RTL: Word naming versus understanding

pg. 2 - LW's comparison of 2 reading examples was powerful -

1) Angela's Ashes - the emotional connection to the story and characters - the interaction with the text - understanding it!

versus

2) the modem manual - she could recognize the words, say them correctly and read the entire thing fluently - but she hadn't actually read anything because it had no meaning for her.

Reminds me of reading a second language - you may know the rules of pronunciation, but that doesn't mean you know what the words and text mean... I could "say" German fluently, but that doesn't mean I knew what it meant!

pg. 3 Kenneth Goodman's - 1969 - description of reading process:

• graphophonic (letters and sounds) - visual cue
  
• syntactic (sentence structure or syntax) - brain cues
  
• semantic (using experiential knowledge on life meanings) - brain cues

So... the reader looks at text - sees the letters/words and the brain becomes engaged to make connections to what the reader already knows about language and life and then creates "meaning"

Interpretation of the text is always situated then with the reader + text - what the reader knows, what they understand about the world - so no 2 people will interpret text the same way - so no "right" answers only plausible ones...