Learning To Read: Factors And Influences
Learning to read is a slow and progressive process that requires numerous cognitive and extralinguistic skills. However, there are multiple factors that directly or indirectly influence the acquisition of this habit, especially in children. If done right, with due care, learning to read will not only be adaptive, but also interactive and fun.
These factors can be divided into emotional, physical and intellectual. However, the latter tend to be considered fundamental, but the truth is that psychological and environmental factors can also ensure the success or failure of the reader. Let’s analyze them carefully.
Learn to read
Emotional factors
One of the essential ingredients for learning to read is the educational attitude of parents and teachers. On many occasions, fortunately not all, certain adult behaviors make this process very difficult for children.
This is the case, for example, with overprotection. If the child feels too protected and spoiled, in the face of new challenges he is very likely to feel strong insecurity and tend to show rejection. Likewise , excessive permissiveness diminishes personal discipline, self-responsibility, and the acquisition of good habits. Lack of rules can make the child feel unmotivated before carrying out a new activity that requires effort.
Likewise, excessive pressure from the family or teacher also negatively affects the child. Comments such as “you should know this already” or “you are slower than your teammates” undermine his morale and discourage him. They can even cause him to give up.
Worst of all, this disillusionment and reluctance to learn to read tends to generalize to everything related to school. Therefore, the feared school failure occurs, accompanied by an inevitable feeling of inferiority of the child. Intensified by the adaptation and integration problems that can occur in his peer group.
Physical factors
Sight and hearing are essential physiological functions regarding the maturity of reading. Some authors believe that hearing is even more important than sight in the higher stages of learning to read.
Lack of visual acuity or balance of the eye muscles can affect reading ability. Likewise, hearing loss (decreased hearing ability) also affects this process. However, if both difficulties are detected before age 3, there are better prospects for language development and reading skills.
Intellectual factors
Many studies support girls’ earliness compared to boys. This intellectual anticipation is credited by the predominance of the left hemispheric domain. In girls, therefore, the reading, which is performed by this cerebral hemisphere, tends to present fewer errors and greater understanding.
A first requirement for the child to learn to read correctly is a hemispherical lateralization or, at least, a preference for the use of one of the two sides of the body. In case of lack of lateralization, a number of disturbances can appear that affect reading, such as difficulty in spelling or writing.
Understanding and reading
While they may seem the same, they are not. How many times have we sat down to read a book and five minutes later we realized we didn’t understand anything? Paying attention is essential to understand what we are reading, otherwise we will have simply looked at a set of letters, without cognitively processing them.
Understanding requires a series of extralinguistic processes that go beyond the lexical and semantic characteristics of words. These include interpreting, contextualizing, solving problems and reasoning. Understanding is more than just a sensory process (sight and hearing). It’s about actively building the content of the text, the peak of the reading pyramid. To decode a message.
The influence of the family in reading
The more stimulating the child’s environment, the more useful the contribution we can make to it. The weight that parents have in their child’s learning process of reading is of crucial importance. Furthermore, the parents’ habit of reading influences this learning in a decisive way.
There are significant differences between children whose parents read frequently and children who do not have this role model. For example, parent readers tend to be more likely to read a book to their children before they fall asleep or to give them stimuli that invite them to read at home such as magazines, newspapers and books.
Some of the symptoms that frequently appear in children who cannot learn to read are excessive shyness or a tendency to blush very easily. It is common that they also develop feelings of inferiority and exhibit traits of self-centeredness. They may also exhibit nervous habits resulting from anxiety and develop behaviors such as biting their nails or suffering from insomnia.
It is advisable to pay special attention to these situations to avoid the feeling of failure or generalized discontent. And remember, the importance given to family affects learning to read.
