The author outlines ways in which conceptions of texts and literacy may be distinctive across academic disciplines. Framed in theories of social semiotics, she asserts that each discipline is recreated through a series of texts, defined broadly to include any instances of communication. Texts in each content area not only instantiate a particular…

Reviews the growing body of work that examines reading as a process occurring within a social context and having social consequences. Three categories within this literature are examined: studies of literacy and its sociocultural role; the history of the book; and the meaning of reading as an activity. Notes and a bibliography is appended. (15…

Drawn from talks given at a conference held at the University of New Hampshire in October 1984, the papers in this collection explore the relationship of composition to reading and literature studies. Following an introductory chapter written by Thomas Newkirk, which contains background information about that relationship as well as an overview of…