Which of the following text readings were identified by Stuart Hall? A.…
2024
Which of the following text readings were identified by Stuart Hall?
A. Complex reading
B. Continuous reading
C. Dominant reading
D. Oppositional reading
E. Negotiated reading
Choose the most appropriate answer from the options given below:
Answer: B. C, D, E Only — Concept — Reception theory holds that meaning is not fixed inside a media text. A producer encodes a preferred meaning, and an audience actively decodes it…
- A.
A, B, C Only
- B.
C, D, E Only
- C.
B, C, D Only
- D.
A, D, E Only
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: B
Concept — Reception theory holds that meaning is not fixed inside a media text. A producer encodes a preferred meaning, and an audience actively decodes it from its own social position, so the meaning taken out need not be the meaning put in. Stuart Hall's encoding/decoding framework names exactly three hypothetical decoding positions an audience may occupy in relation to that preferred meaning.
Application — Applying that framework to the five labelled readings in the stem, the three positions Hall set out are the following.
Reading | Label | How the audience decodes |
|---|---|---|
Dominant (hegemonic) reading | C | The message is decoded inside the preferred code, and the meaning the producer intended is accepted as given. |
Oppositional reading | D | The preferred code is understood, but the message is deliberately re-read within a contrary frame of reference. |
Negotiated reading | E | The preferred meaning is broadly accepted, then bent to fit the audience member’s own situation and interests. |
Cross-check — The two remaining labels lie outside this typology. Neither "complex reading" nor "continuous reading" names a decoding position anywhere in Hall’s encoding/decoding essay, so any grouping carrying either of them steps outside the three-position scheme.
Result — The text readings Hall identified are the dominant, oppositional and negotiated readings, that is labels C, D and E, giving the grouping "C, D, E Only".