Rhetorical Guides to Reading Comprehension

Author(s): Phillip Shaw

Source: The Reading Teacher, Vol. 11, No. 4, Context Aids in Reading (Apr., 1958), pp. 239-243
Published by: International Reading Association
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Guides

Rhetorical

to Reading

Comprehension

Phillip

by

Brooklyn

the

two ways. What

matter
for
preparing

mentary

school

many students
of
acteristics

acteristics
of his text. Like the ice
cream cone, which
is both container
a
and confection,
contriv
writer's

the university,
do not know the char

ances not only support

ideas, but
also are digestible
themselves.
Let us imagine that we are visit
ing an English class discussing Mac

Few

learned

beth. The

teacher asks: "From your

of
what
do you
Macbeth,
reading
recall about the second conversation

English grammar?syntax,
morphol
semantics, and Eng
ogy, phonology,
lish nomenclature.
Even at college,
an
sometimes when
teacher
English
tries to communicate
with his stu
dents, the result is comic.
(If you
ask a student to pick out a dangling
in his paper, and he points
participle
at an auxiliary verb, where
do you
go from here?)
In the field of reading, a common
slogan is: "A student learns to read
of reading
by reading." At meetings
a
usual
teachers,
poses a
question

but
An

reading?
rhetorical and grammatical
as a writer are the char
contrivances

language.
the principles
of Eng
lish rhetoric.
(How many
college
students can define "rhetoric"?)
Few
have been required formally to study
have

is writing

author's

to

their

College

works

levels,
higher educational
is
heard
lament
frequently
that students cannot write correctly
Is a
read accurately.
and cannot
common
cause
at
fault?
Every
teacher is aware that, from the ele

ON

Shaw

between

the Witches

The

and Macbeth?

teacher expects
students to summarize

the responding
the scene: the

concoction

of the
brew of
sickening
the Witches,
frenzied
Macbeth's
the
curiosity,
consequent
apparitions
and fateful prophecies.
She also ex
pects the students to recall the pre
at which
cise point
Shakespeare
scene
the
in the plot. For if
placed
set the episode
had
Shakespeare
the
for Banquo's
earlier,
impetus
murder would come from the solicit
ing hags rather than from Macbeth's
own mettle.
If set later, Macbeth's
change from assassinator
frightening
to butcher
would
be sheer melo

what-shall-I-give-him-to-r^arf
prob
lem. Perhaps
in both reading and
too much
stress is being put
writing
on learning from
and not
experience,
enough on learning from instruction.
The problem
of teaching
pupils to
write
and to read effectively
may
of
very well be largely the problem
to
them
a
formal
teaching
acquire
of content.
mastery
and grammar
Study of rhetoric

drama.

Besides

placing

scenes

by special
other
design,
playwrights
employ
stock rhetorical devices as props for
their ideas. Our English
teacher of
the previous
is likely,
paragraph
therefore, to ask questions about such
259

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READING

240_THE
contriv
conventional
dramaturgical
ances as these: the timing of char
and exits, the first
acters' entrances
char
said by each person,
words
acteristic

clues

expository

to char

about
person
by
spoken
himself or said by others about him,
the
the particular
force,"
"exiting
start of the
the
of
"climax,"
point
acter

"catastrophe."

a certain
experience with
can be of considerable
playwright
a student when he reads him
help to
our English
teacher
When
again.
next
the
Hamlet,
say
play,
assigns
she hopes that her students will, as
certain
they read this play, perceive
Mac
in
noted
characteristics
already
Previous

scenes
In Macbeth,
begin
and
with "continued
conversation,"
conscience.
emphasizes
Shakespeare
beth.

character
students will not

similar

By anticipating
istics in Hamlet,

points of reading
enable
that will

overlook
hension
answer

such

compre
them to
as
these

questions
to
the surprise of the
much
(usually
that
marvel
who
readers,
poorer
"so"
noticed
classmates
these
of
: Does
the abruptness
much)
first words

Claudius'

after

the play
panic? How
excuse
man,

betray
within-the-play
a moral
does Hamlet,
of Polonius,
for his murder
himself
and
Guildenstern?
Rosencrantz,
Does
for

forgive
Shakespeare
total annihilation
his

House

Hamlet
of the

of Polonius?

Each
distinctive

type of literature
rhetorical guides

ing comprehension.
ing a short story,
student can expect

displays
to read

Upon
complet
a
for example,
the tide to give

TEACHER

was power
jolt that it
the
less to induce before he began
an
of the
analysis
story. Further,
a short story
of
closing paragraphs
its opening
in contrast with
para
to
disclose
motifs
is
likely
graphs,

him

a mental

otherwise
escape atten
out
most
the
of a play,
get
short
essay, poem,
story,
literary
a student should
novel, or biography,
a
utilize
learn and
"pre-reading
of the stock rhetorical
knowledge"

which

would

tion. To

devices

of each literary genre.

