Learning to Read
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to be ‘available’ to the reader, it should not be too long because this may discourage him/her from reading. Wygotski (1971), in describing the ‘zone of proximal development’, stated that stimulation is necessary for development to occur. Still, the task can be neither too difficult nor too simple as both situations are demotivating. Walter (2004) suggested that the knowledge of 95% of the text’s vocabulary is necessary to read the text without effort. Yet, what needs to be stressed is the fact that everything depends on the purpose of the reading and the strategies applied. This issue will be discussed later on. Speaking of vocabulary one cannot pass over another important ability, decisive when it comes to the quality and speed of reading, namely the ability to promptly access the mental dictionary. Gombert (2000: 21) defines it as a way of organising information in our memory allowing the proper storage of words in a known language. According to him, access to the mental dictionary can be achieved in two ways: a) through orthography – the reader knows the word and has the traces of its orthographic transcript in his/her memory. While reading, visual analysis of the word takes place followed by the search for its graphic form in the memory. This process aims at finding the semantic equivalent and understanding the information. b) through phonology (characteristic for less experienced readers) – the reader does not have visual prompt at his/her disposal and does not know the spelling of the word. In such a case the reader searches for the auditory pattern: tries to decode the word, comes up with a graphophonological conversion and arrives at the meaning. When one learns to read in a foreign language, the limited mental dictionary is of particular importance because it slows down the process. This is the case for many learners, especially as many students have little exposure to reading activities outside the classroom. Reading in L2 poses many difficulties to learners. This results largely from too little language experience (too little exposure to the written language), poor vocabulary range and problems with syntax.
2.3.3. Reading strategies The reading process is complex and the reader employs various strategies to understand a text. Advanced readers will probably use different strategies than beginners, while adults will use different ones than