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Beyond decoding: Pictures of expository prose

  • Part III Theory And Practice—Interdependent
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Abstract

Just as success in decoding complex spelling patterns requires strategy and structure, so does the “decoding” of complex expository writing. We discuss the specific sources of difficulty in technical writing and distinguish between content structure and text structure. Next come presentations of the basic building blocks for expository writing and techniques of text design. Patterns from American science and social studies texts are described and contrasted with Japanese materials. We finish with suggestions for promoting the comprehension of expository materials.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Stanford University, Stanford, California

    Robert Calfee & Marilyn Chambliss

Authors
  1. Robert Calfee
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  2. Marilyn Chambliss
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Additional information

This article is taken from an address delivered on November 5, 1987 by the first author to the 38th Annual Conference of the Orton Dyslexia Society in San Francisco. The use of first person captures certain facets of the presentation, but the paper is mostly a “we” piece. Portions of this work were supported by U.S. Department of Education, Federal program number 84.122B, Secretary’s Discretionary Program, and the Carnegie Corporation of New York.

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Calfee, R., Chambliss, M. Beyond decoding: Pictures of expository prose. Annals of Dyslexia 38, 243–257 (1988). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02648259

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