiv läsning, en extensiv läsning, en funktionell läsning, en informativ läsning och en digital läsning. Materialet till studien består av söksträngar insamlade från Kungliga bibliotekets dagspressarkiv. Dessa korta texter granskas med en metodkombination av verktyg från Informationsvetenskap och Systemisk funktionell textanalys. Resultatet visar att ord som relaterar till en intensiv läsning minskar i användning mellan år 1900–1930. Under samma tid ökar användningen av ord som beskriver ett tyst extensiv läsande. Analys av ord och ordstruktur lyfter betydelsen av det kollektiva läsandet. I början av seklet används ord som högläsning, uppläsning och föreläsning relaterade till folkrörelserna. År 1925, då radion får sitt genombrott, ökar användningen av ordet uppläsning. Under samma tid används ett ord som beskriver ett tydligt tal. Det är ordet välläsning. I söksträngarna återfinns en koppling mellan ordet välläsning och frasen dialekt borttagning. Ett tydligt läsuttal diskuteras under en tid då ett kollektivt läsande omskrivs, men en analys av hur ordet används pekar även på att det finns underliggande spänningar mellan dialekter och riksspråk. Under 1960-tal identifieras ett skifte där ord som beskriver en teoretiskt informativ läsning tar över efter ord som beskrivit en praktisk instruktiv läsning.

(anglicky) This master thesis deals with the role of reading in children's homes in the Czech Republic. The theoretical part shows the institutional care in the Czech Republic. The theoretical part presents the basic facts of developmental psychology and reading skills of children who are growing up in an children's home. The master thesis includes a research about the role of reading in children's homes and also a research about children's homes staff, which allows access to information for children. The methodological part contains information about selected technology for the research and infromation how was the research made. The analytical part contains the outputs of the research and its components are also meant to be used for improvements.

The diploma thesis is focused on the condition of contemporary teenage reading. It ascertains the basic attributes of the chosen basic school pupils' reading. The thesis occupies with characteristic signs of pupil's reader's behaviour, their reader's interests and attitudes, it describes their relation to reading. It also looks at various factors influencing the development of children's reading. The thesis studies the position of reading in competition for other leisure activities of today's teenagers. It researches as well if present teenage reading really is "in crisis" as the level of reading literacy of czech pupils declines, which is shown in latest results of international researches. The theoretical part shows the basic characteristics of teenage reading in regard of progression specifics of the given age group. It is occupied with the way the school literary education influnces the teenage reading, too. It also studies the reading literacy and its position in the basic curriculum document for basic schools. The thesis gives a brief insight into the readership research history in the Czech Republic with emphasy on the results of topical researches as well. The aim of the empiric part of the thesis is to describe the present state of teenage reading of the pupils from the chosen basic...

Ausgehend von der Unzulänglichkeit, die Lesen als Forschungsgegenstand für jene gesellschaftlichen Fragestellungen hat, die über die Didaktik des Lesenlernens hinausreichen, versucht die vorliegende Arbeit einen anderen Zugang zu der Thematik. Nicht die Frage, was, wie, warum und wieviel Menschen lesen, ist hier Forschungsinteresse, vielmehr wird invertiert gefragt, wie Gesellschaftssysteme 'Lesen' definieren, welchen Personen dabei die Rolle des Lesers zugeschrieben wird und welche Motivationen eine solche Differenzierung auslösen und unterstützen. Theoretische Grundlage hierfür ist die Systemtheorie der Bielefelder Schule nach Niklas Luhmann. Anhand der redaktionellen Beiträge der Fachzeitschriften 'Börsenblatt für den Deutschen Buchhandel' sowie 'Buch und Bibliothek [Bücherei und Bildung]' wird die Theorie explizit am Beispiel des Buchhandels und des öffentlichen Bibliothekswesen dargestellt. Bei der Analyse zeigt sich, daß Lesekultur als Produkt eines Traditionssystems wesentlich vom Buchhandel instrumentalisiert wird. Nach innen zur Identitäts- und Marktsicherung sowie nach außen zur Einwerbung staatlicher Sonderkonzessionen, besonders im Kartellrecht. Das Öffentliche Bibliothekswesen indes thematisiert trotz seiner Nähe zum Buchhandel Lesekultur in den 1960er und 1970er Jahren so gut wie gar nicht und nutzt andere Persuasionsmedien zur Systemstabilisierung. Erst provoziert durch empfindliche Etatkürzungen während der Rezession zu Beginn der 1980er Jahre koppelt sich auch das Öffentliche Bibliothekswesen wieder an die Lesekultur als Persuasionmedium zur Einwerbung staatlicher Leistungen. / Taking as its starting point the short-comings of reading as a topic of research for social questions that reach beyond the didactic of learning to read, the present dissertation attempts to approach this subject from another vantage point. The focus of interest is not how many people read what subject matter, in what fashion, and why, but rather its opposite: How do social systems define 'reading', what persons are assigned the role of 'reader' and what are the motivations that this social distinction engenders or promotes. The theoretical foundation for the study is based on the Bielefeld school of systems theory as expounded by Niklas Luhmann. Through an analysis of editorial articles appearing over a period of forty years in the journals 'Börsenblatt für den Deutschen Buchhandel' and 'Buch und Bibliothek [Bücherei und Bildung]', the theoretical model is demonstrated by examples drawn from book-trade and the public library system. In the process it becomes apparent that the culture of reading as a product of a traditional system is fundamentally instrumentalized by the book-trade: inwards for the purpose of identity and market protection, outwards for the purpose of soliciting special national concessions, in particular in the area of antitrust law. In spite of its proximity to book-trade, the public library system all but failed to address reading culture in the decades of 1960s and 1970s and made use of other persuasive media as a means of system stabilization. Only after considerable budgetary cuts during the recession at the start of the 1980s did the public library system couple itself to the culture of reading as a medium of persuasion for soliciting state benefits.

