This webpage provides:
§ How
reading has consequences on the brain - Stanislas Dehaene
§ Learning
from reading may be different from learning from speech - Michael Platt
The
insight into how literacy changes the brain is profoundly transforming our
vision of education and learning disabilities. (p. 2) Why
is Homo sapiens the only species that
actively teaches itself? (p. 3) [L]earning
to read clearly improves verbal memory….
Education inoculates us with the reading virus. It spreads quickly to our
language system and enhances our verbal memory. When children learn to read,
they return from school “literally changed.” Their brains will never be the
same again. (p. 210) There
is no doubt that the main effect of literacy is positive: learning to read induces massive
cognitive gains.” (p. 210) Even
in the adult brain, learning can
still drastically alter neuronal connections. (p. 211) [bold added] |
Stanislas Dehaene – Reading
in the Brain: The Science and Evolution of a Human Invention |
Stanislas Dehaene 2009 Viking Press URL: www.readinginthebrain.com – an interesting site but his book is much more useful and practical for teachers Viking Press
identifies Dehaene in this way: He “was trained as a mathematician and
psychologist before becoming one of the word’s most active researchers on the
cognitive neuroscience of language and number processing in the human brain. |
Scientists have
assumed that reading relies on the same brain circuits involved in spoken language,
but now they are considering a more complicated explanation, thanks to six
baboons who took part in an unusual experiment…. Michael Platt, who directs the Duke Institute for Brain
Sciences, says he was surprised by what the baboons were able to do…. Platt
says when you think about it, the finding makes sense, given what's known
about human and animal brains. "Brains are always looking for
patterns," he says. "They are always looking to make some
statistical pattern analysis of the features and events that are in the
environment. And this would just be one of those." Platt says
that's a big departure from the idea
that reading is a direct extension of spoken language. "It's a
very different way of thinking about what reading and writing really are, and
it could have some implications, for example, for thinking about how we might
improve education in reading and writing for young children," he says. Take children with dyslexia; the baboon study suggests their problem might be in parts of the brain that identify objects, not the ones that process language. [bold added] |
Jon Hamilton – The (Monkey)
Business Of Recognizing Words |
Jon Hamilton April 12, 2012 KUHF Houston
Public Radio URL: http://app1.kuhf.org/print-articles/npr1334266143-The-Monkey-Business-Of-Recognizing-Words.html “The new
research appears in the journal Science.” |
This
difference between the wording of oral and written language must lie at the
crux of the advanced literacy challenge, as it points to a profound dilemma.
On the one hand, the extent of this disparity implies that the great majority
of words needed for understanding written language is likely to only be
encountered—and thus can only be learned—through experience with written text. On the other hand, research has
taught us that written text is accessible—and thus permits learning—only if
the reader or listener already knows the vast majority of words from which it
is constructed. Indeed, research indicates that reading with comprehension
depends on understanding at least 95 percent of the words of a text. (p. 5-6) …
words are really nothing more than labels
for interrelated bundles of knowledge.... (p. 8) Another
way to state the larger point here is that words are not just words. They are the nexus—the interface—between communication and thought. When we
read, it is through words that we build, refine, and modify our knowledge.
What makes vocabulary valuable and important is not the words themselves so
much as the understandings they afford. (p. 8) Even
when students are told the meaning
of a new word, their prior vocabulary
strength predicts the likelihood that they will retain it. (These are
known as “Matthew effects,”
referring to the notion that the rich get richer and the poor get poorer.)
(p. 8) There
may one day be modes and methods of
information delivery that are as efficient and powerful as text, but for now
there is no contest. (p. 9) There
follows the popularity of so-called high-low texts intended to offer high
interest or information alongside low demands on vocabulary and reading
skill. It was in this spirit,
through earnest efforts to ensure full curricular access to all, that the
complexity of schoolbooks came to be relaxed…. [I]t did not solve the access
problem but made it worse…. [M]aking
the textbooks easier is an approach that ultimately denies students the very
language, information, and modes of thought they need most in order to move
up and on. (p. 9) [She covers
approaches to solve this “dilemma.” (pp. 9-11] |
Marilyn Jager Adams – “Advancing Our Students
Language and Literacy: The Challenge of Complex Texts” |
Marilyn Jager Adams Winter 2010-2011 American Educator URL: http://www.aft.org/pdfs/americaneducator/winter1011/Adams.pdf - This article includes a beautiful collection of references. “This article
is adapted with the permission of the Guilford Press from “The Challenge of
Advanced Texts: The Interdependence of Reading and Learning,” which Adams
wrote for Reading More, Reading Better,
edited by Elfrieda H. Hiebert, copyright 2009 by Guilford Press.” |
For information or problems with this link, please
email using the email address below.
History – Dr. Bibus |
|
Contact Information: |
281.239.1577 or bibusc@wcjc.edu |
Last Updated: |
2012 – 06/04 |
WCJC Home: |