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A Response to Perfetti's Reading Ability: Cognitive and Psycholinguistic Perspectives (1985).

A Response to Chapter One of Reading Ability: "Reading Ability: Cognitive and Psycholinguistic Perspectives," pp. 3-10.
           
                      in Charles A. Perfetti's Reading Ability.  Oxford University Press, 1985 - Language Arts & Disciplines - 282 pages.



My Reading Response


          Summary 

                  In chapter one, Perfetti (1985) presents a picture of reading ability in terms of the cognitive processes of reading.  Lexical access processes encompass the ability to identify words, and comprehension,  which is a multi-faceted component of reading that allows the reader to construct a text model.  Reading ability and language are related, and comprehension processes and word recognition processes are affected by linguistic processes because reading is a manipulation of linguistic objects, and recognizing words involves the translation of objects into symbols.  There are many similarities and differences between written and oral language:  in print, verbal and physical cues are missing, memory demands are reduced because the text is right there for further reference, the interaction is a solitary one between reader and text, content is arbitrary and fixed by the writer, and involves the mastery of a conventional coding system.  
            There are also syntactic differences between written and oral languages—print includes more complex sentence structures.  However, both processes depend on linguistic structures.  Two major obstacles in learning to read derive from the differences between print and speech:  a decoding obstacle and a decontextualization obstacle.  For some young readers, “breaking the code” can be an almost insurmountable task.  Others have a hard time figuring out meaning based on written words rather than realia, intonation, and gesture. 
             Perfetti also explains that, although there are many cues available to a skilled reader, and although some low-skilled readers may guess using some of these cues, reading is not just a “linguistic guessing game” as Goodman (1967) suggested.   Perfetti asserts that general cognitive development sets limits on reading ability mainly in terms of how background knowledge affects the reader’s understanding of a text, that being verbally efficient (developing automaticity) is key, and that fluency can affect comprehension.   Finally, Perfetti briefly explores individual differences in reading ability, defining a skilled reader as one who has high comprehension or high rate with the other factor above some minimum.

Response

                  I found it interesting that, although reading is a solitary activity, we do engage in social interactions about reading.  What role do these interactions play in the reading process?  Do they affect comprehension, motivation, and background knowledge?  I can’t believe the whole-language debate is still viable, but I know that despite research findings, many parents still question the validity of teaching phonics.   I also noted that the syntactic differences between speech and print could explain why students write in fragments (because that’s how they speak, and they haven’t learned to code switch).  In defining a skilled reader, Perfetti asserts that, “We need only to assume that a reader was not particularly slow, a condition often assured by time-limited standard assessments” (p11).    I took particular issue with this statement because EC students get modifications on state tests, like extended time, so that can skew reading ability as measured by EOCs and EOGs.  I think that these modifications differentiate the assessment, but the instruction also needs to be differentiated (i.e. intervention) even at the high school level.  I feel like we just give up on these students.  Why does early intervention fail?  Why do I get so many high school students that read well below grade level?  How can these issues be addressed?
Babies are wired to learn to read; Perfetti (1985) explains those processes and what can go wrong.

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