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Reading is a 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 (for example Braille). Other types of reading may not be
text-based, such as music notation or pictograms. By analogy, in
computer science, reading is acquiring of data from some sort of
computer storage.
Although reading is now a primary means for most people to receive
information this has been the case only for the last 150 years or so
— with some exceptions only a small percentage of the population in
any country was literate before the industrial revolution.
Contents
* 1 Rates
* 2 Types and methods
* 3 Skill development
* 4 Reading assessment
o 4.1 Types of reading tests
* 5 Correlations
* 6 Lighting
* 7 Notes
* 8 See also
* 9 References
* 10 External links
Rates
Further information: Speed reading, English language learning and
teaching, and Proofreading
Rates of reading include reading for memorization (under 100 words
per minute (wpm)), reading for learning (100–200 wpm), reading for
comprehension (200–400 wpm), and skimming (400–700 wpm). Reading for
comprehension is the essence of most people’s daily reading.
Skimming is sometimes useful for processing larger quantities of
text superficially at a much lower level of comprehension (below
50%).
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 is dangerous as a default habit.
Types and methods
We can identify several types and methods of reading, with differing
rates that can be attained for each, for different kinds of material
and purposes:
* Subvocalized reading combines sight reading with internal sounding
of the words as if spoken. It can be a bad habit that slows reading
and comprehension, if applied to all reading material, but it can
also be essential for reading things like poetry or transcripts of
oral speeches.
* Speed reading is a collection of methods for increasing reading
speed without an unacceptable reduction in comprehension or
retention. closely connected to speed learning.
* Proofreading is a kind of reading for the purpose of detecting
typographical errors. One can learn to do it rapidly, and
professional proofreaders typically acquire the ability to do so at
high rates, faster for some kinds of material than for others, while
they may largely suspend comprehension while doing so, except when
needed to select among several possible words that a suspected
typographic error allows.
* Structure-Proposition-Evaluation (SPE) method, popularized by
Mortimer Adler in How to Read a Book, mainly for non-fiction
treatise, in which one reads a writing in three passes: (1) for the
structure of the work, which might be represented by an outline; (2)
for the logical propositions made, organized into chains of
inference; and (3) for evaluation of the merits of the arguments and
conclusions. This method involves suspended judgment of the work or
its arguments until they are fully understood.
* Survey-Question-Read-Recite-Review (SQ3R) method, often taught in
public schools, which involves reading toward being able to teach
what is read, and would be appropriate for instructors preparing to
teach material without having to refer to notes during the lecture.
Skill development
Several methods of teaching and learning to read have developed, and
become somewhat controversial:
* Phonics involves teaching reading by associating characters or
groups of characters with sounds. Sometimes argued to be in
competition with whole language methods.
* Whole language methods involve acquiring words or phrases without
attention to the characters or groups of characters that compose
them. Sometimes argued to be in competition with phonics methods,
and that the whole language approach tends to impair learning how to
spell.
Learning to read in a second language, especially in adulthood, may
be a different process than learning to read a native language in
childhood.
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.[1] Such was the case with Truman Capote as noted in his New
York Times obituary:
After his mother's divorce from Mr. Persons and her marriage to Joe
Capote, she brought her son to live with them in New York. He was
sent to several private schools, including Trinity School and St.
John's Academy in New York, but he disliked schools and did poorly
in his courses, including English, although he had taught himself to
read and write when he was 5 years old. Having been told by many
teachers that the precocious child was probably mentally backward,
the Capotes sent him to a psychiatrist who, Truman Capote said
triumphantly some years later, "naturally classified me as a
genius."
In Gerald Clarke's Capote: A Biography (1988), one paragraph
describes how Capote was usually seen at age five carrying his
dictionary and notepad. Conversations with Truman Capote has a
passage telling how Capote taught himself to read (in a town with no
library) by collecting old farm magazines and each day at six pm
meeting the bus which dropped off the two newspapers from Mobile and
Montgomery. Hadley Bond was a gifted child in Australia who taught
himself to read by the age of one-and-a-half, had a library at age
two and taught himself math at age three. There are numerous
accounts of people who taught themselves to read by comparing street
signs or Biblical passages to speech, plus many mentions of Lincoln
teaching himself. The novelist Nicholas Delbanco taught himself to
read at age six by studying a book about boats during a
transatlantic crossing.
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 or syllables, 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 fluency: 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.
Correlations
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, according to Jamie Littlefield on charityguide.org[2]
Literacy rates in the United States are also more highly correlated
to weekly earnings than IQ. A graph showing this relationship is
shown here.
Lighting
A detail from Madonna des Kanonikus Georg van der Paele by Jan van
Eyck.
A detail from Madonna des Kanonikus Georg van der Paele by Jan van
Eyck.
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. Since about 1990, there has been a
movement to create reading environments with appropriate lighting
levels (approximately 600 to 800 lux).
Referer:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reading_(activity)