Text-to-speech for editing
From the chapter "Pattern Recognition and Reading" in Bill Hill's The Magic of Reading:
"One of the most pervasive applications of our innate pattern recognition behavior is reading. We learn to read by first learning to recognize the basic patterns of letters. Then we learn to recognize the larger patterns of words. Once we have learned the pattern of the word “window,” we never again read the individual letters; the larger pattern is immediately matched as a gestalt. If we are skilled readers, we may learn to match patterns at phrase or sentence level, or perhaps in even larger units" (1999, p. 61).
To me, reading is second-nature. As Bill Hill describes above, pattern recognition such as reading is so automatic for humans, who have developed their vision to a high degree, that we become almost unconscious of the effort involved. I just now pasted this same quote into the Natural Readers website, https://www.naturalreaders.com/, and listened to how it converted the written test to sound. And despite the title, the cadence felt unnatural to me. My BA is in literature and I've worked as a journalist, so editing for me is also somewhat second-nature. And I know that reading what you've written aloud is a good way to check the flow of your work, since the flow created by the spoken word is analogous to the flow created by reading. It also gives a slightly different perspective, which can aid your search for error or improvement. For this reason, I think using text-to-speech in the editing process will become a valuable tool for writers of all levels.
For emerging readers, it may already be a valuable tool. "In the early grades, children are just beginning to learn how to decode print, and their spoken language knowledge far exceeds their decoding abilities; thus, in early grades, word reading skills best explain individual differences in reading comprehension" (Adolf, Perfetti, and Catts, 2011). For such readers who recognize the spoken word but not yet the written, text-to-speech support for reading could help them make those decoding connections.
But for now, reading it aloud to yourself or asking someone to read to you is far superior to the automatic voices generated by technology. Soon though, I think accurate human cadences are coming.
References:
Adolf, Suzanne M., Perfetti, Charles A., & Catts, Hugh W. (2011). "Developmental Changes in Reading Comprehension: Implications for Assessment and Instruction." In Samuels, S.J., & Farstrup, A E. (20011). What research has to say about reading instruction (4th ed.). Newark, DE: International Reading Association.
Hill, Bill. (1999). The Magic of Reading [PDF file]. Retrieved from https://canvas.unf.edu/courses/26390/pages/books
"One of the most pervasive applications of our innate pattern recognition behavior is reading. We learn to read by first learning to recognize the basic patterns of letters. Then we learn to recognize the larger patterns of words. Once we have learned the pattern of the word “window,” we never again read the individual letters; the larger pattern is immediately matched as a gestalt. If we are skilled readers, we may learn to match patterns at phrase or sentence level, or perhaps in even larger units" (1999, p. 61).
To me, reading is second-nature. As Bill Hill describes above, pattern recognition such as reading is so automatic for humans, who have developed their vision to a high degree, that we become almost unconscious of the effort involved. I just now pasted this same quote into the Natural Readers website, https://www.naturalreaders.com/, and listened to how it converted the written test to sound. And despite the title, the cadence felt unnatural to me. My BA is in literature and I've worked as a journalist, so editing for me is also somewhat second-nature. And I know that reading what you've written aloud is a good way to check the flow of your work, since the flow created by the spoken word is analogous to the flow created by reading. It also gives a slightly different perspective, which can aid your search for error or improvement. For this reason, I think using text-to-speech in the editing process will become a valuable tool for writers of all levels.
For emerging readers, it may already be a valuable tool. "In the early grades, children are just beginning to learn how to decode print, and their spoken language knowledge far exceeds their decoding abilities; thus, in early grades, word reading skills best explain individual differences in reading comprehension" (Adolf, Perfetti, and Catts, 2011). For such readers who recognize the spoken word but not yet the written, text-to-speech support for reading could help them make those decoding connections.
But for now, reading it aloud to yourself or asking someone to read to you is far superior to the automatic voices generated by technology. Soon though, I think accurate human cadences are coming.
References:
Adolf, Suzanne M., Perfetti, Charles A., & Catts, Hugh W. (2011). "Developmental Changes in Reading Comprehension: Implications for Assessment and Instruction." In Samuels, S.J., & Farstrup, A E. (20011). What research has to say about reading instruction (4th ed.). Newark, DE: International Reading Association.
Hill, Bill. (1999). The Magic of Reading [PDF file]. Retrieved from https://canvas.unf.edu/courses/26390/pages/books
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