Reading Process Conceptualized via Inspiration

As requested in this week's class, our group created an Inspiration diagram of the reading process and the accompanying work within the brain.  
(After viewing some other blogspots of classmates, I think our group looked at the brain activity more at a surface level than proposed by the reading model presented in class and to the exclusion of some in-depth details about brain biology. Nevertheless, we accomplished exactly what we were asked to do. We used Inspiration to design a model showing what we knew about the reading process.  Plus, we worked very well together.)  














Because most of us read without difficulties, we do not think about what is involved in that process. Not unlike those drivers who forget all the details they had to learn to get their license, proficient readers forget all those details they had to learn to be able to process written language in their brains without assistance from other people.

If you think the reading process is as easy as depicted in the following figure,

you need to deepen your understanding. Consider what is happening in the brain.


Source: http://brainconnection.positscience.com/topics/?main=gal/text-comprehension










If you think the reading process is as easy as depicted in the following figure in which the brain areas involved in reading are displayed,

you are still missing some information and need to deepen your understanding.


Source: http://soundprinciples4literacy.com/index.php/2010/11/26/neural-systems-for-reading/  















If you think the reading process is as easy as depicted in the following figure in which word recognition and areas of the brain involved in reading are both illustrated,

you are still missing some information and need to deepen your understanding.


Source: http://educational-therapy.com/educ_treatments_fast_latimes_cont.html  











For most of us, the brain, the eyes, and the auditory system all play a role in our learning to read and continuing to do so. Our eyes focus on some lines or squiggles on a page, and an image is created on the retina. Information received by the eye is sent to the brain, in which a complicated series of chemical reactions occurs. Someone teaching us to read tells us what the squiggles mean (by making use of another receptive language skill: listening; i.e. the already fluent reader speaks so that we may listen). That sound must also be sent to the brain, meaning another series of chemical reactions must occur. That sound is linked to the squiggles. As you can imagine, this short discussion grants us a view of only the beginning of the process and this beginning phase is already quite complicated. Linking the sound and the visual stimuli and repetition for memory encoding is yet to be accomplished, as is creating retrieval pathways for information about text we are reading and may read in the future. Isn't it amazing that anyone can read?

Within the brain alone, there are thought to be four processes occurring during the activity of reading.

Source: http://edtech2.boisestate.edu/pletcherj/512/designedonlinecourse.html 











As the source website explains, "The orthographic processor allows for readers to process the print, but has nothing to do with sounds. When a person looks at print, the brain is trained to associate word patterns to specific sounds. The orthographic processor requires the brain to chunk letters. It also allows us to recognize syllables. The phonological processor adds sounds to the reading process. The student must know what sounds letters and letter combinations make in order for this process to work. The phonological processor responds to the orthographic processor, then sends the sound to the meaning processor. The meaning processor retrieves all known meanings of the word from the reader's brain and sends a signal back to the phonological processor and orthographic processor. The context processor then allows the reader to determine which meaning best fits the situation. If the meaning does not make sense, it sends a signal back to the orthographic and/or phonological processor."

Also, it is believed that "good" readers have a number of sub-tasks to accomplish before a piece of text which is read is made comprehensible.

Source: http://edtech2.boisestate.edu/pletcherj/512/designedonlinecourse.html  













As you can see, there are a number of places within the body (in the eyes, ears, and brain) and many sub-tasks within the brain within which something could go wrong and the reading process could be compromised for an individual.  The complicated process makes me wonder why the incidence of reading disabilities isn't much higher than reported.  In my mind, it is actually quite amazing that the majority of people can read without problems.