Throughout chapters five through eight, Frank Smith continues to support his ideas about teaching whole language, rather than phonics. A concept central to his argument is tunnel vision. Smith believes by concentrating on the words or letters too much, students will limit their view or understanding of the whole sentence. He proceeds by discussing how this could be detrimental to short-term memory. The text defines short-term memory as everything we are paying attention to now. In other words, as long as we are paying attention to it, we are able to remember it. Therefore, if a student is reading one word at a time and not taking into account the full sentence, they are likely to forget the word after they read it because they moved on and are no longer paying attention to it. It would be easier to remember the whole that makes sense rather than the individual parts that are nonsense alone. As a result, comprehension is lost when a student is worried about getting every word right. Frank Smith also discusses long-term memory, or a structure of knowledge, a network, to which new information is constantly accommodated. In order to memorize new information, it must make sense. …show more content…
He goes on to say readers give meaning to the written language. Furthermore, sentences give meanings to words; words do not give meaning to sentences. For example, a word could have multiple meanings; one must read the sentence to understand which meaning is being used. Students are able to predict as well as give meaning to sentences. Prediction is a natural way to make sense of the world by asking questions. The human brain predicts and organizes information constructed by experience, not instruction, constantly. Everything we know about the world is a summary of our knowledge. Finally, this knowledge, or when a book is relevant, increases the rate at which a student can
Torgesen (1998) claims that the top reasons students have difficulties with reading is because they have issues correlating letters and sounds in words, or phonological awareness. Many students also have trouble memorizing sight words and many also have an
that constant reading can improve writing ability, whether if it’s a fine literature or a poor literature.
Our long is stored in two different categories. They are called Explicit Memory and Implicit Memory. Both contain various sub categories. These sub categories contain the various types of knowledge we have obtained over the years.
Donald M. Murray, in this article entitled “Reading as a Reader” is talking about how reading is an unique, an essential, and a necessary aptitude for human beings in their society. While illustrating his point of view, the author stresses on the idea that our attitudes towards reading is directly linked to the systematic approaches we have while facing a article or a book. In this article, he said that: “If we approach a text believing that we are not readers, or that we can’t read, that attitude may make it more difficult for us to understand the challenging text.”(Murray, 2). Throughout those words, Murray emphasizes that we should consider the process of reading as a learning process, and as a way of deepening the capacity we have as readers. We should have an open-mind while engaging with a reading, and understand that it may always not be our fault if it comes that the text we are reading is difficult. In clear, it is all part of the process of improving ourselves. Then, Murray, in his well structured writing, portrays differents types of reading and also gives us some tips on how to approach them.
...ormation that we know we'll need to use later, we try to memorize it by sending it to the long term compartment. Sometimes it stays there, and sometimes it dissolves. By understanding memory you will also know how you learn best. It will also help you to understand how your memory and how to make the best use of your memory. (How Memory Works. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://homeworktips.about.com/od/enhanceyourmemory/a/How-Memory-Works.htm)
...n looking at the results, they found out that the learning curve was exponential. The researchers assumed that learning occurs while people study and encode material into the brain.
2. Readers actively create (rather than passively discover) meanings in texts, guided by certain goals and rules that may be personal or shared with other members of a community.
Reading involves translating symbols and letters into words or sentences. Anderson defines reading as a process of constructing meaning from a written text. We indulge in reading for many different purposes, be it survival, leisure or occupational. In a way, reading serves as a kind communication between the writer and the reader. The writer encodes what he or she wishes to convey while the reader decodes according to his or her own perception. Johnson quotes “A young man should read five hours in a day, and so may acquire a great deal of knowledge.”
Two techniques for improving the encoding process of this information into my long-term memory could be, distributed practice and accurately retrieving the information periodically. This would mean studying and testing myself frequently on the concepts I am trying to
Long-term memory is how humans process in the present, recall information from the past, or think about the future. Without long-term memory one cannot remember past memories, today, or what we may plan to do in the future. On top of that, there is no learning without long-term memory and the progress that we see today in our fast pace driven world would not exist. This is why the study and understanding of long-term memory is important for further knowledge of human nature. The long-term memory itself takes in many different forms of information including images, sounds, and meaning. The orientation of memory encompasses three important stages and the first is encoding. Encoding takes places in different locations inside the brain and this
Learning to tie shoes and ride a bike requires the encoding, storing, and retrieving of past observations of the procedure. With a lot of practice, children master these skills so well that they are able to remember them the rest of their lives. Memory is the storing of information over time. It is one of the most important concepts in learning; if things are not remembered, no learning can take place. As a process, memory refers to the "dynamic mechanism associated with the retention and retrieval of information about past experiences" (Sternberg 260). We use our memory about the past to help us understand the present. The study or memory in psychology is used in different ways, as well as there are many different ways to study how memory works in humans. In psychology there are many tasks used to measure memory, and different types of memory storages that human's use, such as sensory storing, or short term storing. There are also a lot of techniques that humans use to improve their memory, which they can use to learn, such as mnemonic devices. All these things can be classified as important issues in the study of human memory and ways of learning.
Such views influence both L1 and L2 reading studies. Kern (2000) explains the importance of the social and personal interpretation of reading, he says that readers have the freedom to interpret texts in any way they like if they do not deviate from the so-called interpretive constraints. In terms of fo...
One of my favorite quotes from Stacey Green states, that if we don’t make learning relevant to our students, then they just learn the answer from the test and forget when it is done. (Vaques, Sneider and Comer page 2) When students learn because of memorization and are not engaged and interested in what is taught, the information becomes a victim of your short term memory, where as when it is
Reading and the ability to comprehend has become a phenomenon that has attracted professionals throughout the globe. It is fascinating that humans have the ability to integrate the information perceived through one’s senses with previously acquired knowledge. The attainment of information through reading is extensive, however, researchers are exploring whether reading at a rapid speed will result in decreased comprehension. Using the McLelland and Rumelhart model (1981), this essay will discuss whether one is able to learn to read at a faster speed and whilst still understand and remembering what has been read. Furthermore, this essay will explore the validity of increasing comprehension when reading at a faster rate as well as the positive
In addition to the aforementioned information Neufeld (2009:82) states that we construct knowledge on top of what we already know. As new information come to us from the environment we perceive it as arrangement of figures that can be incorporated into our picture-frame that references the world to us. If that new information cannot be incorporated into our existi...