The Transactional Theory of Reading and Writing

Recognizing the essential nature of reader and text, the transactional theory requires an underlying metaphor of organic activity and reciprocity. This chapter discusses the reading process first, then the writing process. It presents the problems of communication and validity of interpretation before considering implications for teaching and research. The chapter suggests some general considerations concerning research topics and theoretical and methodological pitfalls. The transactional model of reading, writing, and teaching that has been presented constitutes, in a sense, a body of hypotheses to be investigated. The transactional concept has profound implications for understanding language. Traditionally, language has been viewed as primarily a self-contained system or code, a set of arbitrary rules and conventions that is manipulated as a tool by speakers and writers or imprints itself on the minds of listeners and readers. The concepts of transaction, the transactional nature of language, and selective attention now can be applied to analysis of the reading process.