ABSTRACT
In this chapter we set out our approach in general terms. We introduce the reader to a number of ideas which will be more fully developed in later chapters. Our intention here is merely to give the reader a provisional working framework within which to fit particular ideas as they come up. We begin by asking exactly what is going on when a person is reading. We suggest that as you read you predict meanings and check against textual cues whether they are correct or not. A sort of conversation goes on with yourself though you are probably not aware of it. The ‘conversation’ is mostly concerned with the meaning of the text, i.e. with what we call ‘product’ or ‘content’. What is needed, we argue, is to develop techniques for having a ‘conversation’ about process, about the ways you read. We then go on to sketch a preliminary language for that conversation by suggesting that we talk about reading in terms of purpose, strategy, outcome and review.
