Signalling structure in hypertext: support for the non-native reader Background I Text and the non-native reader Models of reading The non-native reader Structures of text Structures of knowledge II Hypertext NN reader support Strategies for NN reader support Training in text patterns/cues Training in knowledge structures Signalling structure in documents Examples of signal design A writing structure curriculum Extension Sources App. 1 An unfolding signal curriculum   Lawrie Hunter Kochi University of Technology lawrie@info.kochi-tech.ac.jp

Background The author teaches a two year foundation English program at a new Japanese engineering university in rural southern Shikoku. In high school, the students studied English in a print based, examination driven program. Most Japanese undergraduate programs may be, have been, characterized as "a four year vacation" where university entrance is the most important prerequisite for university graduation. There the nature of the (committed) English teacher's task is to a large extent remotivating the students and shifting their approach to language learning towards self-directed learner strategies. As far as reading English, most students have found little that they want to read, and when they do want to read a piece of text, they have few skills with which to unravel the information encoded there. "Considerate text" (Kantor et al.,1983) has proven to be helpful to these NN readers, but even more helpful is the provision of multiple versions of a text which in various ways throw light on content and/or text structure. In terms of theoretical grounding, this paper leans heavily on one resource. From a teaching point of view this is pragmatic: in the psychosocial complex of the classroom, simple frameworks are preferable, if not essential.