The reading environment is often left out of the picture, though it impacts reading significantly

The reading environment is often left out of the picture, though it impacts reading significantly

• As we’ve already said on several occasions, reading is not just the process of decoding letters from surfaces but an embodied process.
  • The process in which reading happens is on the edge of two sides of the coin and molds ergonomic, attentional, emotional, sociocultural, and phenomenological dimensions of reading.
• It also has three stages, each of which plays a specific role¹.
  • Pre-reading, which in turn breaks into three puzzle pieces. ^ccf3ed
    • The text itself. What is the source of the text—screen, paper, or speech? Does the reader go online to access the text, or does he use offline tools? What is the genre? Does he read for entertainment or education? The complexity depends on this. Is the topic new or familiar? What is the length of the prose—long, short, versed? Last comes the text design: fonts, graphics, images, pictures, whether moving or still. The structure of the text and organization of chapters. Availability of preface and conclusion.
    • The reader. Know yourself. For certain texts, it’s crucial to be compatible with them; age, social strata, cultural background, gender, and experience are important. And if we can adjust, with the help of others, this setting and find the text that satisfies the aforementioned parameters, the big “why” is much harder to adjust; it comes from within. Is the reading goal-oriented, or does the reader follow fashion? In what way might the reading of the book change the reader?
    • The environment. Infrastructure, access to additional literature, reference material, access to the text, picking and locating the needed chapters, books, articles, navigating inside the text, and finding a place to read—and more importantly, to think.
  • Reading. ^4a2ba4
    • Mechanical reading is interaction with the book or device, so we have to keep in mind what it allows us to do and what not. These are called affordances, like in design; we are deemed to act accordingly with features provided. For instance, if the book allows only leafing through pages, a digital device opens a trove of possibilities: YouTube, still or moving pictures, audiobooks, or scrolling the TikTok feed.
    • Mental interaction. The moment we pick up the book, we decide not to do anything else. The book demands complete attention and other mental resources, such as perception and memory work. Reading is best when the cognitive, social, situational, and cultural aspects of it are aligned. This all creates conditions for immersion.
    • A nook to hide. And when all conditions are met, we are left with the last one: place to read and the way to read. To yourself or aloud, in a noise-polluted place such as a café or boulevard. What is the level of distraction? Does the reader have notifications popping up every so often, or has he left his phone in the backpack, enjoying the flow of letters on paper?
  • Post-reading.
    • Thinking is crucial to reading. It’s impossible to read without after-effects. We obviously read for pleasure, but it should be an effortful process. Otherwise, we don’t come away from the book improved. Improvement happens in three ways:
      • Acquisition of new knowledge.
      • Modification of existing knowledge.
      • Retention of material that is later, usually after an exam, solidly forgotten.
      • Pleasure from a good book—great characters, gripping events, or a moving story.
    • Impact of reading. The lasting consequence of reading is the change in us. We have new information that we’ve tested one way or another, have become more educated and consistent. All this widens our worldview and consequently our ability to manipulate ideas and potential events.
• The first and the last are mental processes; the second is mechanical.
  • No matter what anyone says, reading is a mechanical act, similar to riding a bike. Once learned, never forgotten.

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theBrain mapping

Source:: The conceptual model of reading Friend:: Child:: Next::

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Footnotes

1. 1. Mangen A., Weel A. van der The evolution of reading in the age of digitisation: an integrative framework for reading research // Literacy. 2016. № 3 (50). C. 116–124.
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