Typically, when we hear the word “reading,” our minds tend to associate it with the school curriculum, the appreciation of literature, or simply the acquisition of a foundational literacy skill. However, we often overlook, or perhaps underestimate, the broader significance of reading. Reading is not merely the ability to recognize words on a page; it is a means through which individuals acquire knowledge, develop language, construct meaning, and make sense of the world around them. Its influence extends far beyond academic performance, shaping how individuals learn, think, communicate, and engage with information throughout their lives.
While reading is often introduced as a basic academic skill, its purpose extends well beyond the ability to accurately decode written words. Decoding involves learning associations between letters and sounds and gradually building connections between written and spoken language. Research suggests that learning to read is accompanied by changes in the neural systems that support language processing. In other words, reading literally changes our brain. For example, Brennan et al. (2013) found that, among English-speaking children, stronger reading skills were associated with greater activation of the left superior temporal gyrus during a task involving phonological processing. This region is involved in aspects of spoken-language processing, suggesting that learning to read is not entirely separate from the systems children use to process language they hear. Instead, written and spoken language become increasingly interconnected as children learn to read. In this sense, decoding is not simply a prerequisite for reading; it provides a bridge between written language and the linguistic knowledge that allows children to understand and communicate meaning.
Once children begin to decode words fluently, the importance of reading extends beyond the ability to recognize and pronounce individual words. The reader must also integrate words within a sentence, connect ideas across a text, and draw on existing knowledge to construct meaning. In this sense, reading comprehension represents a shift from simply accessing language to actively making sense of it. As we often teach children, “If I can read it, I can picture it.” The phrase captures a simple but important idea: reading is not just about recognizing the words on the page, but about using those words to build a mental representation of what is being communicated.
Once children can make sense of what they read, reading begins to take on a much bigger role in how they learn. At school, children are not only reading stories; they are reading to learn about the world around them. A science textbook might introduce a concept they have never encountered before. A history chapter might ask them to piece together what happened and why. Even a mathematics problem can become difficult when a child knows how to calculate but cannot make sense of what the question is asking. In each of these situations, being able to read the words is only the beginning. The child has to figure out what matters, connect the information to what they already know, and make sense of the bigger picture. This is where reading comprehension becomes so important: it turns reading from something a child does into something a child can use to learn.
But understanding what we read is not necessarily the same as thinking about what we read. A child may understand the information presented in a text, but deeper reading asks them to go a step further:
This is where reading comprehension begins to overlap with critical thinking. When readers compare ideas, draw inferences, recognize an author’s perspective, question claims, and evaluate whether information is credible, they are doing more than demonstrating that they understood a text; they are learning how to think about information. The OECD similarly recognizes evaluating and reflecting on texts as important components of reading literacy, including judging the quality and credibility of information and identifying contradictions across sources (OECD, 2019). Reading therefore gives children repeated opportunities to practise something that extends well beyond the classroom: not simply taking in information, but learning to question, connect, and make sense of it.
These ways of thinking also have implications beyond the immediate classroom. The ability to understand complex information, evaluate different perspectives, and work independently with what one reads can influence how students approach further education and the opportunities that come with it. Over time, these skills can become part of how individuals learn new things, solve problems, make decisions, and navigate increasingly complex demands in their personal and professional lives. Reading, then, is not simply preparing a child to succeed in school; it is helping them develop skills that can remain useful as the contexts in which they learn and work continue to change. Analysis of the British Cohort Study found that stronger reading skills at age ten were associated with higher gross hourly wages and weekly earnings in adulthood, particularly at ages 38 and 42 (Crawford & Cribb, 2015). These findings do not mean that reading ability alone determines adult success; education, socioeconomic circumstances, cognitive abilities, and many other factors also shape later outcomes. Rather, they highlight something easy to overlook: what begins as a skill taught in childhood can remain relevant long after a child has left the classroom.
Perhaps this is why reading is so easy to underestimate. We often see the child sounding out a word, finishing a chapter, or answering questions about a passage, and treat these as the task itself. But those visible skills are only the surface of a much larger process. Reading allows children to access language, construct meaning, acquire knowledge, question information, and gradually become more independent thinkers. What begins as learning to connect letters and sounds can eventually become a way of understanding ideas, navigating information, and making sense of the world.