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THE NATURE AND PSYCHOLOGY OF READING

DR 1 WHAT IS READING?

“Reading is the key which admits us to the world of thought, fancy, and
imagination. It enables us to see with the keenest eyes, hear with the finest ears, and
listen to the sweetest voices of all times.” –James Russel Lowell

Reading means many things to many people. Reading is an active dialogue

between the author and the reader, and is the basic tool for learning all subjects. It is
a skill that helps man to discover the answers to questions about existence.

Reading experts explain that reading is a subtle and complex process that
involves five stages: (1) sensation, (2) perception, (3) comprehension, (4)
application, and (5) integration.

Reading Process (according to Miles Zintz)

Step 1: Word Perception

The ability to pronounce the word as a meaningful unit. It also involves

sensation. The eyes see the printed symbols with the aid of light rays that strike the
retina. Together the eyes move in a swift and well-coordinated manner, jumping from
word to word in a series of fixation. Reading takes place when the eyes pause or rest.
The eyes do not really see much nor read when they are constantly in motion.

Span of perception or recognition span is the distance or the number of words

between fixation points. A good reader makes few fixations and fewer regressions or
backward eye movements. Word perception also involves the identification of the
printed symbol and the meaning intended by the author.

Step 2: Comprehension

It is the skill in making individual words construct useful ideas as they are read
in context. It also requires the fusion of meanings of separate words into a chain of
related ideas.

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Step 3: Reaction

It is a judgment on what the author has said. It also includes the ability to judge
accuracy, quality, or worth. These judgments are the result of critical reading and
experience. Reaction occurs only when comprehension is fully realized.

Step 4: Assimilation/Integration

It is the ability to assimilate idea or concept into one’s background of

experience so that it is useful as part of the individual’s total experience. It is also
determined by the reaction of the reader. Integration involves applying ideas acquired
in problem solving.

At some point, we have this thing called rate that talks about the speed of
recognition, comprehension, reaction, and assimilation. Rates are flexible. They vary
according to the reader’s purpose and the difficulty of the materials.

DR 2 PROCESSES THAT AFFECT READING

There are several reading experts have analyzed and described the processes that
affect reading. Miles Zintz (1972) summarizes as follows:

(1) Reading is social process. It is affected by one’s attitudes, loyalties, conflicts,

and prejudices.
(2) Reading is a psychological process. Emotional stability determines one’s
comfort in the reading situation.
(3) Reading is a physiological process. One needs skills in auditory and visual
discrimination, verbal expression, syntactical maturity, eye-hand coordination
and motor skills to execute all the mechanical skills associated with reading.
(4) Reading is a perceptual process. It utilizes perceptual clues.
(5) Reading is linguistic process. It requires sound-symbol relationships,
understanding intonation, stress, rhythms, pausing, and tone sequences.
(6) Reading is an intellectual process. It is dependent on vocabulary, memory,
verbal reasoning, perceiving relationships, generalizing, critical judgment, and
accommodation to extreme individualized differences.

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DR 3 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF READING

Eye Movements

Reading makes constant through the eyes. According to research, when the
eyes stop at any given point along a line of point, only five letters immediately
around the fixation point are seen with 100 percent acuity.

Photographs show that the reading involves these eye movements:

(1) Fixation. It is the vertical mark made when the eyes stop and the film continues
to move. Good readers have fewer fixations than poor readers.
(2) Interfixation. It is the short horizontal line caused by the eyes which move from
one stopping point to another.
(3) Return Sweep. It is the long slanting lines resulting from the quick swinging
back of the eyes from the end of the line to the beginning of the next line.
(4) Regression. This is the backward or right-to-left movements made in a reverse
direction.
(5) Span of recognition or perception span. It is the number of words taken
every time the eyes stop. It is synonymous with the length or distance
recognized within one fixation.
(6) Duration of fixation. It refers to length of time the eyes pause.

Sensation and Perception

The basic stage of reading revolves around the ability to identify and recognize
words, because the word represents the smallest unit of visual identification and
meaningful recognition. Accuracy of reaction depends much upon our learned
visual discrimination ability.

DR 4 WHAT DEVELOPMENTAL READING MEANS

Developmental Reading refers to a comprehensive reading program which

consists of several periods or stages. There periods usually coincide with the
individual’s developmental stages of growth.

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 According to Havighurst (1981) a developmental task is a specific responsibility
that the individual faces at certain stages of life in order to be well-adjusted. It
implies that one performs skills in materials of increasing difficulty from low to
middle and advanced levels.

The reading periods are shown in the following:

DEVELOPMENTAL READING

Reading Beginning
readiness Rapid growth Refinement and
reading (Grades (Grades 3-4) wide reading
(Nursery, 1 and 2)
Kindergarten) (Grade 6-high
school and
college)

(1) READING READINESS (Nursery, Kindergarten)

The period when the child gets ready to read is referred to as reading readiness
stage. With the guidance of the teacher, the child acquires a functional listening and
speaking vocabulary. Gradually, the child acquires a basic sight vocabulary through
the use of picture, action, configuration, and context clues.

(2) BEGINNING READING (Grade 1 and Grade 2)

The initial process of learning to recognize words, phrases, and sentences as
symbols for ideas is known as beginning reading. Beginning reading includes: (a)
getting acquainted with an idea or experience: (b) seeing how the combination of
symbols that stand for the idea looks, (3) remembering how the combination of
symbols may be distinguished from other combinations.
Reading will be both silent and oral even if many teachers prefer the oral word in
initiating the child into the reading process. Oral expression enhances the ability of the
child remember words and aids him in achieving correct pronunciation, and clear
enunciation.

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 (3) PERIOD OF RAPID GROWTH OR EXPANDING POWER (G3&G4)
Most children will have mastered the techniques of reading upon reaching the
stage of rapid growth or expanding power.

(4) PERIOD OF REFINEMENT OR GROWTH IN THE USE OF THE READING

TOOL (G6-HS-COLLEGE)
Lessons will vary with the learner’s needs and the teacher’s purpose. Hence,
there will be practice on the finer skills like wide reading for pleasure; doing research
for solutions to problem in science, social studies, mathematics, and practical arts; or
reading orally to entertain others.

Prepared by:
Acallar, Sir Harol King T.