Do you agree with Marilyn Adams (1990, p. 108) who argued that rather than relying on context, “Skillful readers of English thoroughly process the individual letters of words in their texts?” Why or why not?
I don't agree with Marilyn Adams' statement. Readers can identify the individual letters in a word, however, when reading fluently skillful readers do not take the time to process each letter in a word. Our text states on page 109, "Good readers do not read word-by-word as if the words were in a list rather than in context; rather, they use context not only to perceive and identify words but to do so with slightly greater speed and fewer eye fixations."
I believe if a reader focused on the individual letters within a word they would be concentrating more on the pronunciation of that word rather than trying to determine meaning from the passage. Several years ago while in a class, my classmates and I were presented a passage where the first and last letters in the words were left in their proper place, but the other letters were mixed around within the word. The majority of the student were able to read the passage quickly with ease and were able to comprehend the meaning of the passage. This is because we were not focusing on each individual letter, but the context of the text.
While our eyes do process each letter, when reading fluently proficient readers read rapidly and do not focus on each individual letter, nor do they read word-for-word. Strong readers do not need to focus on each individual letter to determine meaning from a text. They are able to make a connection between the words in a text to determine meaning.
Tiffany,
ReplyDeleteYou made some valid points within your response, especially in reference to the activity you completed in high school. While I was reading through the chapters, that type of activity was exactly what I was thinking about because that example alone would tell you that we do not read every letter. This also reinforces the text when it talks about how we may identify all the letters, but only after we have identified the full word.
I agree with your statements in your reflection, especially when you said focusing on individual letters is concentrating more on determining correct pronunciation not meaning. I am also familiar with the type of activity you referred to where the first and last letters are correct, and the middle letters are correct but in an incorrect order. I’ve gotten several emails over the years containing activities such as this one. I’ve always found them interesting, and now I am starting to understand the reason behind them and why it’s possible to understand them. I would have never thought when I was reading those silly emails that they would apply to my coursework in my master’s program or to teaching children to read. At the time I just thought of them as fun and neat! I am looking forward to gaining even more knowledge about reading.
ReplyDeleteI, too, did not agree with Adams. When learning how to read, I think focus is put on reading all words as they appear. Later on, some of us are taught to "skim". I face, I have even heard... when reading passages, if you read the first and last paragraphs you can assume what goes in the middle of it. I am assuming you read the same passage I am thinking of and I agree with it. Possibly,,,, we internally identify letters in our brains and we don't even know it. (BUT I HAVE NO CLUE HOW MY BRAIN PROCESSES THAT- IT JUST DOES, LOL) From what I can tell, I see ahead of what I am actually reading. There I have been times i self-checked myself and said, "WHAT DID I JUST READ." Most of the times i go back and fix it but if I am super interested and am able to make connections and interpret the meaning, I just keep going.
ReplyDelete