In my Revolutions in Communications course at the University of Winnipeg, we have been reading Maryanne Wolf’s Proust and the Squid. A fascinating book which discusses “The Story and Science of the Reading Brain”, Proust and the Squid delves into a discussion on brain development throughout human history as well as the development of individual humans from birth to adulthood.
Wolf talks a lot about the “expert brain” in her book, which she says is only acquired through reading and being read to. Wolf states that the expert brain is something which is desirable for everyone; when we have an expert brain, we are able to read fluently and with comprehension. Children who are raised with less access to books are more likely to be a less-developed reader. When we watch TV or play video games as children- even if the television is supposedly a “wholesome” and “teaching” show like Sesame Street– we do not develop the expert brain that the children who read more (and who are read to) do.
My professor in this class likes to have students read aloud important chapters from the books that we read. It’s more interesting to hear a few different voices during the course of the class period, and it also allows for more class interaction and discussion. While we read this book, however, you could hear the nervousness in peoples’ voices as they read from the book. Every time they stumbled over a word, you could tell that they were thinking to themselves, does this prove that I’m not an expert reader? Even if we are normally able to read fluently and without difficulty, it was amazing how often we all stumbled over the words once the pressure was on! Reading about reading really makes you second-guess yourself as to how “expert” of a reader you are.
Or perhaps my generation really is mostly made up of people who do not have what Maryanne Wolf refers to as the expert brain. Susanna Kelley’s article in the February 1st issue of the Winnipeg Free Press looks at how social media systems- such as Twitter and cell phone texting- contribute to the current illiteracy epidemic. What do you think? Are these things contributing to a new kind of “language”, or are they destroying our ability to effectively communicate and develop the expert brain?