Textual Interpretation

Texts are the vehicles through which creators communicate meaning in interesting and evocative ways. In English, we learn how to interpret these texts to better understand how and why they were created.

Introduction

This guide is designed to explain the process of textual interpretation using simple and direct language. To interpret a text means to try and understand what a creator is trying to say through their work. To achieve this, we need to break a text apart into its essential components, and then learn how these parts fit together to communicate meaning. Once we have formed our unique interpretation, we need to communicate this to others in a meaningful way.

By understanding this process of textual interpretation, we become more confident when participating in class activities and completing assessment tasks.

Understanding Communication

Let's begin with communication.

In the forests of West Africa, Diana monkeys must be on constant lookout for dangerous predators. Big cats, birds of prey, and of course, humans, can all threaten a Diana monkey group. As a result, when a predator is spotted a call is made to alert the rest of the group. Importantly, Diana monkeys have developed specific calls for specific threats: a warning that a predatory cat is approaching tells the group to climb higher, while a different warning tells the group to climb lower when a predatory bird is spotted.

Monkeys can also pass on information without making audible sounds. When a female emperor tamarin monkey would like her mate to look after their young she sticks out her long, curled tongue. Meanwhile, a male ring-tailed lemur can mark his territory in the wilderness by excreting chemicals from a gland in his wrist.

What is important to us is that each of these cases is an example of communicating meaning. 

In English classes, we study the communication of meaning between human beings. And, as with the examples of the monkeys above, this communication can happen in different ways and for different reasons. 

Notably, there are two distinct ways of communicating that it is worth clarifying: verbal and nonverbal communication.

While we study both of these types of communication in English, we spend most of our time looking at the former: the use of language to transmit ideas and emotions between human beings. Importantly, while humans can use language to communicate meaning in immediate situations (such as conversations or arguments), we can also create "things" that allow us to communicate meaning over space and time: these are known as texts.

Texts

It can be tricky to define a "text" so let's take a moment to get our head around the term. 

In everyday language, "text" can refer to the writing within a document. Since the introduction of mobile phones, "a text" can also mean a short message sent from one phone to another.

In the English classroom, however, we use the word text to refer to something created by one or more people with the goal of communicating meaning to others. 

Consider the following examples of different kinds of texts:

Each of these examples can be considered a text that communicates meaning to an audience. We can say that the newspaper article is raising awareness about climate change, the social media post is informing users about a recent event, and the photograph is attempting to capture the energy of a live performance.  

We can also complicate these examples in interesting ways. Should the photographs in the newspaper article and social media post be considered texts in their own right? Is the outfit worn by punk rocker Johnny Rotten also a text? (The answer is "yes" in both cases.)

There is also a particular type of text that we are interested in in our English studies. These literary texts draw upon the imagination and originality of their creators to evoke powerful responses in their audiences.

Traditionally, a literary text has been understood to be something like a play, novel, poem, or film, as seen in the examples below. 

However, the boundary between what is and isn't a literary text is blurred and constantly shifting. That said, there are a couple of ways we can distinguish literary texts from the usual texts we encounter in everyday life:

First of all, literary texts are generally not created for a specific, immediate purpose. Rather, they explore universal concepts that can be understood and appreciated by a wide audience. Thus, while an email from a boss to their staff about an upcoming meeting can be considered a text, it is not a literary text. 

In addition, literary texts are created with an awareness of the importance of aesthetics; that is, a desire to create something which makes the most of its chosen form to position an audiences in a specific way. The creators of such texts deliberately manipulate language, elements and techniques to communicate meaning in the most meaningful way possible. 

Finally, literary texts invite audiences to engage with subtlety and complexity. Thus, they can feature complex human characters and confronting moments that may resolve in ambiguous or unsettling ways. As a result, literary texts tend to reflect the complicated, and often unsettling, nature of the human condition. 

Analysing Texts

As shown, texts can be complex. Because of this, we cannot expect to understand everything about them in one sitting. Therefore, to better understand the intended purpose of a text we need to analyse it in greater detail.

When it comes to textual analysis, the "constituent parts" referred to in this definition come in two forms: elements and techniques.

Elements

Elements are things that are always present in a text (as opposed to techniques which are optional). To help us to understand this concept, let us consider a hypothetical situation:

Suppose we are building a house. What components must this house have in order to be considered a house? 

