Readers construct a meaning they can create from a text, so
that "what a text means" can differ from reader to reader. Readers
construct meaning based not only on the visual cues in the text (the words
and format of the page itself) but also based on non-visual information such as
all the knowledge readers already have in their heads about the world, their
experience with reading as an activity, and, especially, what they know about
reading different kinds of writing. This kind of non-visual information that readers
bring with them before they even encounter the text is far more potent than the
actual words on the page.
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