Topic: Reading Defined

10-second review: “Reading is the perception of graphic symbols. It is the process of relating graphic symbols to the reader’s fund of experience.” p. 44.

Title: Psychology in Teaching Reading. HP Smith and EJ Dechant. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall Inc. 1961.

Summary/Quote: “The symbol without the perceiving individual is meaningless. It is his biological inheritance and his present physical status, his learnings and his immediate environment, his culture and his needs that make a word meaningful.” p. 44.

“We know that perception always involves an interpretation. This is so because words can only ‘stand for’ experiences; they are substitutes that must be integrated in terms of the perceivers’ experiences. Rarely do words communicate perfectly.” p. 44.

Comment: Clearly defines reading as an interaction between the author’s words and the reader’s experiences and, because those experiences differ from individual to individual, differences in interpretation occur. RayS.