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Resource Key
When accessing content use the numbers below to guide you:
LEVEL 1:
brief, basic information laid out in an easy-to-read format. May use informal language. (Includes most news articles)
LEVEL 2:
provides additional background information and further reading. Introduces some subject-specific language.
LEVEL 3:
lengthy, detailed information. Frequently uses technical/subject-specific language. (Includes most analytical articles)
Syllabus definition of context
The environment in which a text is responded to or created. Context can include the general social, historical and cultural conditions in which a text is responded to and created (the context of culture) or the specific features of its immediate environment (context of situation).
All reading is contextual - context applies to three areas: the writer, the text, the reader. There are a multitude of cultural, historical and social factors which shape the meanings of a text: the time, place and circumstances of an author, a text’s production and the reader: socio-historical-cultural (historical events, values), intertextual links, representations, stereotypes, publication (marketing, agencies, technology, economics), personal influences (family, gender, class, race, religion, etc.) education (institution, teacher, philosophy, values, reading practices, physical location, course of study, etc.)
Different readings of texts are possible due to changes in context. We should not think in terms of ‘levels of reading’ as if they are hierarchical, but rather that different types of readings are encouraged depending on the context of the writer, texts and the reader. If the context of the reading is changed, you will also change the reading / understanding of the text.
Oliver
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