SPRING 2002

Class discussions will focus on exploring what is known about how people read. Reading will be examined as a kind of language processing, and some implications of this view of the reading process will be drawn in an attempt to explain what readers do as they read.

-Spoken language as a process of gaining information from the stream of sound, with particular focus on the importance of redundancy to the perception and interpretation of language, and the important role of context in the perception of any unit

-The process of reading, with particular focus on the similar importance of redundancy to the reading process

-The English writing system and its relation to the English language .The relevance of text structure to reading

-The relations between written language and spoken language

-Other topics will be discussed depending on the interests of the class

-two or three tests or short (2-3 pp.) papers.

-a reading miscue inventory of a reader with a view to examining the processes this reader uses as he/she reads.

For undergraduates:

-a term paper which reports previous work on some aspect of reading or writing.

For graduates:

-a term paper reporting a research project which investigates some aspect of reading or writing.

Probable Texts:

Kenneth Goodman. 1996. On Reading. Heinemann.

Frank Smith. 1985. Reading without Nonsense. New York: Teachers College Press.

Yetta Goodman, Dorothy Watson, and Carolyn Burke. 1987. Reading Miscue Inventory: Alternative Procedures. New York: Richard Owen.

Fairly extensive readings will be assigned in

Robert B. Ruddell, Martha Rapp Ruddell and Harry Singer (eds.). 1994. Theoretical Models and Processes of Reading. Newark, DE: International Reading Association.

For questions, contact Peter Fries

Anspach 240

Tel: 774-3184

email: Fries1ph@CMICH.EDU