Literacy Survey

Literacy is everywhere in our lives, but literacy isn’t just the act of reading. It is also a complex and intricate process of understanding and learning what you have read. Some of the questions we will ask and answer have to deal with traits of a good reader, what contributes to comprehension, and what we should do to comprehend better. Have you ever finished reading a passage and couldn’t recall what it was about or how it pertained to what you were learning? Don’t worry, we have all been there. But what we should worry about is how we react in similar situations. Studies have shown the difference in good and bad readers, but I believe the answer to these questions will also tell us why some readers are good or bad. Comprehension …show more content…
The survey could be used to categorize the subjects to see if the answers to the experiment or interviews coincide with particular groups or people. The subjects were not notified of the study to try and get accurate results of somebody reading the material given to them. The survey asked questions of age, gender, education level, what they do if they don’t understand written or verbal material, and reading interests. Their education also coincided with their age. As one got older, their education and experience ratio stayed the same. From that alone, we can begin to assume that education and age only affects comprehension so much until you begin to see diminishing returns. Both also stated that if they don’t understand a written material, they take notes and try to summarize the material to break it into easily understood sections. It was explained that this constructed a framework in which to organize the story to help comprehension. When somebody doesn’t understand them, they either elaborate or try to get another person who comprehends what they say to explain it differently. Both subjects seem to enjoy fictional works, be it fantasy or realistic, neither subject had an original interest in the stories provided. The survey method merely gives an average consensus that will be applicable to most …show more content…
In the previous research, it states that adept readers start their reading with a goal in mind. During the interview, the goals that were in mind were strictly either to read for the fun of it, or because they knew what I was alluding to, to comprehend and recall content. Previous research also signifies that the reader will focus on their goals while reading, but with our interviews, both of the readers focused on details, which wasn’t a part of either one of their goals. A questions that was similar to both of the studies was the ability of the reader to visualize the story, as if it were a movie in their head. They both explained that it was easier to keep up with the small details if they drew them out. The final interview question was one of the questions in the experiment section. I wanted to test the subject’s memory as well to see if they could restate what they wrote down. The question was a specific text a character from one of the stories said. Neither one of the subjects was able to recall what the character said, but they did get the overall message. It is safe to assume that non-descriptive details aren’t quite as imperative to the story as easily understood visual descriptions. What if a story’s main focus was in the speech from the character instead of visual details, would it be harder for the reader