Language at the Speed of Sight: How We Read, Why So Many Can’t, and What Can Be Done about It

 有時候讀了半天，內容卻裝不進大腦？

 別再怪自己不專心了！

 理解閱讀科學，是你學會「閱讀」這件事最好的解方！


　　閱讀是潛意識下的行為，我們總是將焦點放在閱讀的內容，卻從未認真思考閱讀的過程。這種潛意識下的行為，必須透過閱讀科學，才能解釋作者威斯康辛大學心理系教授馬克．塞登堡（Mark Seidenberg）口中這所謂「直覺無法洞察」的複雜技能，而解析閱讀這項技能的其中一個方法，就是檢視為何有時閱讀無法達到預期的效果。

　　作者大部分研究以及本書相當大一部分篇幅著重在閱讀障礙這件事，這個現象反映了大腦的特性：某些區域內的訊號傳播雜音較大，影響了神經元的反應以及記憶力。

　　作者認為，閱讀應是教師特別關心的議題，教師訓練應包含閱讀科學以及兒童認知發展課程。作者也認為，閱讀科學可在政策層面上發揮作用，因為閱讀科學與社會貧窮、家庭構成等議題息息相關。

　　理解閱讀科學比以往來得重要，當然，這些研究背後的神經科學是複雜的，但塞登堡不陷入這些令人頭昏腦脹的研究叢林裡，對多數讀者來說，塞登堡在書中的討論清晰且易懂，並為如何創造更好的閱讀經驗，提供了具體可行的建議。


　　「一本重要且令人震驚的新書。」--《紐約時報》

In this ＂important and alarming＂ (New York Times) book, see why so many American students are falling behind in their reading skills while others around the world excel.

The way we teach reading is not working, and it cannot continue. We have largely abandoned phones-based reading instruction, despite research that supports its importance for word recognition. Rather than treating Black English as a valid dialect and recognizing that speaking one dialect can impact the ability to learn to read in another, teachers simply dismiss it as ＂incorrect English.＂ And while we press children to develop large vocabularies because we think being a good reader means knowing more words, studies have found that a large vocabulary is only an indication of better pattern recognition. Understanding the science of reading is more important than ever--for us, and for our children. Seidenberg helps us do so by drawing on cutting-edge research in machine learning, linguistics, and early childhood development. Language at the Speed of Sight offers an erudite and scathing examination of this most human of activities, and concrete proposals for how our society can produce better readers.