Reading: cracking the code

Reading: cracking the code

Written words are a code:

Visual symbols = elements of speech

人 = ‘man’ in Chinese Σ = the sound ‘s’ in Greek

Reading is about cracking the code

Reading: cracking the code

Two ways of coding words: Logographic (symbol =

word/syllable) Eg Ancient Egyptian, modern Chinese

Alphabetic (symbol = sound) Eg: Ancient Phoenician, Arabic, modern

European language

Reading: cracking the code

Two ways to decode text: By

Used more for logographic scripts

Harder to learn but easier to read once you know what each logogram means

You read by sounding out the symbol

Used more for alphabetic scripts

By

木 = ‘tree’ 山 = mountain

How do we read?

Reading involves three areas on the left side of the brain

All three areas of the brain should be working together at the same time when we read

How do we read?

Green area (inferior frontal gyrus)

Starts process of recognising individual letters or groups of letters that represent different sounds (phonemes)

eg T stands for the sound ‘t

This is where we sound out words

in our head or out loud

How do we read?

Pink area(parieto-temporal region)

Word analyser Pulls the words apart even

more Breaks words down into

syllables and individual sounds

Eg Ti – ger T - i – g - er

How do we read?

Yellow area(occipito-temporal area) Automatic word detector

Recognises word forms without having to sound them out

If this is working well, we can glide through print without hesitation

Reading difficulties Dyslexia means difficulty with words:

Dys comes from the Greek word for difficulty Lexia comes from the Greek word for word

Dyslexia is an information processing difference probably hard-wired into brain from birth.

5 – 10% of the school population are dyslexic There are two types of dyslexia:

Visual dyslexia Sound (auditory) dyslexia

Visual dyslexics

Find it difficult to read groups of words may see only half a word at a time unable to skim or scan well

Find it difficult to judge distances Poor at ball sports or driving

Suffer from tiredness, headaches, irritability Cells in mid-brain region are not processing

visual information from eyes correctly

Words blur, move or disappear . . .. . . . like

this

Visual dyslexia Visual dyslexics are highly sensitive to certain light

frequencies: Glare from white paper, bright lights, computer screens

Special coloured lenses can help the problem

Boy copying sentence without lenses

Boy copying sentence with coloured lenses

Different coloured paper can sometimes help too

Auditory (sound) dyslexia

Most dyslexic people: Have difficulty activating:

pink (word analysis) area yellow (automatic word recognition)

area Rely more on:

green(sounding out) area and right side of brain

shape of word context – making imaginative guesses picture clues

Famous people with dyslexia

Dyslexia is not related to intelligenceDyslexic people are not lazy Albert Einstein Michael Faraday Leonardo da Vinci Richard Branson Henry Ford Ann Bancroft

(Polar explorer)

Bill Gates Hans Christian Anderson Walt Disney Pablo Picasso Jackie Stewart Jamie Oliver

Improving decoding skills English uses over 1 million words

Remembering each whole word by how it looks is very difficult

Modern English has just over 40 different sound elements (phonemes): 25 consonants 15+ vowel sound

Improving decoding skills

Practise these skills:1. Breaking spoken words down into their

different sounds Recent brain research shows you need to be able to sound out words to read alphabetical languages

Say tongue-twisters Talk to each other in Pig Latin

alktay otay eachyay otheryay inyay igpay atinlay

cat

Play Hink PinkWhat is a plate for tuna? A fish dish!

Name a small, stinging insect. A wee bee!

Sing songs and rhymes with younger children to tune your ear to the different sounds of spoken language

Improving decoding skills

Practise these skills:2. Recognising letters and blends

used to code each sound (phonics)

Help younger children learn to readGoing back to basic phonics will improve your own ability to recognise the different letters and blends that make up each sound

3. Using knowledge of phonics to break down words into elements of sound

Play word games:

Boggle, Pass the Bomb, Scrabble, Wordsearches, Hangman