Developmental Reading 5c5u4o

Developmental reading Nature and Psychology of Reading A glimpse on the origin of Reading The reading of written or printed symbols had its origin in the very remote past. At first, man used pictures and characters to convey messages and to record events. William Gray( 1939) discovered from several researches that the art of interpreting these characters and of teaching others to do so developed concurrently. The transition from the use of pictures to the use of letters representing specific sounds was slow and gradual. This was true with the North Babylonians who even before Abraham’s time, had slowly and painstakingly ed from pictograph state to alphabet state ( Huey, 1968:1 ). As early as twenty-five centuries before Christ, the Egyptians, too, analyzed words and syllables and had developed a series of symbols to represent sounds. At about the same time Crete developed its own system of reading in the same gradual manner. Year’s later, The Anglo-Saxons developed theirs, too. However, it was during the latter half of nineteenth century through the ingenuity of the businesslike Semites that sounds and symbols gave rise to the Phoenician alphabet from which developed in turn, the Greek letters and the Roman alphabet. The art of reading and writing improved through the years. Consequently, it became natural that they should acquire a significant place in the education of advanced and progressive nations.

Definitions of reading What is Reading? According to: 

Smith and Dechant

It is a key to success in school, to the development of out -of -school interest, to the enjoyment of leisure time and to personal and social adjustment. It is a “thought process” ( psychologist), “ Giving meaning to printed pages” ( semanticist ),

“ interpreting relationships between the sounds of a language and its written form” ( linguist ), “An interaction between what is perceived and culture” ( sociologist)  Villamin It is the key that unlocks the door to the world of enlightenment and enjoyment and the basic tool for learning in the content field 

Strang

It is a visual task, word recognition, reproducing, thinking skill, and a contributing factor to personality change. 

Spache

It is a developmental task. 

Gray

It is an interaction between the reader and the written language.  Tinker and McCullough It is the recognition of printed or written symbols which serves as stimuli for the recall of meanings built up through past experience, and the construction of new meanings through manipulation of concepts already possessed by the reader. 

Gephart, et al.

It is an interaction by which meaning encoded in visual stimuli by an author meaning in the mind of the reader. The interaction always involves three facets: 1. materials to be read; 2. knowledge possessed by the reader; and 3. physiological and intellectual activity.  Plato It is distinguishing the separate letters both by the eye and by the ear, in order that when you later hear the spoken or see them written, you will not be confused by their positions. 

Thorndike

It is the application of thinking or reasoning skills, as observations, prediction, verification etc., in analyzing an author’s meaning. Reading is reasoning. 

Carroll

It is a two-stage process involving the perception and the comprehension of written messages.  Francis Bacon “ reading maketh a full man” From the foregoing definitions, we can readily conclude that reading is indeed a complex process of perceiving symbols and relating them to one’s fund of experience. The Physio-Psychological Nature of reading Concepts of Reading 1. It is primarily a process of perceiving or recognizing written or printed symbols. 2. It Involves not only the fluent, accurate recognition of the words but the fusion of the specific meanings represented by the words in a chain of related ideas. (Rate and Comprehensions ) 3. It is a process of reflecting on the significance of the idea presented by the author’s meaning as apprehended by the reader then evaluating critically and applying them in the solution of problems. The Physiological Aspects of Reading 1. Visual . The visual of the oculomotor processes are directly associated with the eye movements. 2. Vocal. Oral reading, because of its nature, involves very definite vocal reactions. In silent reading, vocalization is minimal. 3. Extraneous Movements. These are the changes in facial expressions, movements of the head forward and backward, etc. The Psychological Aspect of Reading 

Perception or Recognition of Words.

The three essential aspects of word perception (Guthrie ): 1. the presence of written or printed symbols, 2. attentive adjustment to these symbols, and 3. the arousal of associations that result in recognition of their identity, including their pronunciations or meanings or both Vernon ( 1937 ) identified four steps or stages of

perception of words: 1. perception of form or contour 2. perception of certain dominating or specific parts 3. arousal of meaning 4. stimulation of auditory or kinaesthetic imagery  Apprehension of Meaning – the ability to understand. The two basic processes in comprehension are: 1. the arousal of meaningful associations with words and group of words as stimuli from the retina reach the visual centers of the brain, 2. the fusion of these meanings into a chain of related ideas.The extent of the richness of the reader’s meaning vocabulary is very important here. 

Reaction to or use of ideas apprehended (Gray)

This involves : drawing inferences, seeing implications, judging the validity of ideas presented, making judgments concerning the quality, effectiveness, or completeness of the author’s presentations; etc. Several studies show that comparison of what is involved in reading merely to: 

discover an author’s view

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judge critically the views presented.

Strang’s outline of procedure for the reader to adopt to obtain proof in any point: 1. formulate the assumptions which are to be studied; 2. select, as he reads, the ideas significantly related to the assumptions; 3. search for evidence in of or opposed to the assumptions and weigh each bit evidence as he reads; 4. change an original assumption if evidence accumulates against it; and 5. act upon the assumptions for which he has obtained proof. In connection with the abilities required in scientific thinking, Strang made use of Judd’s analysis of mental abilities as follows: •

observation

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analysis

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synthesis

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selective recall

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imagination

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ability to recognize the problem

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ability to judge the adequacy of data

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ability to discover essential relationships

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ability to suspend judgment until evidence is available; and ability to draw conclusions.

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