Reading. Reading is the complex cognitive process of decoding symbols to derive meaning. It is a form of language processing. Success in this process is measured as reading comprehension. Reading is a means for language acquisition, communication, and sharing information and ideas. The symbols are typically visual but may be tactile. Like all languages, it is a complex interaction between text and reader, shaped by prior knowledge, experiences, attitude, and the language community, which is culturally and socially situated. Readers use a variety of reading strategies to decode and comprehend. Readers may use context clues to identify the meaning of unknown words. Readers integrate the words they have read into their existing framework of knowledge or schema. Other types of reading are not speech based writing systems, such as music notation or pictograms. The common link is the interpretation of symbols to extract the meaning from the visual notations or tactile signals. Currently most reading is either of the printed word from ink or toner on paper, such as in a book, magazine, newspaper, leaflet, or notebook, or of electronic displays, such as computer displays, television, mobile phones or e-readers. Handwritten text may also be produced using a graphite pencil or a pen.Short texts may be written or painted on an object. Often the text relates to the object, such as an address on an envelope, product info on packaging, or text on a traffic or street sign. A slogan may be painted on a wall. A text may also be produced by arranging stones of a different color in a wall or road. Short texts like these are sometimes referred to as environmental print. Sometimes text or images are in relief, with or without using a color contrast. Words or images can be carved in stone, wood, or metal; instructions can be printed in relief on the plastic housing of a home appliance, or myriad other examples. A requirement for reading is a good contrast between letters and background and a suitable font size. In the case of a computer screen, it is important to see an entire line of text without scrolling. The field of visual word recognition studies how people read individual words. A key technique in studying how individuals read text is eye tracking. This has revealed that reading is performed as a series of eye fixations with saccades between them. Humans also do not appear to fixate on every word in a text, but instead pause on some words mentally while their eyes are moving. This is possible because human languages show certain linguistic regularities. The process of recording information to read later is writing. In the case of computer and microfiche storage there is the separate step of displaying the written text. For humans, reading is usually faster and easier than writing. Reading is typically an individual activity, though on occasion a person reads out loud for other listeners. Reading aloud for one's own use, for better comprehension, is a form of intrapersonal communication: in the early 1970s has been proposed the dual-route hypothesis to reading aloud, accordingly to which there were two separate mental mechanisms, or cognitive routes, that are involved in this case, with output of both mechanisms contributing to the pronunciation of a written stimulus. Reading to young children is a recommended way to instill language and expression, and to promote comprehension of text. Personalised books for children are recommended to improve engagement in reading by featuring the child themselves in the story. Before the reintroduction of separated text in the late Middle Ages, the ability to read silently was considered rather remarkable. Reading may be used for at school or work, incidentally during everyday life activities, or for pleasure. In the context of school or work, reading is a means of learning necessary information. As a leisure activity, children and adults read because it is pleasant and interesting. In the US, about half of all adults read one or more books for pleasure each year. About 5% read more than 50 books per year. Americans read more if they have more education, if they read fluently and easily, if they are female, if they live in cities, and if they have higher socioeconomic status. Children become better readers when they know more about the world in general, and when they perceive reading as fun, rather than another chore to be performed. Main article: Learning to read Literacy is the ability to use the symbols of a writing system. It is the ability to interpret what the information symbols represent, and re-create those same symbols so that others can derive the same meaning.