What a teacher hears, what a reader sees: Eye movements from a phonics-taught second grader

Abstract

This article examines how a second-grader demonstrates that reading is not about decoding letters and words in linear order but is a more complex activity involving the reader's decisions with respect to several aspects of their knowledge of their language and how comprehension is key to transacting with texts. The paper observes and documents the reader's reading comprehension process using eye-movement and miscue analysis (EMMA). EMMA data illuminate this reader's strengths as a reader while also demystifying misconceptions about the reading process, thus challenging the politicized phonics-first perspective found in many English-speaking countries regarding how reading is being assessed and taught.