Silent reading

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Silent reading is reading done silently, or without speaking the words being read. [1]

Contents

Before the reintroduction of separated text (spaces between words) in the Late Middle Ages, the ability to read silently may have been considered rather remarkable, though some scholars object to this idea. [2] [3] [4]

In contrast, reading aloud activates many more parts of the brain due to the dual-route of feedback when pronouncing and reading. [5] [6] [7]

History

A Catholic monk reading in a monastery library Austria - Heiligenkreuz Abbey - 1726.jpg
A Catholic monk reading in a monastery library

Scholars assume that reading aloud (Latin clare legere) was the more common practice in antiquity, and that reading silently (legere tacite or legere sibi) was unusual. [8] In his Confessions, Saint Augustine remarks on Saint Ambrose's unusual habit of reading silently in the 4th century AD:

"When Ambrose read, his eyes ran over the columns of writing and his heart searched out the meaning, but his voice and his tongue were at rest. Often when I was present—for he did not close his door to anyone and it was customary to come in unannounced—I have seen him reading silently, never in fact otherwise." [8] [9]

In 18th-century Europe, the then new practice of reading alone in bed was, for a time, considered dangerous and immoral. As reading became less a communal, oral practice, and more a private, silent one – and as sleeping increasingly moved from communal sleeping areas to individual bedrooms, some raised concern that reading in bed presented various dangers, such as fires caused by bedside candles. Some modern critics, however, speculate that these concerns were based on the fear that readers – especially women – could escape familial and communal obligations and transgress moral boundaries through the private fantasy worlds in books. [10]

Eye movement and silent reading rate

Reading is an intensive process in which the eye quickly moves to assimilate the text – seeing just accurately enough to interpret groups of symbols. [11] It is necessary to understand visual perception and eye movement in reading to understand the reading process.

When reading, the eye moves continuously along a line of text, but makes short rapid movements (saccades) intermingled with short stops (fixations). There is considerable variability in fixations (the point at which a saccade jumps to) and saccades between readers, and even for the same person reading a single passage of text. When reading, the eye has a perceptual span of about 20 slots. In the best-case scenario and reading English, when the eye is fixated on a letter, four to five letters to the right and three to four letters to the left can be clearly identified. Beyond that, only the general shape of some letters can be identified. [12]

Research published in 2019 concluded that the silent reading rate of adults in English for non-fiction is in the range of 175 to 300 words per minute (wpm); and for fiction the range is 200 to 320 words per minute. [13] [14]

Eye fixation point EyeFixationsReading.gif
Eye fixation point

Dual-route hypothesis to reading aloud

In the early 1970s, the dual-route hypothesis to reading aloud was proposed, according to which there are two separate mental mechanisms involved in reading aloud, with output from both contributing to the pronunciation of written words. [5] [6] [7] One mechanism is the lexical route whereby skilled readers can recognize a word as part of their sight vocabulary. The other is the nonlexical or sublexical route, in which the reader "sounds out" (decodes) written words. [7] [16]

Subvocalization

Subvocalization is the sense that a reader is combining silent reading with internal sounding of the words. Advocates of speed reading claim it can be a bad habit that slows reading and comprehension, but some researchers say this is a fallacy since there is no actual speaking involved. Instead, it may help skilled readers to read since they are using the phonological code to understand words (e.g., the difference between PERmit and perMIT). [17] [18] [19]

Use in education

In education, it has been criticized for not helping children who are not fluent in the language they are reading. [20]

Psychological effects

Reading aloud may have benefits compared to silent reading, such as improved memory or comprehension of material. [21]

See also

Related Research Articles

Psycholinguistics or psychology of language is the study of the interrelation between linguistic factors and psychological aspects. The discipline is mainly concerned with the mechanisms by which language is processed and represented in the mind and brain; that is, the psychological and neurobiological factors that enable humans to acquire, use, comprehend, and produce language.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Speed reading</span> Techniques claiming to improve the ability to read quickly

Speed reading is any of many techniques claiming to improve one's ability to read quickly. Speed-reading methods include chunking and minimizing subvocalization. The many available speed-reading training programs may utilize books, videos, software, and seminars. There is little scientific evidence regarding speed reading, and as a result its value seems uncertain. Cognitive neuroscientist Stanislas Dehaene says that claims of reading up to 1,000 words per minute "must be viewed with skepticism".

