Purposes of Reading Ahmad Sofwan sofwan 1589yahoo com

Purposes of Reading Ahmad Sofwan sofwan 1589@yahoo. com

Purposes of Reading • • • To search for simple information To skim quickly To learn from texts To integrate information To write (or search for information needed for writing) • To critique texts • For general comprehension

To search for simple information & to skim • Typically scan the text for a specific information or a specific word (e. g. a telephone directory to find key information) • To skim sampling segments of the text for general understanding • A combination of strategies to find the location of the information and use basic reading comprehension skills to obtain a general idea about the text

To learn from texts • Typically occurs in academic/professional contexts to learn a considerable amount of information from a text. • To remember main ideas & details of the main and supporting ideas in the text • Recognize and form rhetorical frames • Link the text to the reader’s knowledge base • Carried out at a slower reading rate • Makes stronger inferencing demands to connect the text information with background knowledge

To integrate information, write & critique texts • Requires critical evaluation of the information to decide what information to integrate and how to integrate it for the reader’s goal • Requires abilities to compose, select & critique information from a text

For general comprehension • Requires very rapid and automatic processing of words, strong skills in forming a general meaning representation of main ideas, efficient coordination of many processes

Reading Strategies • • • Specifying a purpose of reading Planning what to do/what steps to take Previewing the text Predicting the contents of the text or section of text Checking predictions Posing questions about the text Finding asnwers to posed questions Connecting one part of the text to another Paying attention to text structure

Reading Strategies • • Rereading Guessing the meaning of a new word from context Using discourse markers to see relationships Checking comprehension Critiquing the author Critiquing the text Judging how well objectives were met Reflecting on what has been learned from the text

Processes in fluent reading comprehension • a rapid process (200 -300 words per minute) • an efficient process (coordinated & carried out automatically) • an interactive process (recognizing words & analyzing sentence structure to find clause-level meaning, finding main ideas, monitoring comprehension, etc; linguistic information from the text and background knowledge)

• John is willing to help • John is difficult to help • John is willing to help someone • John is difficult for someone to help

Processes in fluent reading comprehension • a strategic process (recognize processing difficulties, address imbalances between text information & reader knowledge, & make decisions for monitoring comprehension and shifting goals for reading) • a flexible process (adjust with the changing purposes and ongoing monitoring of comprehension) • an evaluating process (must decide if the information is coherent and matches the purposes of reading; reader’s motivation, attitudes, feelings, expectation

Processes in fluent reading comprehension • a purposeful process (different ways based on different purposes; motivation is triggered by individual tasks or purposes) • a comprehending process (to understand a text) • a learning process (to learn new information through reading) • a linguistic process (not a reasoning process, understanding linguistic elements is important for text comprehension)

Reading processes occurring each & every two seconds we read • Focus on and access 8 to 10 word meanings • Parse a clause for information and form a meaning unit • Figure out how to connect a new meaning unit into the growing text model • Check interpretation of the information according to their purposes, feelings, attitudes, and background expectations, as needed • Monitor their comprehension, make appropriate inferences, shift strategies and repair misunderstanding, as needed • Resolve ambiguities, address difficulties and critique text information, as needed

Models of reading Metaphorical models of reading • Bottom-up models • Top-down models • Interactive models Specific models of reading • Psycholinguistic Guessing Game Model • Interactive Compensatory Model • Word recognition models • Simple View of reading Model

Bottom-up models • All readings follows a mechanical pattern in which the reader creates a piece-by-piece mental translation of the information in the text, with little inference from the reader’s own background knowledge. • The reader processes each word letter-by-letter, each sentence word-by-word, and each text sentence-by-sentence in a linear fashion.

Top-down models • Primarily directed by reader goals and expectations. • The reader has a sets of expectation about text information & samples enough information from the text to confirm or reject. • The reader directs eyes to the most likely places in the text to find useful information

Interactive models • Take useful ideas from a bottom-up perspective and combine them with key ideas from a top-down view. • Word recognition needs to be fast and efficient, but background knowledge is a major contributor to text understanding. • Highlight the number of processes, particularly automatic processes, being carried out primarily in a bottom-up manner with little interference from other processing levels or knowledge resources.

Psycholinguistic Guessing Game Model • A universally applicable interactive process of (a) hypothesising, (b) sampling, and (c) confirming information based on a background knowledge, expectations about the text, a sampling of surface features of the text and context information from the text.

Interactive Compensatory Model • Readers develop efficient reading processes. • Less automatic processes interact regularly. • Automatic processes operate relatively independently, and • Reading difficulties lead to increased interaction and compensation, even among processes that would otherswise automatic. • Using context clues to understand a text better or to decide what a word means is a compensatory strategy when normally expected abilities break down, or have not been developed.