The Reading Process

The Reading Process

1. cognitive constructivist view of reading

   • the cognitive orientation
     • learners are active participants
       • act on rather than respond to external environment as they learn
   • constructivism
     • emphasizes the idea that comprehending text is an active process
     • influenced by sum total of experiences as well as by unique intellectual makeup
   • word recognition and fluency
     • most words are recognized automatiically
       • reader processing all letter sound associations simultaneously
       • recognizing the word as a whole unit
     • new word introducted
       • reader aware that some process must be invoked to identify the word
     • automaticity is a prerequisite for fluency
   • comprehension: the construction integration process
     • construction
       • reader comprehends sentences and links ideas from one sentence to another
       • necessary to link first sentence to the second
     • integration
       • process of using prior knowledge to expand and interpret meaning
     • metacognition
       • reader confirms that it makes sense
       • mentally step outside of themselves and view own processing of particular learning tasks
   • strategies
     • meaning breaks down
       • make inferences
       • ask questions
       • summarize
       • search for important ideas
       • sound out words
     • drive the construction of the textbase
     • assist the development of mental model
     • assist metacognition
   • schema
     • knowledge, particularly with the way knowledge is represented in our minds, how we use knowledge and how it expands
     • once a particular schema is evoked, a huge store of knowledge becomes instantly available

2. concepts that elaborate and complement the cognitive constructivist view

   • automaticity
     • perform effortlessly with very little attention
     • comprehension skills
   • reader response theory
     • puts emphasis on reader, stressing meaning one gains from text is result of transaction between reader and text that readers will have a range of responses
     • efferent reading
       • informational
       • attention focused on what information will be learned
     • aesthetic reading
       • primary concern is what happens to reader as they are reading
       • experience text
   • sociocultural theory
     • extends influence on cognitive constructivist view out from the reader and the text into the larger social realm