Revaluing Reading

Revaluing involves renegotiating and repositioning readers’ literacy perceptions and beliefs, ultimately reconstructing readers’ literacy identities. Ken Goodman conceived the term revaluing to counter deficit-based notions of fixing problems or remediating readers. Revaluing is identifying and recognizing language strengths in reading and valuing personal abilities to learn. Revaluing supports readers in shifting toward a view of reading that emphasizes understanding and the construction of meaning. This entry emphasizes the need to shift from traditional notions of medical remediation and deficiencies of the reader to focusing on the value a reader attributes to both the reading process and their ability as a reader.

Common-sense beliefs about reading focus on word recognition and phonics and may overemphasize fluency and error proofreading. Young readers are caught in an internal conflict ...