Reading involves reconstructing meaning from written symbols like letters and words. It is an active process that draws on the reader's prior knowledge and context to understand the language and ideas in a text. True reading happens when the words transport the reader to a new world and engage their emotions.

1. Reading Definitions
TED 406 Teaching Secondary Reading
Jill A. Aguilar

2. 1
“Reading means getting
meaning from certain
combinations of letters. Teach
the child what each letter
stands for and he can read…
words are written by putting
down letters from left to
right.”

3. 2
“Reading is a precise process.
It involves exact, detailed,
sequential perception and
identification of letters,
words, spelling patterns and
larger language units.”

4. 3
“Printing is a visual means of representing
sounds which are language. Meaning is in
these sounds. We want to equip the child to
turn the written word into a spoken word
(whether he actually utters it or not) so he
will hear what it says, that is, get its meaning.”

5. 4
“Reading is the active process of
reconstructing meaning from language
represented by graphic symbols (letters), just
as listening is the active process of
reconstructing meaning from the sound
symbols (phonemes) of oral language.”

6. 5
“Reading is the process of constructing
meaning through dynamic interaction among
the reader’s existing knowledge, the language
of the text, and the context of the situation.”

7. 6
“If the words remain words and sit quietly on
the page; if they remain nouns, and verbs and
adjectives, then we are truly blind.
But if the words seem to disappear and our
innermost self begins to laugh and cry, to sing
and dance, and finally to fly– if we are
transported in all that we are, to a brand new
world, then– and only then– can we say we
READ!”

8. Reading Definitions
① Flesch, R. (1955). Why Johnny can’t read. New York: Harper
& Row.
② View denounced in Goodman, K. S. (1967). Reading: A
psycholinguistic guessing game. Journal of the Reading
Specialist, 6, 126-135.
③ Walcutt, C. C. & McCracken, G. (1975). Lippincott Basic
Reading. New York: Macmillan.
④ Smith, E. B., Goodman, K. S. & Meredith. (1970). Language
and thinking in the elementary school. New York: Holt,
Rinehart.
⑤ Michigan Department of Education, definition of reading.
⑥ Wayman, J. (1980). The other side of reading. Carthage, IL:
Good Apple.