The miracle of reading: from written signs to immortal imagery

ABSTRACT In this article, perspectives originated from the Linguistic, Psychology and Educational fields are placed together in order to: 1. Understand the specificities of how reading skills are acquired and how skilled readers' brain processes written material; 2. Contribute to the goal achievement of public policies focused on improving literacy (in particular, the Brazilian national agreement for learning to read at the right age - PNAIC) by taking advantage of the progress made in the science of reading. Two lines of reasoning will be followed aiming at trying to find out why the progress in neuroscience research has not turn yet into a better reading instruction, with special attention to the Brazilian context. The first reasoning line concerns to the conscious and unconscious processes of reading and how the pedagogy of reading can be betrayed by the visible tip of the iceberg; the second reasoning line relates to the shared characteristics of the oral and written language and to the specificities of the latter. If these specificities are better understood, the intervention of teachers and other professionals can be improved, thereby contributing to the indispensable dialogue between public policies, science and education.