Encyclopedia
Reading is the process of retrieving and comprehending some form of stored information or ideas. These ideas are usually some sort of representation of
language, such as symbols to be examined by sight, or by touch . Other types of reading may not be language-based, such as music notation or pictograms. By analogy, in computer science, reading is acquiring of data from some sort of computer storage.
Overview
Reading by humans is mostly done from paper with ink: a
book, magazine, newspaper, leaflet, or
notebook.
Handwritten text may also consist of
graphite from a
pencil.
More recently, text is read from
computer displays,
television, and other displays, such as
mobile phones.
Short texts may be written or
painted on an object. Often the text relates to the object, such as an address on an envelope, product info on packaging, or text on a
traffic or street sign. A slogan may be painted on a wall. A text may also be produced by arranging stones of a different color in a wall or road. Short texts like these are sometimes referred to as environmental print.
Sometimes text or images are in
relief, with or without using a color contrast. Words or images can be carved in stone, wood, or metal; instructions can be printed in relief on the plastic housing of an appliance, or a myriad of other examples.
Chalk on a blackboard is often used for classroom settings.
A requirement for reading is a good contrast between letters and background and a suitable font size. In the case of a computer screen, not having to scroll horizontally is important.
You read because of this. First your brain interpets what's being read as a reconizable pattern. Your eyes make jerky movements, called saccades, followed by fixations. During the fixations, your brain interprets what is being read. This takes up 94% of the time.
The field of visual word recognition studies how people read individual words. A key technique in studying how individuals read text is eye tracking. This has revealed that reading is performed as a series of eye fixations with saccades between them. Humans also do not appear to fixate on every word in a text, but instead fixate to some words while apparently filling in the missing information using context. This is possible because human languages show certain linguistic regularities.
The process of recording information to be read later is
writing. In the case of computer and
microfiche storage there is the separate step of displaying the written text. For humans, reading is usually faster and easier than writing.
Reading is typically an individual activity, although on occasion a person will read out loud for the benefit of other listeners. Reading aloud for one's own use, for better comprehension, is a form of
interpersonal communication. Reading to young children is a recommended way to instill language and expression, and to promote comprehension of text. Before the reintroduction of separated text in the late
Middle Ages, the ability to read silently was considered rather remarkable. See Alberto Manguel
A History of Reading. New York: Viking. The relevant chapter is posted on line .
Literacy is the ability to read and write;
illiteracy is usually caused by not having had the opportunity to learn these concepts. Dyslexia refers to a difficulty with reading and writing. The term dyslexia can refer to two disorders: developmental dyslexia is a learning disability; alexia or acquired dyslexia refers to reading difficulties that occur following brain damage.
Theory
The human capacity to read is accurately explained and predicted by human eye physiology and psychology. The eye is capable of taking in a certain amount of text using the vision span while fixating on the text. The sensory memory is able to hang onto the items in the vision span for a period of around 300 milliseconds. The short term memory, or working memory, can hold less material , but for longer periods . These 4 or so items could be words, headings, or sentences, depending on the prior knowledge of the reader and the rate of reading within the well defined limits of human vision span. If the material is repeated or appropriately and meaningfully associated, it will be passed into the long term memory, which is potentially unlimited in capacity and can remain there from 10 minutes to indefinitely depending on depth of processing and subsequent recall.
Weaver has identified three definitions for reading:
Definition 1: Learning to read means learning to pronounce words.
Definition 2: Learning to read means learning to identify words and get their
meaning.
Definition 3: Learning to read means learning to bring meaning to a text in order to
get meaning from it .
Weaver, C. . Reading process and practice: From socio-psycholinguistics to
whole language. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
Rates
Rates of reading include reading for memorization , reading for learning , reading for comprehension , skimming , and scanning . Specifically, normal reading involves the rates of "rauding" , skimming, and scanning which should be understood as having very different purposes and consequences. Reading for comprehension is the most important reading process because it is the essence of most people’s daily reading. Skimming and scanning are sometimes useful for processing larger quantities of text superficially at a much lower level of comprehension .
Advice for the appropriate choice of reading rate includes reading flexibly, slowing down when the concepts are closer together or when the material is unfamiliar, and speeding up when the material is familiar and the material is not concept rich.
Speed reading courses and books often encourage the reader to continually speed up; comprehension tests lead the reader to believe their comprehension is constantly improving. However, competence in reading involves the understanding that skimming and scanning are dangerous as default habits.
Misc
Learning to read in a second language, especially in adulthood, may be a different process than learning to read a native language in childhood.
Proofreading is a kind of reading for the purpose of detecting
typographical errors.
There are cases of very young children learning to read without having been taught, such as described in the book
Learning From Children Who Read at an Early Age by Rhona Stainthorp and Diana Hughes.
Reading Assessment
Because reading draws on multiple types of knowledge, it can be tested in several different ways. Tests also vary depending on whether they are used to test children or adults. Standardized tests are normed to a large population of readers, allowing the tester to determine what is typical for an individual of a given age. For example, the average reading ability of children aged 10 years, 0 months will be 10;0. However, a more advanced eight year old might also be able to read at the 10;0 level.
Reading achievement is influenced by multiple factors, and is not limited to a child's general intelligence.
Types of Reading Tests
- Sight word reading: reading words of increasing difficulty until they become unable to read or understand the words presented to them. Difficulty is manipulated by using words that have more letters, are less common and have more complicated spelling-sound relationships.
- Nonword reading: reading lists of pronounceable nonsense words out loud. The difficulty is increased by using longer words, and also by using words with more complex spelling or sound sequences.
- Reading comprehension: a passage is presented to the reader, which they must read either silently or out loud. Then a series of questions are presented that test the reader's comprehension of this passage.
- Reading speed: the rate with which individuals can name words.
- Reading accuracy: the ability to correctly name a word on a page.
Some tests incorporate several of the above components at once. For instance, the Nelson-Denny reading test scores readers both on the speed with which they can read a passage, and also their ability to accurately answer questions about this passage.
Benefits
Studies have shown that American children who learn to read by the third grade are less likely to end up in prison, drop out of school, or take drugs. Adults who read literature on a regular basis are nearly three times as likely to attend a performing arts event, almost four times as likely to visit an art museum, more than two-and-a-half times as likely to do volunteer or charity work, and over one-and-a-half times as likely to participate in sporting activities.
Lighting
Reading requires more
lighting than many other activities. Therefore the possibility of comfortable reading in cafés,
restaurants,
buses, at
bus stops, or in
parks greatly varies depending on available lighting and time of day. Starting in the 1950s, many offices and classrooms were
over-illuminated, partially because many of the early textbooks were influenced by lighting manufacturers. Since about 1990, there has been a movement to create reading environments with appropriate lighting levels .
See also
- Radio Reading Service such as 2RPH reads newspapers and magazines for the benefit of people who are unable to read for themselves.
- Speed reading
- Read-in
- Directed Reading Lesson
- Fixation
- Regression
- Skimming
- Subvocalization
- Vision span
- International Reading Association
References
- National Endowment for the Arts .
- Littlefield, Jamie . Retrieved Jun. 20, 2006.
- Shaywitz, S. E. et al.: Evidence that dyslexia may represent the lower tail of a normal distribution of reading ability. The New England Journal of Medicine 326 145-150.
External links
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- and how to write for the Web
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- Information and literacy software made by a specialist Speech-Language Pathologist.
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