I agree that reading is a complicated process involving pronunciation and comprehension. This made me think about reading books that have been translated into English from another language--for example, the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo series. I had NO idea how to pronounce the majority of the names of places, but I recognized them as I was reading and just sort of let it go. I think I was being a lazy reader--if I was helping someone read words with which they were not familiar, I would probably make them learn how to pronounce them (even if they knew the meaning) instead of just sort of skipping over those words. I can see the same thing happening (the laziness/recognizing a familiar word and not making the effort to learn how to say it) happening in the Lord of the Rings, for example, especially if a reader were slightly younger.
The one thing to think about Shannon, is that fluency is central to comprehension. If we slow the reading process down by making sure readers can say every word correctly, then they get what is called, "tunnel vision" and it becomes more difficult to make meaning of the text.
I agree with JD24. As someone who has taken a lot of foreign language classes, if you focus more on defining and pronouncing the word, the focus on the meaning of the sentence, paragraph, chapter, or book slowly disappears. I'm not suggesting that definitions and pronunciation isn't important, but that subject meaning are equally important. As a reader, I have a rule for myself: if you don't know the word, highlight it or write it down to look up later. If you pick up a novel like "A tale of two Cities", "Brave New World", or even "Frankenstein", you won't know the meaning and pronunciation of every single word in the story, but will be able to understand what is going on. Stopping the process to look words up interrupts the enjoyment of reading. This is true no matter what subject, so why should we expect our students to do it when reading about history, science, or any other subject?
I agree that it is a complicated process to define reading. While comprehension is an intricate part of the learning process I believe that you can read without comprehension. I think that is where the reading process and the learning process need each other. But I find when you introduce the foreign language aspect of reading it enhances the idea that you can read without comprehension. It is possible to read words - even pronounce them perfectly - and not comprehend their meaning. That is still reading. However, it is not learning. I really enjoyed your observation that as readers we must be evolving, or continually learning, to be better readers. I believe that is the essential tie between the reading and learning processes.
I liked your mentioning the good reader skills that continue to develop for comprehension (preview, self question, summarize, evaluating...). I think we don't realize we are using those skills when we read. However those are the skills we need to identify and teach those that are having comprehension difficulties. As was mentioned above fluency is important and I feel is another comprehension skill as it helps to preserve context in our minds. - Eric
I agree that reading is a complicated process involving pronunciation and comprehension. This made me think about reading books that have been translated into English from another language--for example, the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo series. I had NO idea how to pronounce the majority of the names of places, but I recognized them as I was reading and just sort of let it go. I think I was being a lazy reader--if I was helping someone read words with which they were not familiar, I would probably make them learn how to pronounce them (even if they knew the meaning) instead of just sort of skipping over those words. I can see the same thing happening (the laziness/recognizing a familiar word and not making the effort to learn how to say it) happening in the Lord of the Rings, for example, especially if a reader were slightly younger.
ReplyDeleteThe one thing to think about Shannon, is that fluency is central to comprehension. If we slow the reading process down by making sure readers can say every word correctly, then they get what is called, "tunnel vision" and it becomes more difficult to make meaning of the text.
ReplyDeleteI agree with JD24. As someone who has taken a lot of foreign language classes, if you focus more on defining and pronouncing the word, the focus on the meaning of the sentence, paragraph, chapter, or book slowly disappears. I'm not suggesting that definitions and pronunciation isn't important, but that subject meaning are equally important. As a reader, I have a rule for myself: if you don't know the word, highlight it or write it down to look up later. If you pick up a novel like "A tale of two Cities", "Brave New World", or even "Frankenstein", you won't know the meaning and pronunciation of every single word in the story, but will be able to understand what is going on. Stopping the process to look words up interrupts the enjoyment of reading. This is true no matter what subject, so why should we expect our students to do it when reading about history, science, or any other subject?
ReplyDeleteI agree that it is a complicated process to define reading. While comprehension is an intricate part of the learning process I believe that you can read without comprehension. I think that is where the reading process and the learning process need each other. But I find when you introduce the foreign language aspect of reading it enhances the idea that you can read without comprehension. It is possible to read words - even pronounce them perfectly - and not comprehend their meaning. That is still reading. However, it is not learning. I really enjoyed your observation that as readers we must be evolving, or continually learning, to be better readers. I believe that is the essential tie between the reading and learning processes.
ReplyDeleteI liked your mentioning the good reader skills that continue to develop for comprehension (preview, self question, summarize, evaluating...). I think we don't realize we are using those skills when we read. However those are the skills we need to identify and teach those that are having comprehension difficulties. As was mentioned above fluency is important and I feel is another comprehension skill as it helps to preserve context in our minds.
ReplyDelete- Eric