Theory of the six readings

"Reading is the port through which

most knowledge enters, the
privileged cognitive door.”
De Zubiría Samper

Reading a text involves: understanding, interpretation and inference. It involves a complex

cognitive process that influences the knowledge of linguistic structures, the culture and the
context. In student life, it is impossible to conceive any academic activity without the presence
of reading. Therefore, it is the key to education.
Written material (books, articles, essays, manuals, etc.) is the most common way to acquire
knowledge. For this reason, reading is the primary means for intellectual people to study and
develop. Nonetheless, understanding is a personal process that involves some skills and some
competencies.
Reading well means engaging in a complex visual and logical activity. Reading is a translation
process, in which the person who reads translates and interprets the printed symbols that are in
the text. In this way, the written text communicates ideas, messages and thoughts contained
within.
Reading is a skill that can be improved, but there are no miraculous rules for its development.
Reading well is a gradual and progressive process, in which the conscious practice and discipline
are fundamental. Therefore, working harder and reading more texts are requirements for
success.
Reading is a mental process, in which the reader must concentrate on what the text is saying,
while inquiring, questioning and maintaining a critical attitude toward the text. The problem is
that most of our reading is uncritical, utilitarian and objectivist, done only to know the generalities
of the text. The challenge is to confront the text and win the battle of understanding, to obtain
the joy of having understood the thesis and message that the text intends to communicate.
The work of Miguel De Zubiría Samper, "Theory of the six readings," is perhaps the largest
educational and methodological attempt at the systematization of techniques and tools to
improve the reading processes. Volume II provides strategies for teaching the reading and writing
of essays, based on categorical studies aimed at learning how to read by reading and analyzing,
and through the use of instruments of knowledge such as notion, concept, proposition,
reasoning, categories and paradigms.
Conceptual Pedagogy distinguishes six types or steps of reading - ranging from the most basic
to the very complex. It admits that the understanding of simple texts is possible through phonics,
but that it is impossible to interpret the complex ideational essay-type structures only reading
phonetically. The essay is considered the queen writing, being above other forms of writing; it is
through it that science, art, philosophy and academia are expressed.
The first level is phonics: it establishes the relationship between grapheme and phoneme. It
transforms graphic signs in phonetic signs through the mechanism of identifying graphic signs –
reading words with or without sense.
The second level is primary decoding: it is aimed at "understanding" reading, translating,
interpreting and making words into concepts. It uses mechanisms such as lexical retrieval,
synonymy and antonymy. The goal is to identify the meaning of words.
The third level is secondary decoding: it comprises the set of intellectual operations whose
function is to extract the thoughts (propositions) and interpret them through analysis. It sets a
relationship between the sentence and the propositions and uses mechanisms such as
punctuation, pronominalization and inference.
The fourth level is tertiary decoding: the purpose is to find macro propositions, discover logical,
temporal and spatial relations in reference to the major idea or thesis. It identifies the possible
relations between the text and its respective semantic structure. It uses tools such as deduction
and induction.
The fifth level is categorial reading: this is the way to decompose a text into its thesis and
propositions and to identify the categorial structure. It uses all the tools and instruments of
thought.
The six and last level is metasemantic reading: it allows you to compare, draw analogies and
make connections with other systems. The goal is to make an external reading. Its purpose is to
contrast, to go beyond the socio-cultural circumstances in which the text is expressed and submit
it to criticism.
Reading is, then, a serious and complex work that requires serenity and dedication. These levels
help you evolve in the process of becoming a successful communicator.

Retrieved from http://formacionbiblioteca.udea.edu.co/moodle/mod/resource/view.php?id=14173

Edited and translated by Angela Castro for classroom use.