Reading (activity)

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Image:Voskresnoye chteniye v selskoy shkole.jpg 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 language-based, such as music notation or pictograms. By analogy, in computer science, reading is acquiring of data from some sort of computer storage.

1 Rates
2 Misc
3 Reading Assessment
- 3.1 Types of Reading Tests
4 Correlations
5 Lighting
6 See also
7 References
8 External links

[edit] Rates

Further information: Speed reading, English as an additional language, 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), skimming (400–700 wpm), and scanning (more than 700 wpm). Specifically, normal reading involves the rates of "rauding" (or normal reading), skimming, and scanning which should be understood as having very different purposes and consequences. Reading for comprehension is the most important reading process because it is the essence of most people’s daily reading. Skimming and scanning are 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 and scanning are dangerous as default habits.

[edit] Misc

Learning to read in a second language, especially in adulthood, may be a different process than learning to read a native language in childhood.

Proofreading is a kind of reading for the purpose of detecting typographical errors.

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]

[edit] 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.

[edit] 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, 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 speed: 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.

[edit] 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]

[edit] Lighting

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, partially because many of the early textbooks were influenced by lighting manufacturers. Since about 1990, there has been a movement to create reading environments with appropriate lighting levels (approximately 600 to 800 lux).

[edit] See also

Radio Reading Service such as 2RPH reads newspapers and magazines for the benefit of people who are unable to read for themselves.
Speed reading
Read-in
Directed Reading Lesson
Fixation
Regression
Skimming
Subvocalization
Vision span
International Reading Association
Time Reading Program, a book club sponsored by Time Magazine from 1961 - 1966
Eye movement in language reading
Eye movement in music reading

[edit] References

National Endowment for the Arts (June 2004). “Reading at Risk: A Survey of Literary Reading in America” (pdf)
Littlefield, Jamie (2006). "Promote Reading: Share Books" Retrieved Jun. 20, 2006.
Shaywitz, S. E. et al.: Evidence that dyslexia may represent the lower tail of a normal distribution of reading ability. The New England Journal of Medicine 326 (1992)145-150.