Preparing a reader
Posted: September 17th, 2014, 6:36 am
Rather than cut across the flow in Jonathan's thread about Preparing a text, let me put my opinion out on its own basis.
Thinking terms of how we use texts in other languages that we use, it would be a little strange to talk in terms what we should do to prepare a text for reading. Generally, the text is the point of fixity to which the reader approaches and understands as best as possible with the resources that they have internalised (or - if they are still getting there in their learning - from reference works). The basic feature of language is the physical limitation of speach that only one thing can be said at a time. Texts, as we have them in the New Testament and other unillustrated works - also have that same linearity. Learning to deal with a hear-it-once / read-it-once linearity is learning a language rather than learning a method (or two) of analysis / decipherment that can be applied to a language.
The fundamental limitation is working memory. It is a question of how many things can be held in memory at one time. The more that things that do come automatically or regularly are expected / anticipated, the fewer things that need to be held in memory. Learning the meaning of words as glosses in a foreign language adds one to the number of things that needs to be held in memory. Also, recognising that a noun form is in (for instance) the accusative adds one to the number of things that needs to be held in working memory. If working memory can comfortably hold only a few things, those extra pieces of information pretty soon clutter the thinking and readers need to resort to coping measures to make the text more manageable - tree-diagramming, .
As an alternative to noting the number, case and gender of a noun, non-linguistic associations could be used. For the simple example of ἀκούω with genitive and accusative, we could imagine the genitive as a person / place and the accusative as words in the mouth. The less introduction of analysis when reading leaves the most posibility for understanding in real-time. That, of course, requires different training in how to process things. It is easy enough to do. Read a text in English... What do you do? How do you process the text? What understanding do you get? (Most importantly) what resources do you recall into working memory to understand what is said / read?
Those things that you recall to be able to process the text in English, are the things that you need to similarly have in Greek to process a text. That is the preparation of a reader.
Thinking terms of how we use texts in other languages that we use, it would be a little strange to talk in terms what we should do to prepare a text for reading. Generally, the text is the point of fixity to which the reader approaches and understands as best as possible with the resources that they have internalised (or - if they are still getting there in their learning - from reference works). The basic feature of language is the physical limitation of speach that only one thing can be said at a time. Texts, as we have them in the New Testament and other unillustrated works - also have that same linearity. Learning to deal with a hear-it-once / read-it-once linearity is learning a language rather than learning a method (or two) of analysis / decipherment that can be applied to a language.
The fundamental limitation is working memory. It is a question of how many things can be held in memory at one time. The more that things that do come automatically or regularly are expected / anticipated, the fewer things that need to be held in memory. Learning the meaning of words as glosses in a foreign language adds one to the number of things that needs to be held in memory. Also, recognising that a noun form is in (for instance) the accusative adds one to the number of things that needs to be held in working memory. If working memory can comfortably hold only a few things, those extra pieces of information pretty soon clutter the thinking and readers need to resort to coping measures to make the text more manageable - tree-diagramming, .
As an alternative to noting the number, case and gender of a noun, non-linguistic associations could be used. For the simple example of ἀκούω with genitive and accusative, we could imagine the genitive as a person / place and the accusative as words in the mouth. The less introduction of analysis when reading leaves the most posibility for understanding in real-time. That, of course, requires different training in how to process things. It is easy enough to do. Read a text in English... What do you do? How do you process the text? What understanding do you get? (Most importantly) what resources do you recall into working memory to understand what is said / read?
Those things that you recall to be able to process the text in English, are the things that you need to similarly have in Greek to process a text. That is the preparation of a reader.