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TOPIC 2 THEORETICAL MODELS OF READING AND

APPROACHES TO TEACH READING

SYNOPSIS

Topic 2 provides you with an overview of the different models of reading, (bottom-up,top-down and interactive reading models) and the approaches to teach reading. Thereading models provide insights to the ways different readers approach reading. Thistopic also discusses various approaches to teach reading.

LEARNING OUTCOMES

By the end of this topic, you will be able to:

define the meaning of the three theoretical models of reading

distinguish the application of the three reading models

identify the various approaches to teach reading.

FRAMEWORK OF TOPICS

THEORETICAL

MODELS OF

READING

BOTTOM-UP TOP-DOWN INTERACTIVE

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Theoretical Models of Reading

According to the literature surrounding reading theory there are three primary models

which readers use: bottom-up, top-down and interactive models of reading. These

models have been used to explain the cognitive processes that occur as readers

interact with the text. These reading theories will be discussed in turn.

Bottom-up reading model

The central idea of the bottom-up reading model is that reading is a process of

decoding a series of written symbols into aural sounds. Meaning is then derived from

the blending of sounds. The diagram below describes this process.

print

(Cambroune, 1979)

Using this model, readers process each leatter as it is encountered. The letters or

graphemes are then matched to a phoneme of the language. The phonemes are

then blended together to form words. Meaning is then derived at the end of the

process. A typical reading programme that adopts this model is the phonics

approach.

Text processing is linear whereby the incoming data or information has to be

received before the higher level mental stages can transform and recode the

information. Schemata is hierarchically organised from the most specific at the

bottom to the most general at the top.

This model is also known as outside-in (Cambourne, 1979) or part-to-whole model.

discriminatingevery letter

matchingphonemes andgraphemes

blendingsounds

discriminatingevery letter

pronunciation meaning

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Top-down reading model

In the top-down model, the reading process is a reverse of the bottom-up model.

Here, reading is conceptually driven. Readers use their background knowledge to

make predictions as they read the text. The following diagram illustrates this model of

text processing.

(Cambroune, 1979)

From this diagram, it can be seen that the model emphasises the reconstruction of

meaning rather than the decoding of form. The interaction of the text is central to the

process and the reader brings to this interaction his/her knowledge of the subject at

hand, his/her knowledge and expectations about how language works, interest,

motivation and attitude towards the subject or content of the text. In other words, the

reader hypotheses or makes an assumption of the text and uses his/her background

knowledge to confirm the hypothesis or assumption or reject the propositions.

As with the bottom-up model, the top-down model also employs a linear textprocessing approach.

This model is also known as inside-out model, concept-driven model and whole-to-

part model.

Exercise 1

What kind of readers are most likely to adopt the top-down reading

approach? Why do you think so?

Exercise 2

In groups of 3, discuss how you use bottom-up reading approach for Year Onepupils. Present your discussion in class.

past experience,

language intuitions

and expectations

meaningselective aspects of

print

sound,

pronunciation if

necessary

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Language Experience Approach

Language experience approach is suitable for all levels of learners. By using the

Language Experience Approach (LEA) to teach beginning readers how to read,pupils can connect their life experiences with learning written words. The unique

factor about this approach is that the pupils own words are recorded or used as they

describe the event or activity. This allows them to interact with the text and gain

knowledge and understanding through their experience.

The LEA can be used with individual pupils or group. While it is most commonly used

with young emerging readers, it is also effective for teaching struggling readers.

Procedure to use the learning experience approach

1. Have the pupils choose an experience that they would like to write about. Forgroups, this should be a shared experience such as a field trip or an activity thatthe whole class had participated in. For individual pupils, it could be anything thatthe pupil feels is important or interesting, such as a family activity, a story abouttheir pet or favorite toy, or even a television show or movie that they enjoyed. Thelanguage experience approach can also be used to create fictional stories.

2. Discuss the experience with the pupils. This helps them to clarify what they want towrite about, organize their thoughts, and come up with specific, descriptivevocabulary.

3. Write the story down as the pupils dictate it. For groups, have pupils take turnsdictating sentences describing their experience. Record what they say on large

chart paper, repeating the words as they are written. For individual pupils, this canbe done on a single sheet of paper, or it can be made into a book. The writingshould be done in neat, large print rather than cursive, to make it easier for thepupils to read.

Try to stick to the pupils' own words exactly as they are spoken with a minimum ofcorrection for grammar or sentence structure. It is important for pupils to see theirown words in print, because they have a personal connection to the words.

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4. Read the text aloud. Point to each word as you read it aloud. After reading the textto the pupils, have them reread it aloud. With a group, call on individual pupils toread sentences, or have them read chorally as a group while pointing to eachword. Pupils can illustrate their individual texts and read them aloud to the class.

Since the words that the pupils dictate are familiar and are used in a meaningfulcontext, pupils will be able to read more difficult vocabulary than they mightordinarily be able to if they simply saw it printed in a book.

Phonics Approach

An alphabetic, phonic approach to teaching reading has been used for centuries. In

the 19th century, this kind of approach began to be called phonics. Since then it hasbeen further developed and modified. Today a phonics approach is used in varyingdegrees in most reading instructions. This approach has been included in the KSSRsyllabus.

A phonics approach teaches the relation of the letters (graphemes) to the sounds

(phonemes) they represent. The theory behind the phonics approach is based on two

assumptions: most languages have consistent phonemes (sound) to grapheme

(letter) corelation. Once children have learned the relationships of the letters to the

sounds, they can pronounce printed words by blending the sounds together.Knowing

these relationships helps early readers recognize familiar words accurately andautomatically and "decode" new words.

Though this approach has been well received, there are some grey areas which

makes it not a complete model or a stand alone approach to teach early reading. For

instance, a child can use phonics to work out that b-a-tmeans batbecause the letters

represent their most common sounds; but phonics is of no help in reading eye as

there is no correspondence between the letters and the sounds the letters represent.

Furthermore, English has its many irregularities, therefore it makes it harder for ESL

learners to identify unfamiliar words. The use of phonics assumes that once readers

know how a word is pronounced, they will associate it with a spoken word theyalready know and therefore understands it. However, the problem may arise

especially with intermediate pupils who may come upon a new word which they have

not heard of. So working out how a word might be pronounced is not going to

guarantee understanding.

Phonics may be useful and helpful at the initial stages of developing reading but it

needs to be supported by other methods as the readers reading proficiency

develops.

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Exercise 3

Systematic and explicit phonics instruction significantly improves

kindergarten and first grade children's word recognition and spelling.

Do you agree with the quote above. Justify your answer.

References

Cambourne, B. 1979. How important is theory to the reading teacher? AustralianJournal of Reading, 2: 78-90

Eskey, D.E. & Grabe, W. 1988. Interactive Models for Second Language Reading:

Perspectives on Instruction. In P. Carrell, J. Devine & D. Eskey. (Eds.),

Interactive approaches to second language reading(pp. 223-38). New York:

Cambridge University Press.

Stanovich, K. 1980. Toward an interactive-compensatory model of individual

differences in the development of reading fluency. Reading Research

Quarterly, 16:32-71.