In literature, contrived devices are
not merely
aids to understanding.
are
artful creations
deliberate,
They
to "ap
the reader is expected
an
for
aesthetic
experience.
preciate"
is not
So-called
escape
reading
that

its emotional
literature because
ap
that the reader
peal is so primitive
his power
of self-deter
surrenders
in the
"loses himself"
mination?he
matter. As for the student who reads
to note
literature without
bothering
the author's
he may
contrivances,
as he
derive from literature as much
a
out
list:
informa
of
gets
laundry
tion without
evaluation.
recently issued battery of read
a
tests contains
achievement

ing
kind of comprehension
significant
items per
item. Besides
presenting

the battery
taining to subject matter,
tests the student's
of
recognition
of presentation
techniques
and
non-literary
literary
here
is made
selections.
(Reference
to the Sequential
Tests
of Educa

authors'
in

both

of the Educational
Progress
New
Princeton,
Service,
an
rhetor
of
author's
Jersey. ) Grasp
ical devices is an aspect of what can
tional

Testing

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APRIL

1958

241

be

called
"total"
compre
reading
the reading matter
hension, whether
is literature or non-literature.
In the school career of a student,
most
of
the non-literary
subject
matter that he is expected to compre
hend

is in the form of the

"totally"
textbook.
textbooks
of
Although
various fields and authors differ, this
species of writing displays
rhetorical
characteristics.

distinctive

As
sug
of
the word
the
derivation
gested by
is a compilation
"text," a textbook
the
that
of selected
information
into a manual
of
author has woven
instruction.
integrated
as a reader utilizes
rhetorical
that he has
will

If the student
in reverse the

of exposition
as a writer, he
of the
advantage

principles
learned

take

full

author's

contrivances
of "weaving."
In particular,
while
reading a text
the student
should
look for
book,
of rhet
evidences
of the Big Three
oric: unity, order, and coherence.
The
skilled reader views a text
as a unified,
book
and
orderly,
coherent book. The author has com
posed a table of contents that reveals
the organization
of his work, a pre
face that states his purpose or general
to his subject, a first and a
approach
last chapter
that to some extent
respectively
the nature
to

be

treated.
the

chapter
devised

and

forecasts
and order
Also,
author

headlinks

reviews

of the subjects
within
each
probably
that
echo

has
the

chapter, and endlinks that

the next chapter.
anticipate
Each chapter of a textbook can be
to display a discrete
expected
unity;

previous

it has

"limited

subject"

and

of selection"
"principle
The author has divided

of topics.
the chapter
or less
either obviously by headings
passages
by special
conspicuously
within
the context, or by both. Text
so long
book chapters are ordinarily
that they are divisible into numerous
sections. Some authors use headings
to split their chapters
into sections
a
or
of
consisting
only
paragraph
two.

Other

larger

set

writers
of

groupings

single headings.
several headings
ever a student

Still

somewhat

ideas
others

under
use but

per chapter. When

reads a particular

textbook for the first time he should

a point of noting the author's
to achieve
particular use of headings
rhetorical "order" in a chapter.

make

Besides headings,
use special
books
to display
devices

authors
stock

of text
rhetorical

the

systematic
order of ideas in a chapter. Students
for example,
examine
the
should,
a
of
textbook
beginning
chapter
that
especially
critically for passages
the
of
the
predict
organization
two
The
excerpts
chapter.
following
statements:
A.
illustrate predictive
the first half of the twen
"During
tieth century Great Britain was con
to her
fronted with
three threats
empire." To
this sentence

the experienced
reader,
forecasts three divisions
of subject matter.
B. "The peculiar
the
of
conduct
of foreign
quality
affairs in the United
States raises to
a maximum
the weaknesses
inherent
in a democracy,
and aggravates
these
con
inherent weaknesses
by unique
stitutional devices and political prac
an
statement
tices." This
predicts
exposition

of

"weaknesses,"

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"con

stitutional

and

devices,"

Greeks,

"political

textbook

display

headings

editorial
the

passages
and ends of
as
sentences

the beginnings
divisions.
Such

chapter
the following

for

Authors

coherence
devices.
special
use
transitional
frequently
to signal

to

fails

chapter
or other

signs of orderly
organization,
student must be on the lookout

are contrived

guides to
of the structure of a
us now turn to the

comprehension
"Let
chapter:

view of the storming of the

"The Bessemer process for
is
and impurities
carbon

Royalists'
Bastille."

removing
not the only method
of manufactur
steel."
second literary
"Chaucer's
ing
influ
is
of
Italian
that
the
period

ence." "Still another type of logic is

the syllogism." Another
and common
coherence
device
is use of now and
but, as in "Now,
nature

of

an inquiry

climatic

into the
.

changes

,"

a child of six cannot be ex

. . . ." Other
contrivances
pected to
are questions,
of coherence
the edi
. . . ."
torial second person
("Let us
"But

"We

now

bold

come

to

."),

and

statements

is
("Darwin
abrupt,
a controversial
"Railroad
figure."
officials must eat" ). Special editorial
clues to thought units are afforded
notes (often set into the
by marginal
indentations
text), marginal
(as for
or
scientific
mathematical
laws and
titles (headings
formulas),
running
at the top of each page),
special type
(such as bold type, italics, and small
and

and other
large capitalization),
aids (like pictures, charts, and
diagrams).
Since
the time of the ancient

visual

authors

experienced

in

presented

practices."

