Gerald Grow's Website

Serving the Strategic Reader

Cognitive Reading Theory
and its Implications for
the Teaching of Writing

by Gerald Grow, Ph.D.

Professor of Journalism
Florida A&M University
copyright © 1994, 1996

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Abstract

This study traces a major theoretical shift in our understanding of how people read--from the passive reader who receives and decodes information to the strategic reader who actively chooses what, when, and how to read, reads interpretively, and interprets the article as an organized structure.

The result is a series of recommendations on how to write for such readers. An extensive annotated bibliography is included.

Though originally directed to the teaching of journalism, this article has been enlarged to extend its conclusions to the teaching of writing in general.

Authenticity: This is a working paper, based on a pilot study. It contains a literature review, careful observations of a limited number of cases, and a considerable amount of informed speculation.

Publication history: This is an original WWW publication. An earlier version was given as a refereed presentation at a professional conference (Association for Educators in Journalism and Mass Communication, 1994).

Serving the Strategic Reader -- © 1994, 1996 by Gerald Grow

Introduction
A Cognitive Model of Learning

Figure 1. A Cognitive Model of Learning
Steps 1 - 3: Comprehension
Steps 4 and 5: Learning
Steps 6 and 7: Recall and Reconstruction
Feedback

The Organization of Knowledge

Networks
Figure2: Memory as a Network
Schemas
Figure 3: The Restaurant Schema
The Effects of New Knowledge
Comprehension

The Strategic Reader

Strategies of Readers -- Cognitive and Metacognitive

The Role of Text in Comprehension

Text Patterns
Frames
Considerate Text

Implications for Teaching and Journalism
Summary
Table 1. How to Serve the Strategic Reader