2023-10-30 19:20:10
La Croix: Your book sounds like a real cry of alarm. However, we tend to think that today, with digitalization, reading is much more present. Why don’t you share this observation?
Michel Desmurget : We are told that we have never read so much in years, especially since the advent of the Internet… But, in reality, the results are not so obvious. If we look at real reading time on the Internet and more generally on our screens, it is in the minority. For a teenager, reading time represents 2 to 3% of total screen time, while that devoted to audiovisual occupies between 40 and 50% of the time.
Furthermore, when we talk about reading on screen, we must also specify what type of reading we are talking about. From a cognitive point of view, not everything is equal. Most of our teenagers read on the Internet through social networks. However, this reading has no positive impact on language skills, reading skills and academic results.
In some cases, it even has negative consequences. The main benefits of reading are found in books, especially fiction ones. This does not mean that we should give up comics or manga, but simply that literature has irreplaceable benefits.
So your book calls for a redefinition of the verb “to read”?
M.D. : There is real confusion between what I call “decoding” and reading. Decoding is a fundamental knowledge, it is the ability to decipher a text, often simple. In first grade, when students learn to decipher, understanding is not the goal. What is at stake is the acquisition of the tool and the transition from sign to sound. For example, the child sees dad and transforms the signs “p” and “a” into sounds to end up with “pa”, and finally “daddy”.
Reading means both deciphering, but above all understanding. I understand comprehension as the goal of reading. The child can in fact correctly decode a word, and not understand it and therefore not “read” it. Reading therefore also means acquiring the “language of books”.
What are the consequences of reduced reading in children?
M.D. : We lose nothing by not reading, the question is rather: what are we not gaining? In fact, reading increases cognitive abilities, through its action on imagination, creativity and reasoning, which is manifested by an increase in IQ. It will also have a profound impact on an individual’s linguistic abilities (also included in IQ). Literature has a language of its own, there is more linguistic complexity in any written than oral corpus. Only reading books develops the most sophisticated aspects of language.
But reading is not just about increasing cognitive abilities, it will also develop a certain emotional and social intelligence. Literature is the only media that allows us to get into the head of a character, in short to discover a new subjectivity. From this point of view, it is a true social simulator. Studies show that the emotions we experience in our lives activate the same brain network as those experienced when reading a text.
In short, books are tools for emancipation, for self-construction and for the construction of thought. The best service for our children and society would be to make reading a real priority again.
How can parents encourage a love of reading?
M.D. : I believe that parents do not understand the importance and profound impact of reading. They do not know how essential it is to talk to the child early, to read them stories from 3 months and to persevere well beyond first grade. The number of words a child hears during the first two years of life has significant consequences on their long-term development. It is estimated that between 20 and 25% of the variations in language skills identified during adolescence are explained by the number of verbal interactions recorded at 18 months.
The main enemy of reading is the recreational screen. In the child’s mind, screens should not be associated with reading: if the screen becomes a reward after a certain amount of reading time, the equation is not good. For reading to last, it must be a motivation in itself. Limiting the screen to open up space for reading is obviously the first reflex to have. But the taste for reading can be learned, and you must support your children to pass on this pleasure to them, which begins with “shared reading”.
Can you expand on this concept of “shared reading”?
M.D. : Shared reading is “interactive” reading. The parent reads the story, explains difficult words, identifies implicit ideas, asks the child to speak, questions him, checks that he has understood the text, etc. Shared reading must be transformed into a fun and enjoyable moment; it must allow reading to become an integral part of the child’s identity. It is the obligatory step towards personal reading, because it promotes the acquisition of the language prerequisites which, in the long term, will allow them to read alone.
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