"CyBorgmann": The Silent Reader

The idea that silent reading is now an intrinsic skill that was at one time a rather extraordinary skill to possess is very thought provoking. Language originated as an oral tradition that was handed down through generation. The advent of an alphabet, a technology, allowed people to write down what they were already sharing orally. Everyone has memories about times spent listening intently to a story being told because they are able to hear the words and thus engender in their minds an image that correlates with the story. It makes perfect sense, as Borgmann states, that books were originally read aloud before they were read to oneself. As people became more and more literate the development of reading silently came into wider usage. However, people today still read some texts aloud, especially when a sentence may seem particularly tricky or confusing. People today do, as Borgmann states, try and put themselves in the correct environment for reading silently. Silent reading requires a certain amount of concentration on the part of the reader, it forces the reader to be more involved with a text. Reading aloud can make the listener a passive participant and thus the contemporary reader loses a certain connection to the literature. Borgmann discusses the impact of emotion when reading silently as well as how books can offer an escape as people go about their everyday lives. Silently reading causes the reader to be emotionally involved with a text since it requires more involvement from the reader. This heightened state of involvement leaves the reader with a lasting impression, especially if the reader was emotionally involved in the text.