Active vs Passive Theory

Active audience theory argues that media audiences dont just receive information passively but are actively engaged, often unconsciously, in making sense of the message within their personal and social contexts. Decoding of a media message may therefore be influenced by such things as family background, values, beliefs, culture, education, interests and experiences.

Reading 

Preferred reading/dominant ready

The 'intended' reading of the text

Oppositional reader

your dislike/disagree with the preferred reading

Negotiated reading

you dislike and like different aspects

Aberrant reading

you don't understand/misinterpret 

Encoding/decoding model

Contemporary semioticians refer to the creation and interpretation of texts as 'encoding' and 'decoding' respectively. 

In 1973, Stuart Hall published a paper entitled 'Encoding/decoding'. This had a major influence on cultural studies, the essay takes up and challenges long held assumptions on how media messages are produced, circulated and consumed proposing a new theory of communication.

Uses and gratification theory

Uses and gratifications theory (UGT) is an approach to understanding why and how people actively seek out specific media to satisfy specific needs. UGT is an audience-centered approach to understanding mass communication.
Diverging from other media effect theories that question "what do media do to people?", UGT focuses on "what do people do with media?"