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Reading and Reasoning

  • Book
  • © 1979

Overview

Authors:
  1. John Downing

    1. University of Victoria, Canada

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Table of contents (12 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-vi
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  2. Introduction

    • John Downing
    Pages 1-4

  3. The child’s understanding of the functions and processes of communication

    • John Downing
    Pages 5-15

  4. Children’s concepts of linguistic features

    • John Downing
    Pages 16-28

  5. The cognitive clarity theory of learning to read

    • John Downing
    Pages 29-41

  6. How children learn to read for meaning

    • John Downing
    Pages 42-54

  7. Phonics and the code of English orthography

    • John Downing
    Pages 55-66

  8. Phonics as one aspect of decoding

    • John Downing
    Pages 67-78

  9. Second thoughts on i.t.a.

    • John Downing
    Pages 79-98

  10. Reading problems beyond the beginning stage

    • John Downing
    Pages 99-116

  11. Social factors in learning to read

    • John Downing
    Pages 117-133

  12. Sociolinguistic influences

    • John Downing
    Pages 134-145

  13. The apprenticeship of reading

    • John Downing
    Pages 146-154

  14. Back Matter

    Pages 155-193
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Keywords

About this book

I have written this book to put forward a new theory of reading­ the cognitive clarity theory. But the book is not all theory. I have tried to show how this theory can help students, teachers and parents to improve children's education in reading at home and at school. Although the cognitive clarity theory is new, it is derived from other theories and from a wide range of educational, linguistic and psychological research. The cognitive clarity theory is thus a bringing together of the insights of many col­ leagues in these disciplines. What the theory owes to these colleagues is clearly acknowledged as the evidence is presented. But I must also be thankful for the experiences that have led me in this direction. I worked as a school teacher for nearly ten years before I became an experimental psychologist. During my years as a teacher I was often baffled by children's difficulties in learning to read. Then, only two or three years after qualifying in psych­ ology, I had the good fortune to be chosen to plan and conduct the first large scale experiment on children's reading in Britain.

Authors and Affiliations

  • University of Victoria, Canada

    John Downing

Bibliographic Information

  • Book Title: Reading and Reasoning

  • Authors: John Downing

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4757-1707-5

  • Publisher: Springer New York, NY

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

  • Copyright Information: John Downing 1979

  • Hardcover ISBN: 978-0-387-91140-3Due: 26 July 1984

  • Softcover ISBN: 978-1-4757-1709-9Published: 13 September 2013

  • eBook ISBN: 978-1-4757-1707-5Published: 11 November 2013

  • Edition Number: 1

  • Number of Pages: VI, 193

  • Number of Illustrations: 1 b/w illustrations

  • Topics: Educational Policy and Politics, Pedagogic Psychology, Medicine/Public Health, general

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