Post reading
The post reading is one of the three phases of deep – reading, the other two being pre – reading and reading comprehension. It is a set of processes and tools that are used to check if the person has correctly understood the text they have had to deal with.
Post-reading is generally used in academic contexts, with the intention of making students more aware of their reading comprehension skills. In this way, it will be easier for them to improve in this area, when they realize what their most important shortcomings are and what problems they usually have.
On the other hand, during post-reading, we seek to work on the three most important skills to fully understand texts: textual, contextual and critical reading. The first is based on understanding what is explicit in the text, while the other two serve to go a step further, understand what is implicit and form an opinion about what has been read.
In this article we will see what the main characteristics of post reading are, what it is usually used for, in which contexts it is most useful and some examples to better understand this process.
Post reading characteristics
Work on three reading skills
Post reading is one of the most effective tools for developing various reading skills, which are essential for people to fully understand the texts they are dealing with. These three skills are textual, contextual, and critical reading.
Textual reading
Textual reading is the skill that allows people to understand what is written directly and find the answer to the most important questions posed by it.
It refers to the ability to understand what is written literally in the text. Without the ability to read text, it is impossible to understand what is being read and the other two cannot be developed.
Even so, reading a text only once does not have to be enough to put this skill into practice. Many times it is necessary to reread it and focus on some specific parts of it, especially if we are facing a particularly complicated writing.
Contextual reading
The second skill worked on by post-reading is that which allows the person to infer information that is not explicitly included in the text. That is, by means of contextual reading, deductions or inferences of data can be made based on the clues that appear in the writing.
During contextual reading, it is essential that the person is able to relate their previous knowledge with what they are observing in the text. In addition, it is usually necessary to read it several times or do a good preliminary work of pre-reading.
Critical reading
Finally, critical reading is the ability that allows a person to form a personal and argument-based opinion of what they have read. In the case of a non-fiction text, it will also allow the individual to decide if they agree with what is made explicit in it or not.
It involves reflecting on what has been read
The post reading process can be carried out in many ways, which will also vary even more depending on the context in which it is being carried out. However, a fundamental characteristic of it and that must appear on all occasions is the reflection on what has been found in the writing.
This is the main difference between post-reading and the other two parts of the process of understanding a text. In the pre-reading the important thing is to carry out an investigation about what is going to be read, and in the reading itself the basis is to face the text as such.
On the other hand, although in post-reading it may be necessary to carry out research and reread the text, the most important thing is that the person uses their previous knowledge and intelligence to draw conclusions about what they have read.
It is usually done through structured strategies
Post reading is a tool that is used only in very specific settings, especially in education and research. This implies that the texts that are analyzed in this way tend to be very complicated, in such a way that it is necessary to use specific techniques and strategies to be able to understand them correctly.
Thus, post-reading often involves activities such as answering questions posed by an expert, or conducting debates or discussions between several people in order to share the ideas extracted from a text.
What is post-reading for?
We have already seen that the main objective of post-reading is to strengthen three of the most basic skills related to reading ability and to help the person to understand as well as possible the text that they have faced. However, this is not the only utility that this tool has.
Reason and understand what has been read
On the one hand, reflecting deeply on what has been read can also be very useful to improve people’s reasoning and logic skills.
Withhold information
On the other hand, in addition, carrying out a good post-reading process increases retention and helps to memorize what has been read, so it can be an especially important tool for students.
Develop critical thinking
In addition to all this, post-reading can also help people develop a greater capacity for critical thinking and the ability to reflect. In this sense, it is a tool widely used in educational contexts to improve the cognitive abilities of students.
Examples
One of the most common examples of post-reading within the educational context is the realization of a text comment. This activity seeks to confront the students with a piece of writing (generally an opinion article or a literary piece) in order for them to study it thoroughly and even understand the aspects of it that are not directly reflected in it.
To achieve this, after conducting a preliminary research on the author and his circumstances and reading the text, students must answer a series of questions about it that go beyond simple reading comprehension.
Thus, they will have to be able to find double meanings, understand the present metaphors, and generate inferring everything that the author wanted to convey but did not say directly.
