BalancedReading.com -- Myths

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Get the Abecedarian Reading Assessment here Return to the BalancedReading.com Home Page	The Cambridge Myth This silly thing has been flying around the internet for years. It is a total myth: I cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Amzanig huh? Yaeh and I awlyas thought slpeling was ipmorantt. Sebastian's Response: Taht is srot of ture, but it deos not tlel the wlohe sorty. It is rieealtvly esay wtih sroht wrods, but not so esay wtih legonr wdros. Msot cetonnt wdros in Esinglh are sveen leertts lnog or leognr -- the mroe leretts terhe are in a wrod, the mroe dulcifift and caipcetmold it bmeecos to cletrorcy infietdy them wehn the ltrtees are ragnearerd. Warhees, more diiivutnme and cmoomn wrdos lkie "blal" and "baer" raimen mltsoy ungnchead and esay to rizocenge, lgneor, less cmoomn wdros, like "pltlooiun" and "soulamitunes" caghne saillbattunsy to the pniot werhe rnciooitegn is srclceay pbsslioe. Fmrrhtrouee, this atiibly smtes form a garet deal of enpicerexe rindaeg cretolcry slelepd wdros -- olny plopee who can adrealy raed pelictroinfy can do this tsak. Tihs tirck does not reeavl mcuh aoubt the pscroes of lnnreaig to raed -- it only ietaindcs that hhligy slielkd rrdeaes are so pectacred wtih txet tehy can omoercve moinr informieepcts (epshaims on the word "moinr") in the pnirt to aesccs mnnaeig. Oh, and by the way, terhe nveer was any rcsaeerh of tihs srot ccountded at Cridbagme or any oehtr usrivetniy. Taht prat is ceepomlty urutne. (scroll down for a translation ... If you need one...) That is sort of true, but it does not tell the whole story. It is relatively easy with short words, but not so easy with longer words. Most content words in English are seven letters long or longer -- the more letters there are in a word, the more difficult and complicated it becomes to correctly identify them when the letters are rearranged. Whereas, more diminutive and common words like "ball" and "bear" remain mostly unchanged and easy to recognize, longer, less common words, like "pollution" and "simultaneous" change substantially to the point where recognition is scarcely possible. Furthermore, this ability stems from a great deal of experience reading correctly spelled words -- only people who can already read proficiently can do this task. This trick does not reveal much about the process of learning to read -- it only indicates that highly skilled readers are so practiced with text they can overcome minor imperfections (emphasis on the word "minor") in the print to access meaning. Oh, and by the way, there never was any research of this sort conducted at Cambridge or any other university. That part is completely untrue. BalancedReading.com • P. O. Box 300471 • Austin, TX 78703 Do you have comments or questions about this site? Would you like to contribute material or information to this site? Contact Us. Last Updated 8-7-03

This silly thing has been flying around the internet for years. It is a total myth:

I cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Amzanig huh? Yaeh and I awlyas thought slpeling was ipmorantt.

Sebastian's Response:

Taht is srot of ture, but it deos not tlel the wlohe sorty. It is rieealtvly esay wtih sroht wrods, but not so esay wtih legonr wdros. Msot cetonnt wdros in Esinglh are sveen leertts lnog or leognr -- the mroe leretts terhe are in a wrod, the mroe dulcifift and caipcetmold it bmeecos to cletrorcy infietdy them wehn the ltrtees are ragnearerd. Warhees, more diiivutnme and cmoomn wrdos lkie "blal" and "baer" raimen mltsoy ungnchead and esay to rizocenge, lgneor, less cmoomn wdros, like "pltlooiun" and "soulamitunes" caghne saillbattunsy to the pniot werhe rnciooitegn is srclceay pbsslioe. Fmrrhtrouee, this atiibly smtes form a garet deal of enpicerexe rindaeg cretolcry slelepd wdros -- olny plopee who can adrealy raed pelictroinfy can do this tsak. Tihs tirck does not reeavl mcuh aoubt the pscroes of lnnreaig to raed -- it only ietaindcs that hhligy slielkd rrdeaes are so pectacred wtih txet tehy can omoercve moinr informieepcts (epshaims on the word "moinr") in the pnirt to aesccs mnnaeig.

Oh, and by the way, terhe nveer was any rcsaeerh of tihs srot ccountded at Cridbagme or any oehtr usrivetniy. Taht prat is ceepomlty urutne.

(scroll down for a translation ... If you need one...)

That is sort of true, but it does not tell the whole story. It is relatively easy with short words, but not so easy with longer words. Most content words in English are seven letters long or longer -- the more letters there are in a word, the more difficult and complicated it becomes to correctly identify them when the letters are rearranged. Whereas, more diminutive and common words like "ball" and "bear" remain mostly unchanged and easy to recognize, longer, less common words, like "pollution" and "simultaneous" change substantially to the point where recognition is scarcely possible. Furthermore, this ability stems from a great deal of experience reading correctly spelled words -- only people who can already read proficiently can do this task. This trick does not reveal much about the process of learning to read -- it only indicates that highly skilled readers are so practiced with text they can overcome minor imperfections (emphasis on the word "minor") in the print to access meaning.

Oh, and by the way, there never was any research of this sort conducted at Cambridge or any other university. That part is completely untrue.