Models of Reading Models of Reading BOTTOMUP TOPDOWN

Models of Reading

Models of Reading BOTTOM-UP TOP-DOWN INTERACTIVE

BOTTOM-UP Model of reading Gough (1972): Reading as a process that starts with the printed material itself. Reading is seen as a linear process. Print: Every letter is discriminated Phonemes and Graphemes are matched Blending, Pronunciation and Meaning. Starts with basic skills such as decoding the letters and the combination of the letters to form words.

BOTTOM-UP Model of reading It then proceeds with a more complex processing which runs through a series of clauses to phrases to sentences to paragraphs and finally, to the text as a whole. It starts with the letters being recognized first feature-by-feature by a visual system, and then transferred to a sound (phonemic) system for recognition and held until the next letter is processed in the same way. Consequently, when words are recognized, they are held in the working memory until they are processed for underlying meaning and finally understood as sentences and text as a whole (Purcell-Gates, 1997: 2).

BOTTOM-UP Model of reading Meaning Text Paragraphs Sentences Words Letters

TOP-DOWN Model of reading The text is the main aspect of the reading process. Top-down models see the involvement of the reader’s prior knowledge in the reading process. In other words, the reader is less text-bound. Starts with the reader making predictions about the text. These predictions are guided by his or her prior knowledge. Rather than decoding each symbol, or even every word, the reader forms hypotheses about the text and then ‘samples’ them to determine whether or not the hypotheses they made are correct. If the hypotheses are incorrect, the reader re- hypothesize and so the same process continues.

TOP-DOWN Model of reading Knowledge Experiences Emotions Reader’s Intentions Meaning

TOP-DOWN Model of reading The words themselves do not have meaning The reader brings personal meaning to the text from background experiences Reading begins with the reader’s knowledge, not print.

INTERACTIVE MODEL OF READING It recognizes the interaction of bottom up and top-down processes simultaneously throughout the reading process. Reading as an active process that depends on reader characteristics, the text, and the reading situation (Rumelhart, 1985) Attempts to combine the valid insights of bottom-up and top-down models.

A brief comparaison between the 3 Models of reading