Reading for special needs has become an area of interest as the understanding of reading has improved. Teaching children with special needs how to read was not historically pursued due to perspectives of a Reading Readiness model. This model assumes that a reader must learn to read in a hierarchical manner such that one skill must be mastered before learning the next skill. This approach often led to teaching sub-skills of reading in a decontextualized manner. This style of teaching made it difficult for children to master these early skills, and as a result, did not advance to more advanced literacy instruction and often continued to receive age-inappropriate instruction.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vision span</span> Arc of accurate visual perception

Vision span or perceptual span is a controversial concept referring to the angular span, within which the human eye has sharp enough vision to perform an action accurately. The visual field of the human eye spans approximately 120 degrees of arc. However, most of that arc is peripheral vision. The human eye has much greater resolution in the macula, where there is a higher density of cone cells. The macula has a diameter of about 16 degrees of the retina. The field of view that is observed with sufficient resolution to read text typically spans about 6 degrees of arc, which is wide enough to allow a clear view of about five words in a row when printed text at ordinary size is held about 50 centimeters from the eyes. Regarding face processing, the field of view with a sufficient amount of information in order to recognise faces accurately spans about 7° which represents about 45% of a face. The brain creates the illusion of having a greater visual span by automatically and unconsciously moving the center of vision into any area of interest in the field of view.

Phonological awareness is an individual's awareness of the phonological structure, or sound structure, of words. Phonological awareness is an important and reliable predictor of later reading ability and has, therefore, been the focus of much research.

In cognitive psychology, the word superiority effect (WSE) refers to the phenomenon that people have better recognition of letters presented within words as compared to isolated letters and to letters presented within nonword strings. Studies have also found a WSE when letter identification within words is compared to letter identification within pseudowords and pseudohomophones.

High frequency sight words are commonly used words that young children are encouraged to memorize as a whole by sight, so that they can automatically recognize these words in print without having to use any strategies to decode. Sight words were introduced after whole language fell out of favor with the education establishment.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eye movement in music reading</span> Role of the eyes in reading music

Eye movement in music reading is the scanning of a musical score by a musician's eyes. This usually occurs as the music is read during performance, although musicians sometimes scan music silently to study it. The phenomenon has been studied by researchers from a range of backgrounds, including cognitive psychology and music education. These studies have typically reflected a curiosity among performing musicians about a central process in their craft, and a hope that investigating eye movement might help in the development of more effective methods of training musicians' sight reading skills.

Eye movement in reading involves the visual processing of written text. This was described by the French ophthalmologist Louis Émile Javal in the late 19th century. He reported that eyes do not move continuously along a line of text, but make short, rapid movements (saccades) intermingled with short stops (fixations). Javal's observations were characterised by a reliance on naked-eye observation of eye movement in the absence of technology. From the late 19th to the mid-20th century, investigators used early tracking technologies to assist their observation, in a research climate that emphasised the measurement of human behaviour and skill for educational ends. Most basic knowledge about eye movement was obtained during this period. Since the mid-20th century, there have been three major changes: the development of non-invasive eye-movement tracking equipment; the introduction of computer technology to enhance the power of this equipment to pick up, record, and process the huge volume of data that eye movement generates; and the emergence of cognitive psychology as a theoretical and methodological framework within which reading processes are examined. Sereno & Rayner (2003) believed that the best current approach to discover immediate signs of word recognition is through recordings of eye movement and event-related potential.

Sentence processing takes place whenever a reader or listener processes a language utterance, either in isolation or in the context of a conversation or a text. Many studies of the human language comprehension process have focused on reading of single utterances (sentences) without context. Extensive research has shown that language comprehension is affected by context preceding a given utterance as well as many other factors.

Deep dyslexia is a form of dyslexia that disrupts reading processes. Deep dyslexia may occur as a result of a head injury, stroke, disease, or operation. This injury results in the occurrence of semantic errors during reading and the impairment of nonword reading.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Reading</span> Taking in the meaning of letters or symbols

Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of symbols, often specifically those of a written language, by means of sight or touch.

Word recognition, according to Literacy Information and Communication System (LINCS) is "the ability of a reader to recognize written words correctly and virtually effortlessly". It is sometimes referred to as "isolated word recognition" because it involves a reader's ability to recognize words individually from a list without needing similar words for contextual help. LINCS continues to say that "rapid and effortless word recognition is the main component of fluent reading" and explains that these skills can be improved by "practic[ing] with flashcards, lists, and word grids".

The dual-route theory of reading aloud was first described in the early 1970s. This theory suggests that two separate mental mechanisms, or cognitive routes, are involved in reading aloud, with output of both mechanisms contributing to the pronunciation of a written stimulus.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Parafovea</span>

Parafovea or the parafoveal belt is a region in the retina that circumscribes the fovea and is part of the macula lutea. It is circumscribed by the perifovea.

The word frequency effect is a psychological phenomenon where recognition times are faster for words seen more frequently than for words seen less frequently. Word frequency depends on individual awareness of the tested language. The phenomenon can be extended to different characters of the word in non-alphabetic languages such as Chinese.

