The Psychology of Reading

The Psychology of Reading provides a fair and coherent overall picture of how reading is done and how it is best taught. It aims to relate reading to writing systems, analyze the process of reading from several viewpoints using research from diverse disciplines, and develop a model of reading to explain reading processes all the way from letter recognition to reading whole texts. The book describes how children learn to read in different scripts, by different methods, and at different ages. It discusses different components of reading—eye movements, letter and word recognition, sentence and prose reading, and so on, in beginning readers, in skilled or unskilled readers, as well as dyslexic readers. Brain-damaged patients with selective impairment of different components provide a ""natural laboratory"" to compare reading processes within one script as well as across different scripts. The more types of readers, scripts, and components examined, the better the picture of reading processes drawn. This book is a text for college students as well as a reference book for professionals in psychology, education, linguistics, and other related fields.

Preface

1 Introduction

Written and Spoken Language

Linguistics in a Great Hurry

Memory and Reading

Cortical Function and Reading

Why Three Parts and Sixteen Chapters?

I Writing Systems

2 Development of Writing Systems

Precursors of Writing

The Variety of Writing Systems

Summary and Conclusions

3 Logography: Chinese Characters

Characteristics of Chinese Characters

Learning Characters

Processing Characters

Summary and Conclusions

4 Logography and Syllabary: Japanese

Writing System: Kanji and Kana

Learning to Read in Japanese

Reading in Japanese

Summary and Conclusions

5 Alphabetic Syllabary: Korean Hangul

Hangul Alphabetic Syllabary

Reading in Hangul and Kanji

Summary and Conclusions

6 English Alphabet and Orthography

English Alphabet and Spelling

Recovering Sounds from Orthography

Phonological Rules and Orthography

Reforming English Orthography

Summary and Conclusions

Interlude

Writing Systems and Reading Processes

Writing Systems Compared

Reading Processes and Learning to Read

II Reading Processes

7 Eye Movements in Reading

Types of Eye Movement

Integrating Information between Parafovea and Fovea

Individual Differences in Eye Movements

Linguistic Factors Influence Eye Movements

Summary and Conclusions

8 Reading Unit, Constraint, and Context

Units of Reading

Sequential Constraint

Words in Context

Summary and Conclusions

9 Letter and Word Recognition

Isolated Letters

Letters and Lines in Context

Word Recognition

Summary and Conclusions

10 Phonetic and Visual Coding

Inner Speech and Subvocalization

Phonetic Coding

Summary and Conclusions

11 The Bilateral Cooperative Model of Reading

Introduction to the Bilateral Cooperative Model

Brain Function and Malfunction

Recognizing Words

Words in Context: Mainly RIGHT Processes

Syntax and Metaphor

Summary and Conclusions

12 Reading and Writing Sentences

Reading Clauses and Sentences

Knowledge and Sentence Processing

Writing Sentences

Summary and Conclusions

13 Prose: Narrative and Expository

Narrative Prose

Expository Prose

Summary and Conclusions

III Learning to Read

14 Early Readers and Reading Readiness

Preschoolers Can Learn to Read

Levels of Reading to be Attained

Perceptual, Cognitive, and Linguistic Readiness

Language Development and Reading

Summary and Conclusions

15 Reading Instruction at School

Teaching Methods

Teaching Materials

Development of Reading Skills

Summary and Conclusions

16 Developmental Dyslexia

Identifying Developmental Dyslexics

Perceptual and Memory Deficiencies

Decoding and Comprehension Deficits

Neurological and Constitutional Factors

Summary and Conclusions

Epilogue

Appendix: Some Acronyms Used in this Book

References

Name Index

Subject Index