After reading Chapters 3 and 4, return to the quote from Harper and Kilarr on p. 41. Respond to this quote on your blog, saying whether you agree or disagree and explain why or why not using ample evidence from the text to support your assertions.
"The major folklore of reading instruction relates to the "theory" that reading is considered an exact process. In other words, the reader is expected to read everything exactly as printed on the page in order to understand the message of the author. In general the consuming public, legislatures, courts, and too many educators hold this to theory. it is like the theory of the world being flat during the time of Columbus" -- Robert Harper and Gary Kilarr
I do not agree with this quote even the slightest. I do not think there is one reader in the world who reads everything exactly as printed in the correct order and comprehends exactly what the author tried to convey. I personally do not ever read anything EXACTLY as printed, and I usually have no problem comprehending the text I read. I have never met an educator who convinced me that they believe this to be true as well. I would be interested to do some research to see who perceives reading like this and what evidence they have to back up this theory. Reading chapters 3 and 4 clearly confirmed my interpretation of reading, which in return does not support this theory at all. I believe reading is on going process that gets better the more you do it. Although I have been reading for many years, I have never thought that I had to read exact. I was always taught different techniques and strategies that help me read quicker, while still comprehending the text. For instance, skimming a passage is something readers do. By skimming a text, I do not feel that is a "wrong" way to read. Comprehension and understanding can still be accomplished through this process, as well as many others.
(Weaver, 2002, p. 44) states that whether or not words are pronounced correctly, the reader can still get essential meaning from the text. This supports my opinion exactly. Not one reader can pronounce every word exactly as stated. I still have difficult pronouncing certain words, but this does not impact whether or not I gain meaning from the text. We as readers have the ability to use everything we know to understanding unfamiliar words in context which enables us to learn new vocabulary (Weaver, 2002, p. 45). This to me shows how reading expands our vocabulary which is a natural process that helps us become better readers. The theory that readers should read exactly as printed to me means that everyone should know the meaning and how to pronounce every single word in their language before attempting to read a text and gain meaning. This is ridiculous to me. Readers use context within sentences to help get them through text, which makes perfect sense of how we learn as we go. A reader could not be able to pronounce a number of words in a text, but would still gain meaning by the help of graphs, pictures, context clues, sentence construction, etc. If we were to teach reading as an exact process, then not all people would succeed at reading considering our different cultures, schemas, abilities, etc.
In chapter 4 when reading about miscues so many points were made about readers that I have not even actually thought about before. The fact that I often substitute words, omit words, and even insert words in text when reading shows that I read to gain meaning instead of being worried about reading words exactly as printed. According to the exact process of reading theory this would be an error in reading. I disagree completely. The goal of teaching reading should not be to accurately pronounce every word, but it should be the effective and efficient use of reading strategies in order to gain meaning (Weaver, 2002, p.71). I do not word identification and pronunciation takes precedence over reading for meaning. A person could have the ability to accurately read every word and have no clue as to what they have read. This happens everyday. Some people refer to this as "daydreaming" which happens even when people read. They have read the text accurately and fluently, but have no comprehension of the text at all.
I have never heard of a teacher believe this way either. I honestly do not know how a effective teacher would. As a teacher you learn that students have different ways of doing things but the end result is still correctly accomplished. There is no right way to read, reading is accomplished through continued practice and being taught strategies to strengthen reading skills. I feel that as teachers it is our job to give our students they tools they need to become proficent readers. Making a student read something word for word is essentially doing them a disfavor.
ReplyDeleteThe reference to "daydreaming" I have never heard of, but it is an accurate way of putting the concept of reading word for word!
I have seen so many students "daydream" as you put it. They have read the words exactly right but could not answer any of the comprehension questions or retell any part of the story. Does that mean they read? Maybe but did they read for meaning- no. I agree with you in that reading is an on going process. We have to constantly use it and practice it in order to become a proficient reader.
ReplyDeleteAmanda, I agree with you totally. I actually had a little girl in my class who could read almost every word in books that were on the Kindergarten level and she knew so many words. She could also write them and spell them correctly from memory but she was not able to comprehend anything that she was reading and her writing was just a bunch of jumbled up words that she knew how to read and write but that does not make her a "good" reader.
ReplyDeleteI also agree that reading is not an exact process. I think that we use many strategies to read and that is how we should teach our students. I liked the point you made about reading being an ongoing process and that the more you practice the better you get. That is so true! I have seen students struggle with reading but have that determination and they want continue to practice. By the end of the year they have improved. I also liked that you mentioned reading is not all about pronouncing the words correctly. It made me think about students from other cultures or with accents or those with language impairments. Just because they do not say the word "correctly" doesn't mean they do not understand it.
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