Max Coltheart is an Australian cognitive scientist who specialises in cognitive neuropsychology and cognitive neuropsychiatry.

The simple view of reading is that reading is the product of decoding and language comprehension.

Kathleen Rastle is a cognitive psychologist and Professor of Cognitive Psychology at Royal Holloway, University of London where she was previously the Head of Department of Psychology (2015-2019). Her research has made fundamental contributions to understanding of reading and learning to read.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Science of reading</span> Study of reading and its acquisition

The science of reading (SOR) is the discipline that studies reading. Foundational skills such as phonics, decoding, and phonemic awareness are considered to be important parts of the science of reading, but they are not the only ingredients. SOR includes any research and evidence about how humans learn to read, and how reading should be taught. This includes areas such as oral reading fluency, vocabulary, morphology, reading comprehension, text, spelling and pronunciation, thinking strategies, oral language proficiency, working memory training, and written language performance.

References

  1. ↑ Lynch, Matthew (2022-06-06). "Silent Reading: Everything You Need to Know". The Edvocate. Retrieved 2023-03-09.
  2. ↑ "The Silent Readers". Alberto Manguel, Chapter 2 of A History of Reading (New York; Viking, 1996). Retrieved 2013-06-20.
  3. ↑ "How to Read Medieval Handwriting (Paleography)". chaucer.fas.harvard.edu.
  4. ↑ "James Fenton, Read my lips". The Guardian. Retrieved 2024-03-17.
  5. 1 2 Coltheart, Max; Curtis, Brent; Atkins, Paul; Haller, Micheal (1 January 1993). "Models of reading aloud: Dual-route and parallel-distributed-processing approaches". Psychological Review. 100 (4): 589–608. doi:10.1037/0033-295X.100.4.589.
  6. 1 2 Yamada J, Imai H, Ikebe Y (July 1990). "The use of the orthographic lexicon in reading kana words". The Journal of General Psychology. 117 (3): 311–323. PMID   2213002.
  7. 1 2 3 Pritchard SC, Coltheart M, Palethorpe S, Castles A (October 2012). "Nonword reading: comparing dual-route cascaded and connectionist dual-process models with human data". J Exp Psychol Hum Percept Perform. 38 (5): 1268–1288. doi:10.1037/a0026703. PMID   22309087.
  8. 1 2 Carruthers, Mary. 2008. The Book of Memory: A Study of Memory in Medieval Culture. 2nd. ed. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 212 ff.
  9. ↑ Jajdelska, Elspeth. 2007. Silent Reading and the Birth of the Narrator. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, p. 5.
  10. ↑ Mavrody, Nika (19 May 2017). "The Dangers of Reading in Bed". The Atlantic . Retrieved 23 May 2017.
  11. ↑ "Eye Movements and Reading, Louisa Moats, Carol Tolman, Reading rockets". 2009.
  12. ↑ Mark Seidenberg (2017). Language at the speed of light. pp. 61–66. ISBN   978-0465080656.
  13. ↑ "Average reading speed, Research Digest, The British Psychological Society". 13 June 2019.
  14. ↑ "How many words do we read per minute? A review and meta-analysis of reading rate, Science Direct, 2019-12-10". Journal of Memory and Language. 109: 104047. December 2019. doi:10.1016/j.jml.2019.104047. S2CID   202267075.
  15. ↑ Hunziker, Hans-Werner (2006). Im Auge des Lesers foveale und periphere Wahrnehmung: vom Buchstabieren zur Lesefreude (In the eye of the reader: foveal and peripheral perception – from letter recognition to the joy of reading) (in German). Transmedia Zurich. ISBN   978-3726600686.[ page needed ]
  16. ↑ Zorzi, Marco; Houghton, George; Butterworth, Brian (1998). "Two routes or one in reading aloud? A connectionist dual-process model". Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance. 24 (4): 1131–1161. doi:10.1037/0096-1523.24.4.1131. ISSN   1939-1277.
  17. ↑ Seidenberg, Mark (2017). Language at the speed of sight. New York: Basic Books. p. 75. ISBN   978-1541617155.
  18. ↑ Moidel, Steve (1998). Speed Reading for Business . Hauppauge, NY: Barron's Educational. pp.  23–24. ISBN   978-0764104015.
  19. ↑ Rayner, Keith (1995). The Psychology of Reading. Pollatsek, Alexander. London: Routledge. pp.  192–194. ISBN   978-0805818727.
  20. ↑ "For Students Who Are Not Yet Fluent, Silent Reading Is Not the Best Use of Classroom Time". Reading Rockets. 2013-04-24. Retrieved 2023-03-02.
  21. ↑ Hardach, Sophie. "Why you should read this out loud". www.bbc.com. Retrieved 2022-09-29.
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