ABSTRACT
When people read text, their eyes do not scan the rows of print like a moving camera but rather the eyes move and stop, move and stop (Rayner, Foorman, Perfetti, Pesetsky, & Seidenberg, 2001). Between stops, the eyes see nothing. The stops occur as each word is fi xated and picked up by the brain. Even though readers might be able to predict upcoming words, their eyes land on them anyway. These fi ndings reveal that words are the primary units of print processed by readers. Most of the words can be read quickly in one glance by retrieving them from memory because they are familiar and have been read before. Processing words automatically without attention or effort allows the reader to focus on the meaning of the text rather than upon identifying words. The purpose of phonemic awareness and phonics instruction is to teach the knowledge and strategies that enable students to become skilled at reading words automatically from memory in and out of text. In this chapter, these processes, their course of development, and instruction to promote progress are considered.
