How to Get Your Mind to Read

How to Get Your Mind to Read

By Daniel(ˈdanyəl) T. Willingham

Americans are not good readers. Many blame(blām) the ubiquity of digital(ˈdijitl) media. We’re too busy on Snapchat(snap) to read, or perhaps internet skimming(skim) has made us incapable(inˈkāpəbəl) of reading serious(ˈsi(ə)rēəs) prose(prōz). But Americans’ trouble with reading predates(priˈdāt,prēˈdāt) digital technologies. The problem is not bad reading habits engendered(enˈjendər) by smartphones, but bad education habits engendered by a misunderstanding of how the mind reads.

Just how bad is our reading problem? The last National(ˈnaSHənəl) Assessment(əˈsesmənt) of Adult(əˈdəlt,ˈadˌəlt) Literacy(ˈlitrə-,ˈlitərəsē) from 2003 is a bit dated, but it offers a picture of Americans’ ability to read in everyday situations: using an almanac(ˈal-,ˈôlməˌnak) to find a particular(pə(r)ˈtikyələr) fact, for example, or explaining(ikˈsplān) the meaning of a metaphor(-fər,ˈmetəˌfôr) used in a story. Of those who finished high school but did not continue their education, 13 percent could not perform simple tasks like these. When things got more complex — in comparing two newspaper editorials(ˌediˈtôrēəl) with different interpretations(inˌtərpriˈtāSHən) of scientific(ˌsīənˈtifik) evidence(ˈevədəns) or examining(igˈzamən) a table to evaluate(iˈvalyo͞oˌāt) credit(ˈkredit) card offers — 95 percent failed.

There’s no reason to think things have gotten better. Scores for high school seniors(ˈsēnyər) on the National Assessment of Education Progress reading test haven’t improved in 30 years.

Many of these poor readers can sound out words from print, so in that sense(sens), they can read. Yet they are functionally illiterate(i(l)ˈlitərit) — they comprehend(ˌkämpriˈhend) very little of what they can sound out. So what does comprehension(ˌkämpriˈhenCHən) require? Broad(brôd) vocabulary(vi-,vōˈkabyəˌlerē), obviously(ˈäbvēəslē). Equally(ˈēkwəlē) important, but more subtle(ˈsətl), is the role played by factual(ˈfakCHo͞oəl) knowledge.

All prose(prōz) has factual gaps that must be filled by the reader. Consider “I promised(ˈpräməs) not to play with it, but Mom still wouldn’t let me bring my Rubik’s Cube(kyo͞ob) to the library.” The author has omitted(ōˈmit) three facts vital(ˈvītl) to comprehension: you must be quiet(ˈkwīət) in a library; Rubik’s Cubes make noise(noiz); kids don’t resist(riˈzist) tempting(ˈtem(p)tiNG) toys very well. If you don’t know these facts, you might understand the literal(ˈlitrəl,ˈlitərəl) meaning of the sentence(ˈsentns), but you’ll miss why Mom forbade the toy in the library(-brərē,ˈlīˌbrerē).

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https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/25/opinion/sunday/how-to-get-your-mind-to-read.html