how does the mind or beingness process reading words through our eyes?

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ZachWang
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how does the mind or beingness process reading words through our eyes?

Post by ZachWang »

When we see/read words, does it pocess like this: Firstly, we see the symbols, then we have sound in our mind like pronouncing them, finally we understand the sounds ? Or can just process from symbols to understanding directly?
Marlen
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Re: how does the mind or beingness process reading words through our eyes?

Post by Marlen »

That's an interesting question, not sure what the context is or what the purpose of it is, but the letters become the symbol and it is a simultaneous process as we read that we interpret them. So these are some basic considerations within linguistics, how the sign - or word - and meaning become one and the same, even though one is the expression through the letters just as we are typing here, as you read you already attach the meaning to each word so that you can make sense of it. So both the word and the meaning or 'symbol' of it exists as one single function

In any case what we can look at here for example when looking at words, is investigating what are we associating or 'attaching' by default to a word, and so seeing whether there are emotions, feelings, memories to 'clear' out from such word or expression, which is the process of purifying words so that we can be the directive principle in those words, rather than having things be 'automatically' attached in an energetic value - like memories, emotions, opinions, reactions coming up within one as one reads a word, etc.

So, that's what comes up from my basic research on words at a very basic level of linguistics - though if your question is implying some other aspects, you can explain them here to see where the question is coming from and so expand on it accordingly.
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ZachWang
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Re: how does the mind or beingness process reading words through our eyes?

Post by ZachWang »

The context is: I have been working as a English teacher for one and a half year. A point that our company has been promoting is that: firstly, we attach pictures/scenes/physical movements as pictures to the sound/pronounciation of words as we present/explain a story to the kids. After three years, we can successfully attach extensive amount of pictures and scenes with spoken words with energy with them. Then, we announce that the children have had basic listening ability. Now, when I speak simple English words, the children would have picture/scene/memory based understanding of it without any practical, real and physical understanding. Then, we will add in reading lessons with old stories they had learnt in the listening lessons in a written form. And we promote that once we as teachers pronounce the symbols/signs/written words, also due to the fact that the children have matched the pictures/images with energetic sounds, then once the children hear the sounds, they will understand the symbols/signs/written forms through linking them to pictures/images/memories. Because we don't have any real and actual contexts where we only use fairy tales, movies, and famous scary children novels to dump these out-of-proportion scenes/contexts/stories into the minds of kids.

Thus, there will be a problem: when the kids see words in written form, they have to firstly know how to pronounce them, then recall the memories associating to that sound signature/frequency, then there will so-called 'understanding'.

written words
/ \
sounds-----memories/scenes/pictures.

Here is the triangle of how the children learn English, as an idea promoted by our company. And more than 100 thousand children have learnt English in such a way in the city of Beijing from the year: 1998 where each child will spend 7 years in our company/school in a classroom with 20+ kids in one class.

And this is the background of how my question came up within me.

In such a way of learning, besides the problems including classroom-based teaching influence upon the children, the unrealistic contents like fairy tales and animations and the extensive amount of information dumped into the little minds, will it develop/form extensive amount of characters/personalities so that each will talk to each other as backchats/internal conversations in the kids' mind, as the 'sound' they will pronounce when they see the words. And aslo, as I asked in the first post, I have another insight: unless we actually apply/practise the written words in real situations, we can't understand it in a quantum time as the words.
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Leila
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Re: how does the mind or beingness process reading words through our eyes?

Post by Leila »

Hey Zach,

Here's an older perspective from Bernard re: learning words:
In the design of the vocabulary of a child or an adult, a framework is created which determines the life experience and effectiveness of the person. If the person is taught pictures first, with words linked to the pictures, the reasoning ability and the insight ability of the being will be limited to the pictures the words are linked to. This will cause the being to even score a lesser score in an IQ test and will be experienced as a slower mind.

So, look at the following: If the word is firstly placed into the mind with the meaning of it, then followed by a picture, the person will immediately develop more expansive, creative abilities. This person will also be able to apply practical common sense with ease over a period of four to five years.

The difference between a person using the educational picture-based system and a person focusing on sound first, then the picture will be pronounced. The picture-based educational system that now exist has proven itself over years to dumb down children, and this dumbing down has accelerated with the advent of television, gaming and magazines. It is thus important for the parent of a younger user or an older user to realize that discipline in applying a corrective vocabulary sound structure requires dedication for years. The result though is common sense, a person that is free to explore the living word as sound as the vocabulary on which the self as person is based. This makes sure that the person will not be controlled by pictures and the limitation pictures present.
Overall it is suggested to sound the word (and even have several people sound it - so the child learns that there are different 'sounds' for the same word) and explain the definition of the word. Then to show the physical object (say give them an apple to touch, feel, smell instead of a picture/drawing). In the case that there are no real life examples around - to show many pictures (Eg. yellow, red, green , small, off a tree, on a tree, slices, etc) -- to show that, a word can have many forms but the essence remains the same.

When reading, one does not have to 'sound' the words inside oneself (or what they call subvocalization / silent reading) - this actually slows down your processing ability. Ultimately you want to read at high speed (which s not possible when you subvocalize everything) while having 100% comprehension.
Marlen
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Re: how does the mind or beingness process reading words through our eyes?

Post by Marlen »

I learned English in a wide variety of methods since I was 4 years old and up to 12 years when I left my bilingual school - there weren't only a few ways to do so but they all encompassed reading, writing, listening comprehension, learning subjects like history of English speaking countries, singing songs, watching movies, writing essays, listening and repeating, games, group dynamics, learning and reciting poems, going through the regular course books, exams, spelling contests, etc. This way there was a wide variety of ways to learn it for different people. I personally have always had an English dictionary with me - physically or in my computer/phone - because I keep learning new vocabulary as I talk to people or read new words I wasn't aware of before.

So, I wouldn't so much worry about making kids learn through fairy tales as long as they are focusing on understanding the meaning of things in a realistic manner. I also got to watch things like movies about King Arthur to learn English in school - or Rudyard Kipling' poems - and there are words that I can currently 'see'/hear and I might still see the particular scene of those movies related to the word, however it is merely a way in which I have for now integrated the word, doesn't mean that I have to only use the word in the movie's context or anything like that, so giving your students a reference on searching for meaning in dictionary and having a direct expansion on the words they see in all these various contexts is supportive, I've done that until this day, or ask native speakers to get a better idea of it.
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