These four studies are excellent starting places to develop a big picture understanding of how we learn to read.
Reading and the Brain
As babies listen to the language(s) spoken to them, their brains are taking statistics of the individual sounds and coding the most frequent sounds on the left side of the brain (Kuhl, 2011, 2015).
Once the brain has coded sounds, babies begin to learn words. The meaning of words is also coded on the left side of the brain, near the area that codes sounds.
As we listen to spoken language, the brain processes sounds and meaning, using the sounds and meaning areas found on the left side of the brain.
(Kuhl et al., 1992; Kuhl, 2015)
Skilled readers reuse the areas on the left side of the brain that are activated while listening to spoken language (Dehaene, 2013b).
(Dehaene, 2010, 2013a, 2013b, 2013c)
Reading begins as a visual input.
When the brain sees a letter that represents a sound, the letterbox is activated.
Next, the “sounds area” of the brain is activated.
Students then use their auditory lexicons to recognize the meaning of the word, and the “meaning area” of the brain is activated.
This explains why
With practice sounding out words, the brain develops a second pathway directly from the letterbox to the meaning area. Fluent readers process sounds and meaning in parallel.
The process by which the brain maps the letters and sounds to create a bond of the pronunciation, spelling, and meaning of the word, resulting in being able to read as if by “sight” (Ehri, 2014).
A New Definition Based on the Science of Reading
The illusion of reading whole words “as if by sight” that occurs when the brain is processing in parallel the sounds and meaning of words that have been orthographically mapped.
Denise Eide
(Eunice Kennedy Shriver, 2000)
At Logic of English, we envision learning to read is like growing a tree. The decoding skills of phonemic awareness and systematic phonics are akin to the roots supporting the part of the tree we see, comprehension and the joy of reading.
Dehaene, S. (2010). Reading in the Brain: The New Science of How We Read. Penguin Books.
Dehaene, S. (2013a). Inside the Letterbox: How Literacy Transforms the Human Brain. Cerebrum, 2013:7. http://www.dana.org/news/cerebrum
Dehaene, S. (2013b). How the Brain Learns to Read - Prof. Stanislas Dehaene. Filmed October 25, 2013. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=25GI3-kiLdo
Dehaene, Dr. S. (2013c). Lecture by Dr. Stanislas Dehaene on “Reading the Brain.” Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MSy685vNqYk
Ehri, L. C. (2014). Orthographic Mapping in the Acquisition of Sight Word Reading, Spelling Memory, and Vocabulary Learning. Scientific Studies of Reading, 18(1), 5–21. https://doi.org/10.1080/10888438.2013.819356
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Kuhl, P. (2011). The linguistic genius of babies. https://www.ted.com/talks/patricia_kuhl_the_linguistic_genius_of_babies/transcript?language=en#t-159465
Kuhl, P. K. (2015). Baby Talk. Scientific American, 313(5), 64–69. https://doi.org/10.1038/scientificamerican1115-64
Longcamp, M., Boucard, C., Gilhodes, J.-C., Anton, J.-L., Roth, M., Nazarian, B., & Velay, J.-L. (2008). Learning through Hand- or Typewriting Influences Visual Recognition of New Graphic Shapes: Behavioral and Functional Imaging Evidence. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 20(5), 802–815. https://doi.org/10.1162/jocn.2008.20504
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Seidenberg, M. (2017). Language at the Speed of Sight: How We Read, Why So Many Can’t, and What Can Be Done About It. Basic Books.
Shriver, E. K. (2000). National Reading Panel. U.S. Government Printing Office. Retrieved from U.S. Government Printing Office website: chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://www.nichd.nih.gov/sites/default/files/publications/pubs/nrp/Documents/report.pdf
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