Well, let's see. Surely a house must have walls, a roof and a door to get in or out. But is there anything else it must have? 

Windows seem obvious, but a house does not have to have windows (even though it would be pretty miserable without them). It follows, then, that things like fireplaces and furniture are also optional, even if they might make the house more attractive and comfortable.

At its core, then, we can say that a house is made up of three fundamental elements: walls, a roof and a door. 

In the same way, there are some elements that are common to  all of the texts we study in English.

In particular, there are two types of elements that we are interested in English classes.

Textual Elements are common to all texts, from Elizabethan plays to the outfit you wore on the weekend. These elements include things like a creator, a purpose and an audience.

Narrative Elements are common to all story texts, from tales told around the campfire to the latest movie blockbuster. These elements include things like a setting, plot and characters.

Techniques

As mentioned, techniques are optional ways for creators to engage their audiences.  

If we continue our analogy of the components that make up a house, while we don't have to include things like windows, fireplaces and furniture, they sure do make the experience of using a house more positive. 

In the same way, creators can use optional techniques to more effectively communicate meaning to their audiences.

Examples of such techniques include similes (a Literary Technique) which make concepts more understandable and relatable, rhyme and rhythm (Poetic Techniques) which make writing more memorable, and the use of colour (a Visual Technique) to evoke specific moods in images.

We can think of techniques as the "spices" which add flavour to a text: they are not essential, but they do make things more interesting.

Once we have identified and examined the various elements and techniques that make up a given text, we can begin to form an interpretation of the whole.

Interpreting Texts

Have you ever watched a movie with friends and then held a discussion afterwards in which you all completely disagree about how good the movie was? This is strange because surely you have all experienced exactly the same film, and so you should all have exactly the same response, right?

Hmmm.

Of course, it is not so simple. Depending on the type of text that was experienced, the cultural backgrounds of the various audience members, and countless other reasons, it is possible for different people to respond to different texts in different ways.

Such things interest us in English classes, but there is an important clarification to make here: we are not focused on whether a text is good or bad, but rather how effective it is.

There are three broad questions we can ask to help us determine this:

Or, put more bluntly:

Just as different people will agree or disagree about how good or bad a movie is, so too will different people offer different answers to these three questions. 

In other words, everyone can offer a unique interpretation of a text.

When it comes to offering a textual interpretation, what matters is the evidence we use to support our claims. And what form should this evidence take? To make a convincing case in favour of our unique interpretation, we need to make specific references to the elements and techniques used by the creator to communicate meaning. 

This is the reason we spend so much of our time in English classes pulling texts apart to see how they work. Once we can identify and understand the different "pieces" of a text, we can use this knowledge to establish what a creator is trying to achieve, and evaluate how effectively they accomplish this. 

Importantly, this process involves finding connections between the different elements and techniques within a text. Just as the engine of a car needs lots of small components to work together to generate motion, so too do the different components of a text need to work together to create meaning.

Sharing Findings

Having formed an interpretation of what a creator is attempting to accomplish through their work, it is no good keeping this interpretation to ourselves—we need to share it!

This process begins with classroom discussion. Here, we have a chance to share our interpretations verbally with one another. It is through this sharing of ideas that we begin to unlock the underlying messages within texts, often catching things we missed the first time.

We continue to develop and refine our interpretations through the different activities we complete in the classroom. These tasks are designed to help us understand specific aspects of the texts we study, and to see things in new ways. Often, we work in pairs or teams during these activities, helping one another to unlock meaning in new ways. 

Our final interpretation of a text is usually shared in a more formal manner. This could be an essay or oral presentation, or some other medium which allows us to express our ideas in a comprehensive way. Here, we need to put together everything we have learned from our analysis to offer a convincing interpretation for our audience.  

Importantly, we should not be afraid to change our interpretations throughout any stage of this process. Other students may challenge us in classroom discussions, and we may receive specific critiques in our draft feedback. This is good, as it encourages us to reconsider our interpretations, and improve them if the feedback is justified. 

Literary texts are wonderful things, and the more we learn about how they work, the more we can appreciate their aesthetic qualities. We can also learn to admire or critique what they are trying to achieve, and then share our unique interpretations with others.  

And, with practice, we learn to create new and interesting texts of our own to enrich the world around us.

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Interpreting Texts Guide