Modern views on the process of reading in the structure of written speech

Abstract

The article is devoted to the question of reading as a process in the structure of written communication.
The purpose of the article is to highlight research in the field of psycholinguistics and neuropsychology
that reveal the essence of the reading process in the structure of written speech.
The article presents the psychophysiological mechanism of reading. The author emphasizes the opinion
that knowledge of the psychology of this skill is necessary not only for methodologists, but also for
every teacher who wants to teach children consciously and rationally. It is emphasized that in reading,
the formation of skills and abilities occurs due to the active functioning and further development of all
cognitive processes and their interrelationship. It was also noted that reading is not only a process of
perception, awareness and understanding on this basis of information, but also a complex psychological
structure of speech activity.
The article focuses on the consideration of the cognitive function of reading. This function involves
consideration of the reading process from the point of view of the functioning of mental cognitive processes
and the main mechanisms that underlie the specified type of speech activity. Emphasis is placed on the
presented sensorimotor and semantic levels of the reading mechanism, which are in a complex unity. The
process of reading, which begins with visual perception, which relies directly on feeling, is considered
in detail. The perception of written speech is related to the direct impact of its physical qualities on
the senses, which occurs in unity with the impact on the reader of the content of the written message.
Representations that are stored in the memory in the form of generalized visual images that arise in the
mind in the absence of direct stimuli serve as a link that connects sensory knowledge of the external
world with mental processes of a higher order. A necessary component of reading is memory processes,
ranging from direct display to conscious memorization and from there to accurate reproduction. The
considered mechanism of anticipation is superimposed on all other mechanisms involved in the act of
reading (content, visual, auditory, sound-speech-motor), and largely determines their performance. The
presence of a developed ability to predict is extremely important for reading, as it enables the synthesis
of a text expressed in a specific linguistic form into a single meaningful whole. The development of the
ability to predict at the language and content levels is considered.
A thorough analysis of sources from psychology and psycholinguistics allows the author to assert that
the active functioning of such mental processes as sensation, perception, imagination, attention, memory,
and thinking is necessary for the reading process. However, this does not exhaust all urgent needs, which
should be appropriately reflected in further scientific investigations.