Das 19. Jahrhundert wird in den westlichen Ländern Zeuge tiefer Veränderungen auf dem Bereich des Buchdruckes, der dank der Fortentwicklung der Technik ihre handwerklichen Herstellungsverfahren in eine industrialisierte Produktion umwandelt. Es erlebt den Ausbruch und die Entfaltung des Pressewesens und die rasante Steigerung der Konsumentenzahl von Druckerzeugnissen. Diese Entwicklung, die als Revolution – die zweite Revolution des Buchdruckes – bezeichnet wird, resultiert aus den parallel laufenden soziokulturellen Veränderungen – wie die Demokratisierung der Bildung –, die sich schon im 18. Jahrhundert ihren Weg anbahnten und die sich kraft des Vorantreibens und der Verbreitung einer schriftlichen Kultur fortwährend entwickeln konnten. Die Etablierung liberalen Gedankengutes treiben auch in Spanien eine neue Konzeption des Individuums voran, das Bildung, Information, öffentliche Meinungsäußerung, die eine schriftliche, gedruckte Kommunikationsform implizieren, als seine elementaren Rechte betrachtet. Infolge dieses Hergangs wird der Leserkreis stetig größer und differenzierter; nicht nur neue gesellschaftliche Schichten erringen für sich den Zugang zur Schrift, sondern auch die geschlechtsspezifischen, aus der traditionellen, patriarchalischen, spanischen Mentalität resultierenden Defizite hinsichtlich der Bildung der Frau nehmen, ihren Eintritt in die Lesergemeinschaft ebnend, konstant ab. Die Wandlung der Frau zur Teilhaberin und sogar zur Mitgestalterin der schriftlichen Kultur in Spanien erfolgt abhängig von den historischen und politischen Gegebenheiten und nicht konstant und in gleichem Maße im ganzen Land. Der schwierige Weg zur Bildung, der Einfluss der katholischen Kirche, die sozialen Unterschiede, sind entscheidende Faktoren für die Geschwindigkeit, mit der sich diese Veränderung vollzieht. Ziel dieser Arbeit ist eine geschichtliche Veranschaulichung der Entstehung und Konsolidierung einer weiblichen Leserschaft und der begleitenden Umstände auf den Bereichen des Buch-, Bibliotheks-, und Bildungswesens. / In the course of the 19th century deep changes take place in the world of printing, mostly due to the improvements of the techniques and the industrialisation of the production. But this revolutionary development, known as the second revolution of the printing, results itself from the cultural, political and social transformations which happen contemporaneously. The advance of liberal ideologies with their new conception of the individual, who regards education, information and freedom of speech - which imply a written, a printed communication form - as his elementary rights, strengthens the spreading of a written culture, so that many countries experience a rapid increase of the number of consumers of printed products. These innovations will also reach Spain and deeply influence its society and culture. The alphabetised population increases, the number of readers becomes constantly larger and the readership more differentiated. New social groups achieve the right of education and become in this way potential readers, the women being the most important of them. The traditional, patriarchal, catholic Spanish mentality changes slowly allowing them to be alphabetised and educated. Women begin in the 19th century to take actively part on the cultural live of the country and not only as readers but also as authors. This transformation does not take place continually and in the same measure all along the country, due to the influence of the historical and political conditions. The difficult way to education, the power of the Catholic Church and the social differences become for instance crucial factors which define the rapidity and the significance of the development. This thesis presents the process of the emergence and consolidation of a female readership during the 19th century, illustrated with a description of the evolution on the ranges of the book production, of the library and education system and many examples of reading materials and publications for and of women.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / Sin duda la lectura tiene un papel importante en el aula de segunda lengua. No solo es una manera efectiva de adquirir vocabulario y gramática sino también es un buen instrumento para presentar la cultura de la lengua meta. Por lo tanto, es necesario que los estudiantes puedan leer bien. No obstante, los problemas de comprensión surgen cuando a los estudiantes les falta competencia lingüística o conocimiento previo o, las diferencias en las aptitudes de leer, varían en cada estudiante. Entonces es importante que los maestros les den a los estudiantes los instrumentos que les permitan acceder a las estrategias de comprensión. La meta de este trabajo es probar que entre más conciencia metacognitiva tenga un estudiante de segunda lengua, mejor será su comprensión del texto. En general, los maestros de segunda lengua entienden la importancia del conocimiento de vocabulario y gramática en cuanto al éxito de lectura, pero quizás no se dan cuenta de que la conciencia metacognitiva tiene un papel igualmente importante. Por ello, este trabajo es tanto para los maestros que no están familiarizados con la instrucción de las estrategias de la comprensión de lectura como para los que dudan del valor en el currículo, ya lleno de lecciones y ejercicios comunicativos.