Literacy Response Journal

Tovani is concerned about the comprehension abilities of adolescent readers. Why does Tovani talk about "fake reading"? How does this relate to the expectations and purposes for reading that she goes on to discuss? What do these have to do with comprehension?


In Tovani's book, I Read It, But I Don't Get It, I was drawn in from the introduction in which Tovani describes her "skill" with faking book reports (Tovani, p 3-5). This was fascinating to me because then I began to think about reading for comprehension, not as Tovani described as being "fixable" but as a continuum of learning. Let me explain. To me, understanding that something is fixable means that it is broken or doesn't work. However, I don't believe that understanding fake reading as a skill that needs to be fixed is the end all. Instead, I see fake reading as the beginning steps into the process of becoming a successful reader - this is my first point. For example, a mechanic does not fix a car with where it is broken, but the whole car has to be inspected and understood. Also, think about young children who are reading fluently, but may lack comprehension. This is a skill that for them, can be learned as they are still in the beginning process of the learning continuum, which also aligns with Piaget's child development theory. In addition, it is important then to examine the second point, which is that of "fake readers" and "fake reading". Unlike "fake reading", "fake readers" have developed this as a style for reading and comprehension survival. Yes, there is comprehension, but just not at an in-depth level.

I do believe that Tovani's suggestions for setting a purpose for reading and guiding the reader to be cognizant of what is read, as described in chapter 3 is important. Yet, in teaching reading, the approach to helping "fake readers" would be to approach it from the perspective that it is one part of a developmental learning process that doesn't have quick-fix-its that will happen overnight, will need great reinforcements, and practice of reading for the reader to proceed to the next skill level of reading. This would transition from reading words to reading for in-depth comprehension, quite obviously. With that aspect, I can see where Tovani's suggestions for "making a connection between text and your life ... and stop and think about what you have already read" (Tovani, p. 51), would then become a skill and not a check list for the reader. "Fake reading", I believe, is a choice often times, that skilled readers can make, whereas "fake readers" are developing readers on the learning continuum, that are a result of reading choices over time. Overall, reading Tovani was very interesting.