Reading: an essential activity in our society

Reading is an activity that, perhaps more than any other in our time, shapes the trajectory of our lives. In the act of reading, a configuration of skills, knowledge and dispositions coalesces in ways that enable the reader to make meaning from written text. The ability to read is the foundation of learning in our educational institutions and in the wider community. Learning to read, and reading to learn, are precursors to social and cultural participation and fulfilment, improved health and wellbeing, and material advantage- in summary, to what counts as a successful life in contemporary developed societies. In this book the spotlight falls on those skills, knowledges and dispositions readers need in order to cross the sensory threshold into reading and writing English. These include perceiving and distinguishing the contrasting sounds of spoken English and knowing how these sounds are represented visually by the letters of the alphabet. Learning to read involves learning how the sounds of our language correspond systematically with the letters of the alphabet. The systematic correspondence between the sounds of spoken language and the letters used to represent these sounds in written language has become known as the alphabet principle.