Developing the language by considering the reader role as determinant of meaning : an investigative and analytical study

الملخص EN

This study probes the reader/learner role in determining the text meaning.

It is based on the assumption that activating such role will be in favor of developing language for EFL learners.

Such development can be realized if the comprehension is achieved via determining the meaning by reader (learner) due to the fact that the relationship between text meaning and comprehension has been well recognized by researchers and admitted by students .the reader role has been interrupted by moving towards other roles of the author or the text or even the context.

Such problem has got worse by following the idea of text fixed meaning and the reader passive role as receiver not participant in learning process.

To shed the light on role of the reader, this research analyzes meaning elements to be connected with the reader part and investigates the facts, principle and examples that confirm that role.

Accordingly, it is found that non- fixed meaning of a text which refers to the indeterminacy in language and literature simply should not be interpreted as absence of meaning but each reader who is a member of an interpretive community will determine his own.

A proof about indeterminacy and reader role is provided herein by studying the essay entitled (Is There a Text in This Class?), which was written by the American scholar Stanley Fish, a learner advocator.

The reader and his or her knowledge to obtain a meaning are established in reader-response theory which is a part of reader- response criticism, a school of criticism, in opposite to other traditional schools and theories that ignore the reader role.

The reader creates real existence to the work and finalizes its meaning through interpretation in accordance with a group of cultural assumptions.

Authorial intent and message that are included in these cultural assumptions are created by the interpretation done by a reader.

The reader plays a vital role as meaning decision maker due to his presence in the context, linguistic and physical.

The study ends up with a recommendation about the reader/learner, who represents the center of learning process, role and importance in the process of teaching and developing English language.