The Psychology of Reading

by Eleanor J. Gibson and Harry Levin

Book Overview

In this book, two psychologists apply principles of cognitive psychology to understanding reading. Unlike most other books on the subject, this one presents a consistent theoretical point of view and applies it to the acquisition of reading and what the skilled reader does. The first part of The Psychology of Reading covers perceptual learning, the development of cognitive strategies, the development of language, the nature of writing systems, and...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0262070634
• ISBN13: 9780262070638
• Release Date: January 1975
• Publisher: MIT Press (MA)
• Length: 630 Pages
• Weight: 2.20 lbs.

Customer Reviews

So it bloomed and beamed back nectar moondrops.

"The Psychology of Reading" (1975) by American experimental psychologists Eleanor Jack Gibson, Ph.D. (1910-2002), and Harry Levin, Ph.D. (1925-1993), is a 630 page tome (with copious figures, graphs and tables) based on 14 years of research. According to American educational psychologist Donald Ross Green, Ph.D., in his 1964 work, "Educational Psychology" (from "Foundations of Modern Psychology Series," edited by American Richard Stanley Lazarus, Ph.D.), "...reading is a process of getting meaning that has a psychological structure represented by a hierarchy of skills and concepts...determined by...structure of...language and the symbol system used to represent...language." Gibson and Levin explain all of that in their volume, which is divided into three parts. First, in Part I, they go into the concepts behind its study--the linguistic and psychological principles of comprehending the process of learning to read. Herein problem solving, identifying the appropriate environment and materials required for teachers and students--through practical theory, are discussed. Gibson and Levin demonstrate how reading transcends perception, being a higher cognitive phenomena. They find that adroit readers employ search strategies, organized memorizing and compact utilization of order and rules in fresh situations and can also regulate how to learn on their own. The authors also delve concepts to understand reading, like phonology--the study of speech sounds; the parts of speech, sentence analysis and ways to tackle grammar, followed by how and when a child grasps all this. The writing system or orthography--symbols, capitalization, punctuation and spelling one uses to read in a given language, are covered, as well as the recognition and properties of words in various contexts. Part II entails how one obtains reading skills--prereading/pretraining, reading through graphic discrimination and distinguishing said from perception of pictures; writing in the rudimentary stage(s), how speech is separated into units, i.e., words and syllables and practice in visual perception skills. (No mention of tachistoscopes.) "Decoding"--properly pronouncing words based on one's knowledge of letter-sound relationships, including spelling patterns and word regularities, are outlined. Eye movements, subvocalizing, finding meaning and structure of grammar, the making out of text by using brevity and how learning from reading can be augmented, are then described. Gibson and Levin state that children don't specifically learn to read socially, through observation--from models (cf. Canadian born American psychologist Albert bandura, Ph.D.), but identify with role models, adopting their values and otherwise learn intellectually. They play down the behavioristic, stimulus-response approach, too, saying "Many...assume...reading is the formation of S-R associations for which external reinforcements are useful...rewards and punishments cannot influence comprehension...becaus