Reflections for Perspectives on Reading and Writing Ability

Everyone has the ability to read and write, that thought was going through my mind as I read this chapter. The different theories of reading and writing are important because they help us make decisions about assessment and instruction. Chapter one is set up so we can have a better understanding of the historical perspectives, cognitive information-processing perspectives, social and interactive perspectives of reading and writing. The cognitive revolution and social turn have led to more integrated views of reading and writing, also with the emergence of computer technology.

I think the most enjoyed portion of my reading was about the Historical Perspectives on Reading and Writing because I came to understand how reading and writing were viewed before, and how it has evolved to what it is today. I especially paid close attention to when they mention that writing long ago was considered to be less important, I found that particularly odd, because I love writing, it helps me clear my thoughts, and organize it better, on paper. Now that was long ago, today however, obviously our society has evolved to where a person needs basic reading and writing skills to survive.

The new cognitive scientist viewed computers and the mind as similar, emphasizing sub processes in reading and writing, readers and writers as limited-capacity processors, and speed of processing. This view has increased our understanding of reading and writing processes in terms of their components and the knowledge base of skilled readers and writers but cannot account for the variability in performance that occurs as a result of a host of social and cultural factors.

Social perspectives on reading and writing were described as emphasizing reading and writing as social and cultural phenomena, knowledge as constructed through the individual’s interaction with the sociocultural environment, and the acquisition of cognitive processes as related to reading and writing through contextualized activity and assisted learning. This is particularly true for our island, how we view reading and writing. Social perspectives were seen as addressing some of the weaknesses observed in information-processing views and as helpful in formulating pedagogical goals and strategies for reading and writing. While reading this section of the chapter, I felt that teachers should understand the political and social settings in each school, it may help them to determine the appropriate reading program to be implemented.

The interactive view of reading and writing that serves as the basis for this text was characterized as an mixture of the information-processing and social views. This perspective suggests that reading and writing are processes of constructing meaning through a dynamic interaction between the reader/writer and the context of the reading/writing situation. This means that reading and writing are not motionless but vary as a function of contextual factors such as setting, curriculum, and instructional conditions and reader/writer factors such as background knowledge, motivation, and interests.

The second section of this chapter described the legal, social, and political influences on reading instruction and briefly discussed the contemporary issues related to reading instruction. Many times when people begin to discuss legal matters, they think it is boring or not important. That idea of being not important is just the opposite, this section is very important, because the role of a reading specialist is just that, identifying where the student stands, and we must understand how we fit into the law. This section began with a discussion of the relations between education reform efforts and reading education that linked essential research syntheses and the interactive view proposed in this text. With reading programs throughout the nation I understand that the law is needed to establish some continuity for the people, and ultimately liberty. The legislative and legal basis was discussed for programs designed for students with special needs, including compensatory education and special education. Throughout the reading of this section I began to see how special education programs and bilingual education programs because separated from most reading programs. The provisions and protections in IDEA for the rights of all handicapped children were noted, and the procedures for implementing these provisions were discussed including recent changes to the methods schools are permitted to use in identifying students with learning disabilities. Most teachers when they are aware and understand that policies and practices make a very big difference in the choices they have available to them. This is a very important section because reading and writing personnel are often involved with students who have been identified as having special needs, the referral is made on the student’s academic performance in the area of reading and writing. All of these reforms that went on in the educational system only had one intention to address the problem of poor reading achievement, especially among marginalized and underserved populations. My job currently as an English Instructor, for the TRIO Programs does just that, cater to underserved populations.

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