Chapter 2 Developing Reading Recognition

Skilled readers recognize words and other markers in text automatically. They may slow down or pause to problem-solve when they come across new vocabulary, a novel sentence construction, or unfamiliar content, but generally their recognition of the symbols, sounds, and patterns in a page of text requires virtually no conscious effort. Good readers have a prodigious capacity to recognize the letter a or the word prodigious instantaneously in different type sizes and fonts, and in different linguistic contexts, text structures, and media. Once we have learned to read fluently, we imagine that recognition is simple because it comes so easily. But our ability to identify text elements quickly and accurately under many different conditions is a remarkable achievement that baffles the most powerful computers. IBM's Deep Blue can play chess as well as the world champion, but no computer can begin to match the recognition skills of even a novice reader.