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Language at the speed of sight : how we read, why so many can't, and what can be done about it / Mark Seidenberg.

By: Material type: TextTextPublisher: New York : Basic Books, an imprint of Perseus Books, a division of PBG Publishing, LLC, a subsidiary of Hachette Book Group, Inc., [2017]Copyright date: ©2017Description: 375 pages : illustrations ; 25 cmContent type:
  • text
Media type:
  • unmediated
Carrier type:
  • volume
ISBN:
  • 9780465019328
  • 0465019323
  • 9781541617155
  • 1541617150
Subject(s):
Contents:
Reading, writing, and speech. The problem and the paradox ; Visible language ; Writing: it's all Mesopotamian cuneiform to me -- How we read. The eyes have it ; F u cn rd ths, u cn gt a gd jb n rdng rsch ; Becoming a reader ; Reading: the eternal triangle ; Dyslexia and its discontents ; Brain bases of reading -- The educational challenges. How well does America read? ; The two cultures of science and education ; Reading the future.
Summary: A psychology professor specializing in the cognitive and neurological bases of language and reading discusses why children and adults have been incorrectly taught how to read and offers suggestions on how to vastly improve this vital life skill.Summary: Over half of our children read at a basic level and few become highly proficient. Many American children and adults are not functionally literate, with serious consequences. Poor readers are more likely to drop out of the educational system and as adults are unable to fully participate in the workforce, adequately manage their own health care, or advance their children's education. In this book, cognitive scientist Mark Seidenberg reveals the underexplored science of reading, which spans cognitive science, neurobiology, and linguistics. As Seidenberg shows, the disconnect between science and education is a major factor in America's chronic underachievement. How we teach reading places many children at risk of failure, discriminates against poorer kids, and discourages even those who could have become more successful readers. Children aren't taught basic print skills because educators cling to the disproved theory that good readers guess the words in texts, a strategy that encourages skimming instead of close reading. Interventions for children with reading disabilities are delayed because parents are mistakenly told their kids will catch up if they work harder. Learning to read is more difficult for children who speak a minority dialect in the home, but that is not reflected in classroom practices. By building on science's insights, we can improve how our children read, and take real steps toward solving the inequality that illiteracy breeds. Both an expert look at our relationship with the written word and a rousing call to action, Language at the Speed of Sight is essential for parents, educators, policy makers, and all others who want to understand why so many fail to read, and how to change that.--Adapted from dust jacket.
Holdings
Item type Home library Collection Call number Materials specified Status Date due Barcode Item holds
Adult Book Adult Book Dr. James Carlson Library NonFiction 428.4071 S458 Available 33111008618353
Adult Book Adult Book Main Library NonFiction 428.4071 S458 Checked out 06/04/2024 33111008711471
Total holds: 0

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

In this "important and alarming" ( New York Times ) book, see why so many American students are falling behind in their reading skills while others around the world excel.



The way we teach reading is not working, and it cannot continue. We have largely abandoned phones-based reading instruction, despite research that supports its importance for word recognition. Rather than treating Black English as a valid dialect and recognizing that speaking one dialect can impact the ability to learn to read in another, teachers simply dismiss it as "incorrect English." And while we press children to develop large vocabularies because we think being a good reader means knowing more words, studies have found that a large vocabulary is only an indication of better pattern recognition. Understanding the science of reading is more important than ever--for us, and for our children. Seidenberg helps us do so by drawing on cutting-edge research in machine learning, linguistics, and early childhood development. Language at the Speed of Sight offers an erudite and scathing examination of this most human of activities, and concrete proposals for how our society can produce better readers.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 309-361) and index.

Reading, writing, and speech. The problem and the paradox ; Visible language ; Writing: it's all Mesopotamian cuneiform to me -- How we read. The eyes have it ; F u cn rd ths, u cn gt a gd jb n rdng rsch ; Becoming a reader ; Reading: the eternal triangle ; Dyslexia and its discontents ; Brain bases of reading -- The educational challenges. How well does America read? ; The two cultures of science and education ; Reading the future.

A psychology professor specializing in the cognitive and neurological bases of language and reading discusses why children and adults have been incorrectly taught how to read and offers suggestions on how to vastly improve this vital life skill.

Over half of our children read at a basic level and few become highly proficient. Many American children and adults are not functionally literate, with serious consequences. Poor readers are more likely to drop out of the educational system and as adults are unable to fully participate in the workforce, adequately manage their own health care, or advance their children's education. In this book, cognitive scientist Mark Seidenberg reveals the underexplored science of reading, which spans cognitive science, neurobiology, and linguistics. As Seidenberg shows, the disconnect between science and education is a major factor in America's chronic underachievement. How we teach reading places many children at risk of failure, discriminates against poorer kids, and discourages even those who could have become more successful readers. Children aren't taught basic print skills because educators cling to the disproved theory that good readers guess the words in texts, a strategy that encourages skimming instead of close reading. Interventions for children with reading disabilities are delayed because parents are mistakenly told their kids will catch up if they work harder. Learning to read is more difficult for children who speak a minority dialect in the home, but that is not reflected in classroom practices. By building on science's insights, we can improve how our children read, and take real steps toward solving the inequality that illiteracy breeds. Both an expert look at our relationship with the written word and a rousing call to action, Language at the Speed of Sight is essential for parents, educators, policy makers, and all others who want to understand why so many fail to read, and how to change that.--Adapted from dust jacket.

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