From decoding to the thematic comprehension: reading implicits

Abstract

This article analyzes reading comprehension by investigating the understanding of implicit discourse relations by 1st year Elementary School children, according to the pragmatic integrated model of Interpretation/Comprehension (Dascal, 2006). In the study, special attention was given to investigating the establishment of the distinction between literal and intentional meaning (Torrance and Olson, 1999;Olson, 1997). Ten children aged 6 to 7 participated in a digital reading test. Results indicate that the majority of the children focused on single words meanings, which suggest that they do not distinguish between “saying” and “meaning to say”, nor depicted the thematic unit, reflecting precarious development of textual awareness. Moreover, the study demonstrates that the children did not understand the irony present in one of the texts, despite capturing other types of implicit meanings, such as presuppositions and indirect speech acts.

Key words: reading, pragmatic integrated model, literacy, textual implicit meanings.