Scribd
Upload
54 views2 pages

Broader Perspectives on Language and Reading

This document discusses reading from a sociocognitive perspective. It argues that language is used for more than just conveying information, and also serves to scaffold social interactions and create shared perspectives. Reading development in early childhood is influenced by social languages and experiences. Comprehension is grounded in embodied experience and action in the world, rather than just representing information. The document advocates viewing language as situated within social and cultural contexts.

Uploaded by

Bonjovi Hajan
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
54 views2 pages

Broader Perspectives on Language and Reading

This document discusses reading from a sociocognitive perspective. It argues that language is used for more than just conveying information, and also serves to scaffold social interactions and create shared perspectives. Reading development in early childhood is influenced by social languages and experiences. Comprehension is grounded in embodied experience and action in the world, rather than just representing information. The document advocates viewing language as situated within social and cultural contexts.

Uploaded by

Bonjovi Hajan
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 2

Reading as Situated Language:

A Sociocognitive perspective

1. Why is it important to think about reading from a broader perspective than a set of
psycholinguistic processing skills?
2. How is language used for perspective-taking and not just giving and getting information?
3. How does a Discourse (note the capital D) contribute to a student’s grasp of language and the
formation of personal identity?

 A viewpoint on language stressing the connection among language, embodied


experience, and situated action and interaction in the world.
 “Social languages”.
 The development of literacy in early childhood through a specific example.
 The importance of language abilities (construed in a specific way) to learning to read.

I. A Viewpoint in Language

• Human languages are used for a wide array of functions including but by no means
limited to conveying information (Halliday, 1994).
• Human language has two primary functions: to scaffold the performance of action in the
world, including social activities and interactions; and to scaffold human affiliation in
cultures and social groups and institutions through creating and enticing others to take
certain perspectives on experience.

Situated Action
• A closed system (for discussion, see Clancey, 1997).
• Any piece of language is treated as representation (re-presenting) of some information.
• However, there are a variety of perspectives today on language that tie its comprehension
much more closely to experience of and action in the world.
• “Comprehension is grounded in perceptual simulations that prepare agents for situated
action” (Barsalou, 1990a, p. 77).
• “To a particular person, the meaning of an object, event, or sentence is what that person
can do with the object, event, or sentence” (Glenberg, 1997, p. 3).
Situated Cognition Studies
(e.g., Barsalou, 1999a, 1999b; Brown, Collins, & Dugid, 1989; Clancey, 1997; et al.)

You might also like