The Language Teacher
September 2003

Using Representational Reading Texts in the EFL Classroom

Christian Jones

British Council



Understanding is not a binary, yes/no concept; more or less, meaning is created by an interpersonal process of interpretation, negotiation and response. (Lewis, 1993, p. 48)

Representational language is defined by McRae as language which "in order that its meaning be decoded by a receiver, engages the imagination of the receiver" (McRae, 1991, p. 3). This is defined in contrast to referential language "which communicates on only one level usually in terms of information being sought or given" (McRae, 1991, p. 3). What does this mean? In simple terms representational materials are texts (here I take this to mean reading texts), where meaning can be decoded in several ways and where the decoding must be worked out by the imagination. Examples of this kind of text could be advertising materials, poetry or news headlines. Referential materials are texts that use language which is normally decoded in the same way by all receivers. The words of the text "mean what they say, no more and no less" (McRae, 1996, p.17). The simplest example of this kind of text could be a recipe, a bus timetable or, it must be said, almost any reading text found in an EFL textbook.

In a bid to make them understandable, many EFL texts function on a wholly referential level. We may teach our students to skim or scan them, to predict content from the titles or to use the context to guess the meaning of certain lexis, but really they can only interpret these texts in one way. They simply transmit information and students generally understand it. Students do not have a chance to interact with the text to try and find out what it could or might mean because there is only one thing it can mean. I would argue that this denies them the chance to get to grips with the kind of reading texts and interpretation skills they will need if they wish to become proficient users of English.

It is a fact that much written language that learners will meet is representational. At the simplest level even a street sign can have an indirect, symbolic meaning. A school sign with the image of a torch can be seen to have "classical references to such ideas as shedding the light of knowledge" (Carter et al., 2001, p. 4). Another example is the recent advertising campaign for Boddingtons beer in the UK, using the phrase "The cream of Manchester," which deliberately plays on our associations with the words "cream" and "Manchester." We may associate cream with such things as luxury and smoothness, and Manchester with more down to earth things like football. This sets up an interesting contrast and heightens our curiosity about the product. At the same time the complete phrase plays on our knowledge of "the cream of the crop," implying that the beer is the best of all beers.

In addition, many more complex texts such as newspaper articles, deliberately open themselves up to several interpretations. The headline of a recent story about the first supermodel Janet Dickinson was "Model Misbehaviour" (2002). This deliberately plays on the meaning of these words and our assumed knowledge of the collocation "model behaviour." As a result, we could read it in several ways. These might include

  1. She is a model but misbehaves. (She talks about drug taking and promiscuity in the article.)
  2. Her life is a perfect model example of how to behave badly.
  3. Her life is a perfect model example of how women should behave. (Mis should be read to mean Miss.)

Look at almost any piece of literature and the text becomes even more open. The imagery a text evokes, the reasons for the choice of language used, and the meaning of the text all become open for discussion. Clearly, we need to choose texts that are not so far above our students' language level that they are unable to interpret them. However, it is not the case that these kinds of texts are only for students of a higher level. Even lower level learners need a change from the diet of highly graded readers that is often the fare of EFL textbooks. If we supply them with some basic language for giving opinions and speculating, why can't they look at these kinds of texts?

Representational reading texts may also help to develop what McRae has termed the fifth language skill, that is "thinking in English" (McRae,1991, p. 5). If thinking in English means a greater ability to make and interpret meaning, it seems logical that the more a learner of EFL can think in the target language the more effective a user of English she or he will become. A look at grammar illustrates this point. Regular contact with representational texts should build an awareness that grammatical "rules are questioned [and] played around with" (McRae, 1996, p. 17) in many English texts. Lewis (2002) perceptively points to examples such as, "He likes to get on with it, so the game is never stagnating when he is on" to show how present continuous is often used to describe habitual actions, which many grammars describe as at best "unusual" (see Swan, 1995). Lewis always shows that stative verbs such as smell are often used in the present continuous, such as "The 1983s are tasting superb at the moment" (referring to wine).

This awareness should lead learners to feel they too can play with and question rules as users of EFL and may facilitate a move from being a language knower to a real language user. Chan echoes this when he suggests of EFL learners "as language users themselves they participate in the dynamic process of articulating and creating meanings themselves" (Chan, 1996, p. 3).

Thinking in English is likely to lead to taking more notice of the English a learner comes in contact with in everyday life. I feel this is especially useful for EFL students in Japan. Learners often feel that they are distanced from real contact with English, but in fact there are a vast amount of English representational texts all around them, particularly in advertising. Carter (1996) looks at how some shop names play with language. He gives examples from the UK, but Japanese shop names that employ English, such as the cake shop Dessert Island and goods such as Handycam are no different. These are easily collected by teachers or students, and can be regularly brought into class for discussion. Alternatively, mistakes in English, such as the use of "Clean staff" intended as "Cleaning staff" (spotted recently on a uniform of a cleaner in a public park), or "Enjoy relax time" and "Taste of relax," (both advertising soft drinks), can be examined for the way they create an unintended and often humorous meaning.

So how might a task with a representational reading text be designed? Tasks should be constructed to encourage learners to actively interpret the meaning(s) of a text. McRae (1991) gives a checklist of text features that can help to focus on not just what a text means, but how it means. He suggests that we could focus on any, or all, of the following features of a text:

The above checklist offers potential for a whole range of tasks and questions that go beyond what many standard textbook readers do. We might ask students to discuss what words in text could mean, how they think a sentence in a text sounds if read aloud, or to find and discuss the old-fashioned language. Glance at almost any EFL textbook, and the reading text is preceded and followed by questions predominantly concerned with function.

