Re: CHAT: dyslexia

On 29 March Nik Taylor wrote:

>Yoon Ha Lee wrote:
>> *Somewhere* I read (and my friend did, too) that people actually read
>> logographic systems like Chinese somewhat faster because the translation
>> goes directly from shapes to word-in-head, rather than shapes to sounds
>> to word-in-head.
>
>Interesting.  I could see that.  I know that confusions like
>"there/their/they're" tend to slow me down, because I have to go back to
>figure out which was intended.  So, that suggests that there's a
>shape-to-word transition there, and I'd imagine it would be quicker with
>logograms.
    I seem to recall an article from a few years ago which described
research in which subjects were scanned while reading English and
either Chinese or Japanese (I don't remember which) and sure
enough, different parts of the brain lit up depending upon which
lang was read.
    But, from a clinical point of view, I'd be careful before generalizing
results like these. People are taught to read using different methods,
and even in the same classroom, different kids use different
strategies to assimilate what they will be graded for. And once a person
is "up to speed" and reads quickly, it isn't apparent what strategy
(or mix of strategies) he/she is employing.
    Thus, a reader of a language with a Latin-based orthography
might just be using the same reading strategies
as a reader of logographs, in which case there would be no difference
between them, regardless of how the lang is written.


    <Rant warning in effect:>

    I know that English has been taught by
a "global" method which essentially treats English words as though
they were Chinese logographs. You would think that Hebrew, having a very
phonemic orthography, wouldn't need this, but fashion is fashion! :-P
I have had a few kids seriously screwed up trying to learn to read using the
global method!
    Recently, I had a case where the kid, who suffered from
genuine language difficulties, was also a new immigrant and was being
"taught" to read by regarding the shape of the whole word and
connecting that shape to words from his vocabulary, which, of course,
he didn't have! (sort of like learning Chinese
logographs in Chinese without knowing how to speak the lang!)
Naturally he was "dyslexic or something" :-P And referred to me.
Among other things, I taught him how to read by sounding out the letters.
In this way, he could read any word, and if he didn't already know it,
he could at least ask somebody what it meant!
    Sorry for the rant, but I hate having to fix the results of stupidity on
the part of the educational establishment!



Dan Sulani

--------------------------------------------------------------------
likehsna rtem zuv tikuhnuh auag inuvuz vaka'a.

A word is an awesome thing.

Reply