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Weaving the Cloth of Literacy: The Relationship between Braille and Reading

P.A. Zago

For students who use braille, literacy is more than just mastering the braille code. The loom is a simple metaphor that helps explain the complex relationship between braille and reading.

Running lengthwise over the loom, the sturdy warp threads are the foundation for the cloth to be woven. The weft threads give design and color as they are carried in and out across the loom. The shuttle is the tool that weaves the two threads together. In the context of the metaphor, the warp threads are prior knowledge, the weft threads the reading content, and the shuttle is braille, the tool for bringing the two together.

THE WARP THREADS: PRIOR KNOWLEDGE

A student's prior knowledge, both factual and perceptual, is the foundation for reading, just as the warp threads provide the basis for the cloth.

Students with visual impairments sometimes use "empty words," words for which they do not have a concise or accurate understanding because of their lack of incidental visual learning. Just as it is more difficult to work with a loose warp thread than a missing one, it is more difficult to undo erroneous understandings than to respond to a complete absence of prior knowledge on a specific topic. For example, if a student believes that frogs cause warts, that misconception will affect his or her understanding and response to any reading about frogs. If a student has no prior knowledge about frogs, such preconceptions will not interfere with the reading.

THE WEFT THREADS: READING CONTENT

With the warp threads in place, the weaver creates the cloth by weaving the weft threads through them. Likewise, once a student accesses his or her prior knowledge of a given topic, the content of the reading is woven through it to construct new meaning, which is the essence of reading. Sometimes the weft threads are straight lines that clearly guide the reader from one idea to the next; sometimes the threads add the knots and color of a beautiful literary passage. The content and the student's prior knowledge are woven together into a cloth with utilitarian purpose or a cloth to be admired for its beauty alone.

Each weaver produces a different cloth. Just as prior knowledge differs from reader to reader, so do the warp threads vary. As texts differ from author to author and genre to genre, so do the weft threads vary. The weaving itself also varies: For some students it is a pleasure, and for some a chore.

BRAILLE: THE SHUTTLE

Where does braille fit into this metaphor? It is the shuttle, the tool that allows students to weave words in and out of their prior knowledge to construct a beautiful cloth of meaning.

READING AS AN INTERACTIVE PROCESS

As the reading metaphor demonstrates, reading is far more than decoding. The definition of reading used by the Michigan Department of Education states: "Reading is the process of constructing meaning through the dynamic interaction among the reader, the text, and the context of the reading situation."

The first part of the definition, the process of constructing meaning, is the foundation for both whole-language instruction and phonics- or skill-based instruction. Constructivist learning theory tells us that learners use what they have in their heads and what is presented to them from outside to negotiate a new understanding. This theory is a shift from the traditional view of learning, which minimizes the interactive nature of the learning process.

The second part of the definition refers to a dynamic interaction. The participants are the reader, the text, and the context of the reading situation.

The reader

The reader's prior knowledge is critical for text comprehension. As teachers, we need to know what our students know and what they do not know. Only then will we be able to build their background knowledge through experiences, conversation, and wider reading. Students must learn to assess their own prior knowledge and know how to fill the gaps that they find. In addition to prior knowledge, students also bring a variety of strategies that they use to make sense of text when they encounter difficulties in their reading. Finally, readers bring metacognitive skills-the ability to think about thinking-that allow them to make corrections when their reading does not make sense.

The text

The second element of the interactive process is the text. As readers, we have learned the structure of certain kinds of texts (for example, that stories will have a beginning, middle, and end), and this understanding helps us anticipate and organize our thoughts as we read. Sometimes it is the text itself that impedes understanding. An "inconsiderate" text is one that is incomplete or ambiguous. My favorite example of an inconsiderate text was a sign in a hotel lobby listing local churches and the times of their services. Although there was no heading on the sign, I knew that it listed church services because of my prior knowledge. Someone without prior knowledge could have misunderstood the text, which read: "Immaculate Conception: Sunday, 9:00."

The context of the reading situation

The third element of the interactive process of reading is the context of the reading situation. The context for a student with a visual impairment refers to, among other things, the student's comfort with braille and attitude about using braille. For some students, braille is a reminder of their vision loss, and this reminder creates a negative context that affects their comprehension. For others, braille is an almost transparent context that does not affect comprehension.

READING WITH BRAILLE

For students who cannot use print because of a visual impairment, braille is the tool that empowers them to construct meaning from a text. Unlike audiotape, braille also empowers students to play with words. Such play helps children feel comfortable with words and enjoy them in creative ways, thereby enhancing both their prior knowledge and their attitudes about braille. Braille also allows students to keep journals to record the events in and thoughts about their lives and review them at their leisure.

As teachers and rehabilitation professionals, we can help students learn to string the warp threads of prior knowledge; give them a variety of weft threads, as we challenge them with diverse genres; and show them how to make beautiful cloth by teaching braille skills as the shuttle.

Penelope A. Zago, M.A., consultant, Michigan Department of Education, Office of Special Education, PO. Box 30008, Lansing, MI 48933.