Naturally, there also needs to be a clear learning point to using representational materials. The materials are not an end in themselves, the learning is. In addition, I believe this learning point must fit into other learning students have been engaged in so that representational materials become a fully-integrated part of a scheme of work.

Below is an example of how I have used a representational text with a class in Japan. This lesson was part of a broader syllabus for a general intermediate English class studying for three hours a week in a ten week course. Here is one way to use the text:

Mini-Lesson Plan

Text

Advertising text for Boddingtons Beer. The text features a silhouette of an ice cream. Below the silhouette are the words "The cream of Manchester."

Aims

For students to discover a number of possible meanings in one simple advertising text. To explore how associations with lexis are used to make meaning in advertising. To explore how advertising text may have a different effect in different cultures. In terms of McRae's checklist mentioned above, this lesson works on graphology, lexis and function.

Recent work

Students have read about the history of the English language, they have discussed their experiences learning English, had some input of phrases for giving opinions and agreeing/disagreeing, and had a group discussion about English language learning in Japan.

Level

Pre-Intermediate +

Procedure

  1. Ask students to close their eyes and think of any images or words they associate with the word "cream." They then explain and discuss their associations.
  2. Do the same for the word "Manchester."
  3. Get some class feedback emphasising that any associations are ok. My class produced things like cake, coffee, sweet and nice, for "cream," and David Beckham and Manchester United for "Manchester."
  4. Show students the text and ask them, "Where could you find a text like this?" Learners will probably guess it's an advert (as mine quickly did), which could be used in a magazine, newspaper or perhaps on a billboard. If they don't guess, listen to alternatives before telling them that it is an advert. Ask them "What do you think it could be advertising?" Encourage them to think of both the written text and the visual image ( a silhouette of an ice cream ).
  5. Allow them to discuss freely in small group stressing that any interpretation is OK. Get class feedback. Interpretations my group produced were "cake," "ice cream," and "lights."

Tell students that it is in fact advertising Boddingtons Beer, which is a beer from Manchester.

  1. Then ask them to discuss why they think the phrase "the cream of Manchester" was chosen for this advert. Ideas that came back were (a) cream is something sweet and nice, (b) cream is associated with a luxury or treat or something expensive , (c) cream makes you think of soft or smooth skin, and (d) the head of the pint was the "cream "of this Manchester beer and that sounded tasty.
  2. Ask learners if they think it would be a successful advert in Japan, bearing in mind that a lot of adverts use English text here. If students don't think it would be successful (mine felt it probably wouldn't be), discuss with them why they think it would be unsuccessful. Then ask students to rewrite it (but keeping it as one short sentence) for the Japanese beer market. Allow students to discuss and explain their different texts. They could even vote on what the best new text is.
  3. Explain or elicit from them that the point behind the activity was to show how even a simple sentence can seem to have several meanings.
  4. Choose a list of example sentences that students will have met before such as, The door's open. Ask students to discuss the possible pragmatic meanings such sentences could have. The door's open could mean (a) Close it, (b) I'm cold, or (c) Come in, amongst several other possibilities. Ask students to make mini-dialogues to show several different meanings of each sentence. Ask them to read them aloud to show the way the sentences sound different when the meaning changes.

Conclusion

Representational reading texts will not make our students instantly fluent or our lessons instantly wonderful. What they offer is a chance for learners to interact with a kind of text that they are very likely to meet outside the classroom, but all too often do not see in the classroom. They may also help to encourage students to become language users as well as learners.

As I have shown, these texts may be as short as a sentence and in the case of advertising, are all around us in Japan. The crucial thing is that the texts can be interpreted in several ways and that this interpretation engages students' imaginations. It is also important that the kind of tasks teachers design focus learners on how a text makes meaning and not just what it means. McRae's checklist detailed above offers several suggestions as to what we can focus on to achieve this and move beyond questions purely about function. In addition, we need to fit work with representational texts into a broader scheme of work so that students feel this kind of reading is not the one-off gimmick lesson for the end of the week or term.

References

Carter, R. (1997). Investigating discourse. London: Routledge.
Carter, R., Goddard, A., Reah, D., Sanger, K., & Bowring, M. (2001). Working with texts. London: Routledge.
Carter, R., & Long, M. (1991). Teaching literature. Harlow: Longman.
Carter, R., & McRae, J. (Eds. ). (1996). Language, literature and the learner. Harlow: Longman.
Chan, P. K. W. (1999). Literature, language awareness and EFL. Language Awareness, 8(1), 38-50.
Grundy, P. (2000). Doing pragmatics. London: Arnold.
Lewis, M. (1993). The lexical approach: The state of ELT teaching and a way forward. Hove: Language Teaching Publications.
Lewis, M. (2003, February 15). Talking point. In Language teaching publications: English language teaching. Retrieved July 21, 2003, from www.ltpwebsite.com/talkingpoint3.htm.
McRae, J. (1991). Literature with a small "l." London: Macmillan. McRae, J., & Vethamani, M. (Eds.). (1999). Now read on: A course in multicultural reading. London: Routledge.
Model misbehaviour. (2002, September 17). The Daily Yomiuri, p. 17.
Swan, M. (1995). Practical English usage. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Christian Jones is a full time teacher at The British Council in Tokyo. He has also taught English in Thailand and the UK. His main teaching interests are in lexis and skills development and in researching the differences between spoken and written language. He is currently studying for an MA in Applied Linguistics at The University of Nottingham.


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