Interpreting Historical, Social & Cultural Context in Texts

Why is it important to understand the context of a text?

• Context is optional in understanding a text.

• Context provides tools to more fully understand the meaning of a text.

• Context helps you remember important events in the plot of the story.

• Context is the first thing you read in the text.

Which of these could be considered part of the social context of a book?

• All of these are examples of social context.

• Women are not allowed to vote or own property.

• The characters are all from Australia.

• The characters are having a party.

Which of these could be considered part of the historical context of a book?

• It takes place during the Civil War.

• Some of the characters are wealthy

• It takes place in Atlanta, Georgia.

• The book was written in 1912.

Jeff is reading a book that takes place during the Revolutionary War. This is an example of what type of context?

• cultural

• social

• effective

• historical

How does cultural context affect a story?

• Cultural context is not important to a story.

• Cultural context includes important historical events that occur around the same time as the story.

• Cultural context tells how the society's expectations and rules of conduct affect the characters in the story.

• Cultural context gives the time and place where the story occurs.