Reading for Meaning

Year 10 Peer Literacy Tutoring

Year 10 recently undertook the second of their training sessions with their TAFE teacher, Jerry. Part of the nationally accredited course requires students to understand the process of reading and how we are able to read for meaning. The following passage looks at one way in which the brain is able to decode and construct meaning from the written text.

I cdnuolt blveiee that I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd what I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the human mind. Aoccdrnig to rscheearch taem at Cmabridge Uinervtisy, it deosn’t mttaer in what order the ltteers in a word are, the olny iprmoatnt thing is that the frist and lsat ltter be in the rghtit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can still raed it wouthip a porbelm. This is bcuseae the human mind deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the word as a wlohe.

Amzanig huh? Yaeh and you awlyas though slpeling was ipmorantt.

Part of this session also examined the significance of using different sources of information to develop understanding and meaning. That is, how we use semantic information (our existing or real world knowledge), grammatical information (a knowledge of grammar and how texts are organised), phonological information (the ability to hear and separate sounds in words) and graphological information (understanding the relationship between letters and sounds as well as text conventions and letter clusters in words). At the end of the session, Year 10 students were left with a greater understanding of the process involved in reading for meaning as opposed to just reading words on a page. They will now be able to develop their tutoring skills during roll call with a greater understanding of the reading process.                       

Year 10 have another session at school early next term to look forward to, before going to Miller TAFE to enroll and complete the final component of the course.

S Galic, Peer Literacy Program Coordinator