reading

reading process of mentally interpreting written symbols. Facility in reading is an essential factor in educational progress, and instruction in this basic skill is a primary purpose of elementary education. The ability to read was not considered important for most laymen until sometime after Johann Gutenberg's invention of the printing press (c.1450) and the Protestant Reformation, with its emphasis on individual interpretation of the Bible. Until that time reading was generally restricted to the clergy and certain members of the nobility. Although illiteracy is still a problem in many areas of the world, compulsory childhood education laws have assured that most citizens of advanced industrial nations can read.

Physiological and psychological studies suggest that the process of reading is based on a succession of quick eye movements, known as fixations, across the written line, each of which lasts for about a quarter of a second. In each fixation more than one word is perceived and interpreted, so that a skilled reader may take in more than three words per fixation when reading easy material. Depending on the rate of fixations and the difficulty of the material, an adult can read and understand anywhere from 200 to 1,000 words per minute.

There has been considerable difference of opinion about the best method of teaching children to read. By the end of the 20th cent. the educational concensus was largely that a combination of phonics, which emphasizes sound, and the whole-language method, which emphasizes meaning, is the most effective way to teach the skill. Most educators also agree on the importance of remedial work for students whose progress is impeded by impaired vision, faulty eye movements, developmental disabilities such as dyslexia , or personal handicaps resulting from poor teaching.

Bibliography: See G. Hildreth, Teaching Reading (1958); I. A. Richards, How to Read a Page (1959); G. Cuomo, Becoming a Better Reader (1960); H. Diack, Reading and the Psychology of Perception (1960); J. S. Chall, Learning to Read: The Great Debate (1967); M. Cox, The Challenge of Reading Failure (1968); M. J. Adler and C. Van Doren, How to Read a Book (rev. ed. 1972); M. C. Robeck and J. A. R. Wilson, Psychology of Reading (1974).

read·ing / ˈrēding/ • n. 1. the action or skill of reading written or printed matter silently or aloud: suggestions for further reading | [as adj.] reading skills | a cursory reading of the minutes. ∎  written or printed matter that can be read: his main reading was detective stories. ∎  used to convey the specified quality of such written or printed matter: his file certainly makes interesting reading. ∎  knowledge of literature: a man of wide reading. ∎  the formal reading aloud of a legal document to an audience: the reading of a will. ∎  an occasion at which poetry or other pieces of literature are read aloud to an audience. ∎  a piece of literature or passage of scripture read aloud to a group of people: readings from the Bible. 2. an interpretation: feminist readings of Goethe | his reading of the situation was justified. ∎  a form in which a given passage appears in a particular edition of a text. 3. a figure or amount shown by a meter or other measuring instrument: radiation readings were taken every hour. 4. a stage of debate in a parliament through which a bill must pass before it can become law: the bill returns to the House for its final reading next week.

Reading City in s central England, at the confluence of the Thames and Kennet rivers; county town of Berkshire. The area was occupied by the Danes in the 9th century. Industries: ironware, engineering, electronics. Pop. (1994 est.) 138,503.