Have you considered what happens (or doesn’t) when one reads? The same can be said for listening to a broadcast, podcast, or attending a lecture. I’ve recently had opportunity to observe it in slow motion, and even to deconstruct it into component parts. I’d never actively done that (in memory) – I just…read.

Turns out there are at least four processes in sequence:

• D: decode
• U: understand
• A: apply
• L: learn

Decoding is the first task, preferably with high accuracy. It would do me no good to look at an Asian document; I cannot decode the symbols of those languages. We, or those of us who learned American English by phonics, started with BAT, HAT, CAT, MAT. We learned to recognize that such a pattern of symbols were (usually) decoded a certain way.

Access matters – a blind person isn’t going to decode the information on a standard newspaper. For the same reason, a deaf child isn’t going to get much value from phonics. Check out the Deaf World section for more.

Understanding comes in when that collection of symbols has meaning. Cat, for instance, is the soft  animal that lays in the sun & is reported to ignore humans until mealtime. That is, unless you’re in radiology or computer networking. This takes us to Bat – the fuzzy little thing that might have rabies or the wooden stick used to knock a ball across the park. (Unless you’re playing Cricket.)

As you see, context is a huge part of understanding. English is language full of exceptions & ambiguity. Then again, in Martinique, the word “terrible” can mean super good as well as super bad. Kinda saves you when the dinner your loved one worked on all day is terrible. 😉 (Don’t try that in English, you might wear it!)

Applying is next. Now that you’ve decoded the symbols & understood the meaning, what do you do with it? If it’s a leisure read, enjoy it. If it’s a self-help book, incorporate its principles into your life. If it’s a recipe, make something yummy (or terrible 😄). Applying a recipe incorrectly may lead to wilty double-butter snickerdoodles. Ask how I know.

Learning is adding the information to your memory, especially as it joins up with other information. It’s generally the goal in reading. Even in leisure reading, you may learn that you really enjoy a style or share a viewpoint with specific authors.

Reading is one way to pass thoughts from one mind to another. Even better, thoughts can be preserved for sharing among many minds, over distance, and throughout generations. It works best when all four of these processes are well employed. Most of us don’t realize the mechanics, but there really is more to it.

Decode – Understand – Apply – Learn

Happy Reading!