Painless Reading Comprehension - Darolyn “Lyn” Jones Ed.D. 2021
Do you really get what you are reading?
Decoding versus reading
Read this selection out loud.
Guten Tag. Wie geht es ihnen? Ich bin gut. Meine name is Frau Jones. Ich bin der Autor vom Painless Reading Comprehension. Ich lese sehr gern. Dieses buch liest sich gut.
Would you say that you can read the passage? Probably you can say the words, but is that reading? The only words you really know and understand are Painless Reading Comprehension because they are English. Reading is more than just saying the words. You have to understand what you read while you read. So, unless you know German, as I do, you probably have no idea what the passage means.
Here is the translation:
Hello, how are you? My name is Mrs. Jones. I am the author of Painless Reading Comprehension. I am fond of reading. This book is a good book to read.
Understanding what you read
Because reading is more than just saying the words, you have to understand what you read while you read. In Chapter Three, you looked at the different types of voices that speak to you while you read. As you recall, the reciting voice is the voice you hear when you are only word calling or just decoding the words. You don’t understand what you are reading. And you might be able to decode entire passages or pages fluently but not comprehend or remember what you read. Don’t confuse decoding with reading. They aren’t the same thing.
When you first learned to read, your teachers praised you when you could pronounce the words. Back then, you were learning how letters formed words and sounds, so saying the words was a big deal and was considered reading. But now you need to be able to put all the words in a passage together and solve the message. That is what reading really is: understanding the message the author is sending to you, the reader.
Literacy is reading and writing—and more
Being literate means you can read and write. If you are illiterate, you cannot read or write. As time has evolved, so has the idea of what is literate. When the United States was first forming, someone was considered literate if he or she could sign their name. After that, people were considered literate if they could copy documents and spell and read simple words. Before World War II, people were considered literate if they could memorize popular and classic literature—decode. After World War II and even up to just twenty years ago, comprehension, or knowing the message and understanding the plot and characters, became more important than memorization.
But you are now living in what is called the critical literacy era, in which you, the student, are being asked not only to sign, copy, read, spell, write, and comprehend but also to analyze, evaluate, and re-create what you are reading and writing. In fact, the Common Core and state standards and curricula of almost all schools reflect this new literacy, so you are expected to be able to read and write critically in every subject. You are lucky because this type of literacy is hands-on and allows for all perspectives to be recognized as important; however, it also asks you to be a more responsive reader, which means that you have to give and show more reading effort.