Re: Target: Visagraph

[Barbara Braxton <barbara@AUSTARMETRO.COM.AU>]

Dear Mary
Be wary .... very wary!

Research, using very sophisticated equipment and computer analysis,  shows
that the eye actually darts all over the page when we read tending to stop
on tall letters before anything else.  It does NOT track neatly along each
line and look at each letter and decode it and then connect the codes to
make meaning.

You can 'prove' this for yourself if there is a collection of letters that
has specific meaning for you,  For instance I am a Kiwi so the letters NZ
together mean something and they jump off the page at me before I see
anything else. I don't start at the top-left and look at each one before I
see them.  It is the same when you and a  stranger are searching a list for
your name - you will always spot it first.

If you look at the work of Ken and Yetta Goodman who way back when were
proponents of the top-down approach rather than bottom-up (ie we make
initial connections with the meaning from the context of the text and only
resort to word by word if we have totally lost the plot) you will see that
trying to 'train' the eyes to track so the brain can make meaning is absurd.
Left-to-right writing is a feature of our language but not all languages!

If your school has this sort of money to spend, scream out loud for it for
materials that the kids can read to support their learning and leisure!

Kia ora
Barbara

Barbara Braxton
Teacher Librarian
Palmerston District Primary School
PALMERSTON ACT 2913
AUSTRALIA

T. 02 6205 7241
F. 02 6205 7242
E. barbara@austarmetro.com.au
W. http://www.palmdps.act.edu.au

-----Original Message-----
From: School Library Media & Network Communications
[mailto:LM_NET@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU]On Behalf Of Mary Scroggs
Sent: Friday, 30 November 2001 9:18 AM
To: LM_NET@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU
Subject: Target: Visagraph


Has anyone had experience using a Visagraph?  It is a machine that tracks
eye movement while reading and when combined with the appropriate corrective
instruction it is supposed to help reading comprehension.  Our school is set
to spend almost $6,000 on one and I was curious if anyone has had some first
hand experience, good or bad.

Mary Scroggs
Media Specialist
Pleasant Grove Elem.
Stockbridge, Ga.
mscroggs@att.net

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