Hyperreading

By Doug Buehl

Think about some of the Web sites you have visited recently. Perhaps you were hunting down a snippet of information, placing an internet order for a product, or amusing yourself by tracking a topic of interest over several sites. Consider how the "reading" you were doing contrasts with how you proceed when perusing the "hard copy" of your daily life – books, magazines, newspapers, and the other ubiquitous forms of print.

A number of salient differences immediately suggest themselves. Readers generally access Web sites through a home page, although a search may land a reader in the midst of a site. In fact, readers may not even be aware at first where they are, and who has compiled the information. Print sources are generally clear up front as to who has developed, or written them, and readers in a few minutes quickly take stock of the publication and glean the "big picture" of the text.

Web sites reveal themselves to readers more incidentally, and at the behest of the reader, who is often presented with a menu of choices to explore, and depending on these decisions, can move progressively deeper into some facets of a site while completely overlooking others. Readers tend to approach print texts in a more linear fashion, with the author taking the lead in guiding the reader systematically through the message.

In addition, many Web sites tend to configure the reading as short bursts, and frequently visual information is just as essential as the written word. Video clips, spoken language, and interactive elements may also characterize a site. Clearly, comprehending a website or electronic text involves a set of reading behaviors that at times do not parallel what we have been accustomed to as print readers.

Electronic texts accessed through a computer are often referred to as hypertexts . Hypertexts display a number of characteristics that involve sophisticated reading. A hypertext is generally based on links, as the text is constructed so that readers may elect to follow-up an item or topic by burrowing deeper into a series of links to view additional material. Hypertexts tend to feature an array of parallel information that must be navigated; readers have to make decisions as to which route (or routes) they wish to embark upon. And hypertexts tend to be highly audiovisual, with visual and auditory media interspersed with the written word to convey information and communicate a message.

The Strategy

The term hyperreading has been coined to describe the adjustments and routines followed by readers when engaging with hypertexts. Dawnene Hassett of the UW-Madison argues that today, many features of print materials are coming to resemble hypertexts. As a result, students need instruction that cues them into effective comprehension strategies for an increasingly diverse array of complexly designed texts (Hassett, 2005).

Step 1: Familiarize students with the concept of "open" texts and "closed" texts. Traditionally, closed texts are viewed as containing a single, agreed-upon meaning, as envisioned by the author. Students read to "get" what the author is saying.

In contrast, "open" texts are open to multiple interpretations and may depend on the readers' decision-making as to how they will be read. No two readers may read an open text in exactly the same way, and as a result, the text may mean different things to different readers.

Arguably, even so-called "closed" texts are more open than is often assumed, as readers bring a wealth of varying experiences and background knowledge to their individual understandings of an author's message. But some texts are intentionally constructed to encourage, or even mandate, a host of possible interpretations of meaning.

In addition, open texts tend to be interactive in nature; readers need to interact with textual elements as they determine a meaning. Because the text may be non-linear, readers decide which aspects on the page they will focus on and investigate. Readers in effect prioritize what to pay attention to and in what order they will examine textual elements that are most useful and meaningful to them.

Finally, open texts may be fluid in the meaning one makes of them. Readers may discover that their interpretations change with subsequent readings, especially if they key into different elements of a text the next time through it. Readers also modify their understandings as they have conversations with other readers, who may have tuned into different textual elements and established alternative understandings.

Step 2: Demonstrate facets of hyperreading through modeling with print texts that contain hypertextual features. Hassett (2005) provides a sampling of possible "handheld" texts that can be used for modeling hyperreading, from titles in children's literature to adolescent novels. Hypertext features of such books include storylines which are non-linear or do not follow a discernable sequence, books which are mulilayered, books that offer multiple avenues as to how they may be read, and books that present interactive elements and different cues for reading. Other books extend the interplay between books and images. And finally, some books present messages through multiple voices, including perspectives that may have been historically overlooked.

As a transition to "handheld" hypertexts, teachers might consider an analogy to the format of current newspapers. Many newspapers have adopted a version of the USA Today look, which means splashy color, enticing visuals, concise stories, and teasers that promote content in other sections of the newspaper.

As readers glance at the front page of a newspaper, or even a section, their eyes are greeted with a menu of choices. They may encounter as many as a half a dozen "story-starters," the opening several paragraphs on high-profile topics, which are then "linked" to more in-depth development as each story continues somewhere within the sheaf of subsequent pages. Editors visually place each story to attract the reader's attention, some in more prominent spots than others, but each in some sense competing for the reader's time and focus. Readers may decide to read some, or all, of the stories, and decide in what order to read them. In addition, readers can also decide to read only the introductory segments on the front page (written to supply the basic overall storyline), or readers can choose to delve deeper into the story by following the "link" to the remainder of the story elsewhere in the paper. Readers can also decide to interrupt their reading of an article, by quickly scanning another interesting feature or two, before shuffling through the pages to get to the continuation of the story.

The likelihood that any two people will make identical decisions with how to read their articles of choice is certainly very low, and a teaser on the first page may compel a reader to jump immediately to a different section, momentarily skipping the entire opening series of stories. Some readers will proceed immediately to a certain section because of their interests, while other readers will be influenced by the specific stories of the day to make their determination. There is no single appropriate, or even necessarily best, way to consume the daily newspaper.

In addition, readers will also encounter information in visual form, perhaps to lure them into reading an article, but also increasingly as stand-alone stories. A photograph may accompany a story, or the photograph may comprise the entire story itself. Likewise, a data display (a chart, a graph, a table) may connect to a story, or be left totally to the reader's interpretation.

Step 3: Continue exploration of materials that exemplify hypertext features, emphasizing readers as decision-makers who can select from a variety of textual options to make sense of a text. Hassett outlines several additional instructional components for hyperreading:

• Active, thoughtful reading predicated on readers expecting to make connections between a text and what they know and have experienced.
• Reading guided by self-questioning and overt meaning-seeking.
• Awareness of the choices that one makes while reading, and why these choices are being made, and how such choices contribute to an expanding or changing comprehension of a text.
• Attention to a variety of textual cues to meaning: graphics, placement of textual elements, images, use of language, and author's purpose.
• Conversations with other readers about texts, realizing that multiple pathways to understanding, in combination with the variance in readers' background knowledge and experiences, will lead to multiple interpretations and a deeper comprehension.

Advantages

As more print sources come to resemble the hypertexts characteristic of computerized reading, hyperreading will increasingly become an essential 21 st Century literacy practice.

• Students will become progressively more able to maneuver through sometimes bewildering and sophisticated textual formats.
• Students will become more practiced transitioning between reading electronic texts and print texts.
• Students will become more comfortable interacting with "open" texts that have multiple interpretations and are multi-layered, as they expand and revise their comprehension of possible author messages.

Further Resources:

Hassett, D. (2005). Reading Hypertextually: Children's Literature and Comprehension Instruction . Seattle : New Horizons For Learning (March), available online at: http://www.newhorizons.org/strategies/literacy/hassett.htm.

Doug Buehl, teacher, Madison East High School
Wisconsin State Reading Association.

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Posted August 24, 2006