[Reading-hall-of-fame] RE: eye movements in reading

Thu Oct 8 09:47:23 BST 2009

I have been curious as to why eye movement research in reading which was
early on one of the hot topics in reading became a not-hot topic that is not
even evaluated by the popular Cassidy and Cassidy research called "What's
Hot, What's not"  One person told me it lost popularity because it is so
mechanical. Not so. As Yetta  Goodmaan points out, eye movements are often
controlled by one's interests and purpose for reading.  In a study in which
Ss had to read a passage about a home and half were told to read it in terms
of robbing the home and the other half were told to read the same passage
from the position of interior decorating,  gaze duration on different parts
of the text varied significantly based on the readers purpose for reading.
Since javal's discovery of eye movements more than a century ago, a vast
research literature had grown, and this literature is largely ignored by the
reading field.  Because of limitations to the physiology of the eye, without
eye movements reading would be impossible. Problems with ocularmotor
behavior are a source of difficulty for many beginning readers and frankly,
even as skilled adults we have problems. For example, I still have trouble
keeping my eye on track on a wide line of print and dropping down to the
next line.  Miles Tinker, an early eye movement researcher also found
tracking was a problem and convinced newspapers to adopt narrow columns in
order to help readers. I think the time has come to bring eye movement back
as a hot topic in reading.  What are your views on this?  jay Samuels.
University of Minnesota. 

From: Yetta Goodman [mailto:ygoodman at u.arizona.edu] 
Sent: Wednesday, October 07, 2009 2:43 PM
To: Colin Harrison
Cc: Jay Samuels; reading-hall-of-fame at lists.nottingham.ac.uk
Subject: Re: [Reading-hall-of-fame] RE: Reading-hall-of-fame Digest, Vol 41,
Issue 1

Hi friends.......

With colleagues (some former graduate students, Ken and I have been doing
research on reading of whole texts using eye movement methodology with
miscue analysis (EMMA).
It is clear that where the eye looks is different from what the reader says
out loud and different from the written text.
Eric Paulson and Ann Freeman make that case in Insight from the Eyes
(Heinemann 2003).  Peter Duckett has shown that first graders also show
these differences.
Miscue studies of deaf readers also show that the readers sign differently
than what they mouth and what is in the written text as they read. 
Our conclusions are that the reading process is simultaneous and complex and
involves syntax, graphophonic information and the search for meaning.  The
brain is in control not the vocal chords. 
Yetta Goodman

Colin Harrison wrote: 

But Jay- this articulation could be coming AFTER word recognition.

It doesn't answer the question of whether there has been a phonological
or a direct visual route to word recognition.

Best wishes

Colin

-----Original Message-----
From: reading-hall-of-fame-bounces at lists.nottingham.ac.uk
[mailto:reading-hall-of-fame-bounces at lists.nottingham.ac.uk] On Behalf
Of Jay Samuels
Sent: 06 October 2009 13:56
To: reading-hall-of-fame at lists.nottingham.ac.uk
Subject: [Reading-hall-of-fame] RE: Reading-hall-of-fame Digest, Vol
41,Issue 1

Let me try a different track to the question of is an acoustic image of
a
word a prerequisite for comprehension when reading an alphabetic script
such
as English. The assumption has long been that when reading a logographic
script such as Chinese, one goes directly from print to meaning. It is
my
understanding that Charles Perfetti found [and this to me was most
exciting]
that there is an intermediate acoustic stage even when reading with a
Chinese script. A Chinese grad student here at Minnesota reported this
during an exam. To continue, work done at U.C. Berkeley in the 60's or
70's
in which sensors were put on skilled readers vocal cords found evidence
of
silent speech going on while reading, sort of like reading orally to
oneself
in one's head, sub luminal speech, as one read for meaning. Jay samuels

-----Original Message-----
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Today's Topics:

   1. Please point me in the right direction (Brian Cambourne)

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Message: 1
Date: Tue, 6 Oct 2009 18:03:41 +1100
From: Brian Cambourne  <mailto:brian_cambourne at uow.edu.au>
<brian_cambourne at uow.edu.au>
Subject: [Reading-hall-of-fame] Please point me in the right direction
To: Reading Fame Hall of  <mailto:reading-hall-of-fame at nottingham.ac.uk>
<reading-hall-of-fame at nottingham.ac.uk>
Message-ID:  <mailto:00401DF1-BA76-403A-840F-562BC84C1AEA at uow.edu.au>
<00401DF1-BA76-403A-840F-562BC84C1AEA at uow.edu.au>
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Colleagues,
I've been  mulling over the following issue and need some help.

At the core of some phonics advocates' theories and research is that   
decoding is an essential pre-requisite of comprehension when reading  
an alphabetic based text. I interpret this to imply one can only  
comprehend ( "get to meaning") when reading an alphabetic text by  
going through sound first.

I've been looking for the definitive research or study which  
conclusively "proves" that one can only get to meaning by first going  
through sound when reading an alphabetically based writing system. So  
far I've not found one, but perhaps I'm looking in the wrong places.

  Can anyone in the RHF point me in  the direction of  any study or  
studies which support the claim that decoding to sound is an  
essentail or necessary pre-requisite for accessing the meaning of  
the  an alphabetically based writing system such as English?  Many of  
those in Australia I try to discuss this issue with become quite  
defensive (and often aggressive) and argue that it's "just common  
sense". I need your help in preparing a  paper on this issue

   Brian Cambourne

  Assoc. Prof. ( Dr) Brian Cambourne
Principal Fellow
  Faculty of Education
University of Wollongong
Northfields Rd Wollongong
AUSTRALIA
Phone: Overseas callers
Home 61-244-416182
email<brian_cambourne at uow.edu.au
  Mobile/Cell phone: 0408684368

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