ABSTRACT
The meaning of a text is produced in a complex negotiation between the reader and the text. It cannot be said that one contributes more than the other, and much recent theorizing suggests a finely balanced negotiation between the two in terms of who or what determines the interpretation or meaning that the reader arrives at. Nevertheless, although it is clear that readers bring a great deal of background information with them, which they use in order to construct a ‘reading’ of a text, the focus of this unit is on the way that texts address or position their readers. Texts address readers in a variety of ways, either by directly addressing them, or by indirectly encouraging them to agree with certain statements.