If

TEACHER

READING

242_THE

exposition
units, or paragraphs.
of noting,
during
importance

have
distinct
The

thought

read

of white
patches
that mark boundaries
of para
graphs, is evident when one considers
is. As one
precisely what
"reading"
ing,
page

the

obvious

letters

reads,
retinal

are

on

flashed

the

cells of the eyes. Instantane

the optic nerves transmit
the

ously,

to the brain. The

signals
organizes

these

brain

then

into thought
the thought

signals

segments,

reorganizes
into ideas, and classifies
segments
or subordinate.
each idea as main
thus is the process of seeing
items
independent
("perceiving"
),

Reading

observing

their

interrelationships
them
("assimilating"
), and grouping
into main ideas ( "integrating"
). The
reader who disregards
the paragraph
must
indentations
of a textbook
raw
assimilate
and
the
integrate
as best he can, or
thought-segments
master
details
without bother
simply
about
them at all.
ing
assimilating
The conventions
of paragraph-build
are based
on logic as well
as
ing
custom.

Expository
paragraphs
generally
certain
stock characteristics
display
of unity, order, and coherence.
An
uses
author of a textbook ordinarily
a paragraph

to present one particular

one classification
of
judgment
Most
contain
particulars.
paragraphs
at least one sentence
that is more
or

than the rest, that exhibits

general
or classifica
the unifying
judgment
tion. Note,
the follow
for example,
two
sentences:
A.
"Asiatic
peas
ing
ants

seek

improved

medical

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care,

APRIL

243

1958

schools, land, controls, and

If this is the most
methods."

farming

general
of the paragraph,
the
reader may assume that the author
has contrived to unify the particulars
statement

of his report by the common classifi

cation "improved."
B. "The com
of

plaints

just as
Declaration

of Asia
the peasants
as
those
in
specific

are
our

of

As
Independence."
the chief generalization
of the para
a
this statement
expresses
graph,

evi
(the comparison);
judgment
the author
considered
the
dently
word "specific" too broad to serve as
a unifying classification.
It may
textbooks

be asked

: Are

authors

of

in their
systematic
The
paragraphing?
inquirer antici
a
answer
undoubt
pating
negative
edly
with

really

recalls

unhappy
experiences
texts. Fortu
poorly written
editors of publishing
houses
nately,
are becoming
critical
of
increasingly
the presentations
of their textbook
authors. And the new generation
of
textbook authors is not too balky at
or recom
editorial
revisions made

mended
those

"readers"?
by publishers'
dedicated
enemies
of faulty

composition.
As for the rhetorical
of
quality
a
a
student
read
should
"order,"
with

a sense

of

paragraph
expect
ancy that the facts appear in a con
trived sequence. For example, while
of a process, he
reading a description
should
order.
general

a
anticipate
If a paragraph
statement,

chronological
opens with a
the predicted

to
is from the general
procedure
If it begins with
the particular.
a
details without
unifying generaliza
a
should
the
student
tion,
expect
conclusion.

terms of coherence

Rhetorical

are

to reading
comprehen
guides
sion of a paragraph.
Conjunctions
are common
links. The
correlative
... and, not
only
(both
conjunctions

also

. but

...

either

also,

or)

mark

con
pairing of ideas. Subordinating
signal special connections,
junctions
as cause-effect
(be
relationships
cause, since, so that), conditions
(if,
contrast
unless, although),
(where

pure
have

time

and

as, while),
(as, before,

when,

conjunctions,

relationships
Besides

after).
certain

adverbs

(however,
conjunctive
impact
sim
hence,
nevertheless,
therefore,
as
accordingly),
ilarly, conversely,

directive
(for ex
expressions
on
the
other
in con
hand,
ample,
clusion, in other words).
a student is participating
Whether
in a remedial, corrective, or develop

have

mental

he should
reading program,
from instruction on rhetorical
to comprehension.
Better

benefit

guides
still, he should be taught rhetoric
a formal body of
subject matter

as
in

the field of writing and reading. And

if the reading teacher believes
in the
restoration
of both English
rhetoric
to its former respect
and grammar
able place in education:
Be lion-mettled,
Who

chafes,
spirera

who

proud, and take no care

frets,

or where

are.

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con