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A reading path is a term used by Gunther Kress in Literacy in the New Media Age (2003). According to Kress, a professor of English Education at the University of London, a reading path is the way that the text, or text plus other features, can determine or order the way that we read it. In a linear, written text, the reader makes sense of the text according to the arrangement of the words, both grammatically and syntactically. In such a reading path, there is a sequential time to the text. In contrast, with non-linear text, such as the text found when reading a computer screen, where text is often combined with visual elements, the reading path is non-linear and non-sequential. Kress suggests that reading paths that contain visual images are more open to interpretation and the reader's construction of meaning. This is part of the " semiotic work" that we do as a reader. [1]
An example of a linear reading path might be a textbook, with pictures, or paragraphs where the reader is led to assume cause-and-effect sequences, for example. Speech is also a linear path because the path is more "set". [2] according to Kress.
An example of a non-linear reading path might be a text that has images alongside it. Kress argues that this different mode yields a different affordance; the visual image allows for open interpretation. A concrete example on paper might be a diagram such as a flow chart or graphic organizers. In such multi-modal texts, the reading path is much less linear and more open to the reader's interpretation.
The idea that reading paths differ according to evolving, emerging, multi-modal texts, are part of the New literacy studies, visual rhetoric, and the concept of multiliteracies.
- Kress, G. (2003). Literacy in the new media age. New York: Routledge.
| This article needs additional citations for
verification. (May 2013) |
|
A reading path is a term used by Gunther Kress in Literacy in the New Media Age (2003). According to Kress, a professor of English Education at the University of London, a reading path is the way that the text, or text plus other features, can determine or order the way that we read it. In a linear, written text, the reader makes sense of the text according to the arrangement of the words, both grammatically and syntactically. In such a reading path, there is a sequential time to the text. In contrast, with non-linear text, such as the text found when reading a computer screen, where text is often combined with visual elements, the reading path is non-linear and non-sequential. Kress suggests that reading paths that contain visual images are more open to interpretation and the reader's construction of meaning. This is part of the " semiotic work" that we do as a reader. [1]
An example of a linear reading path might be a textbook, with pictures, or paragraphs where the reader is led to assume cause-and-effect sequences, for example. Speech is also a linear path because the path is more "set". [2] according to Kress.
An example of a non-linear reading path might be a text that has images alongside it. Kress argues that this different mode yields a different affordance; the visual image allows for open interpretation. A concrete example on paper might be a diagram such as a flow chart or graphic organizers. In such multi-modal texts, the reading path is much less linear and more open to the reader's interpretation.
The idea that reading paths differ according to evolving, emerging, multi-modal texts, are part of the New literacy studies, visual rhetoric, and the concept of multiliteracies.
- Kress, G. (2003). Literacy in the new media age. New York: Routledge.