Theoretical Models of Reading

7/29/2019 Theoretical Models of Reading

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TOPIC 2

Theoretical Models of

Reading


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Research on Reading

1. Bottom-up and Top-Down Processing

(Goodman, 1970)

2. Schema Theory and BackgroundKnowledge

3. The Power of Extensive Reading

4. The Reading-Writing Connection


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1. Bottom-up Processing

Readers must first recognize multiplelinguistic signalsletters, syllables, words,

phrases, grammatical cues, discourse

markersin order to understand theirreading. These data-driven operations

require a sophisticated knowledge of the

language. From all the perceived data, thereader selects signals that make

sense/cohere or mean.


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Top-down Processing

Reading is a guessing game because readers

must infer meaning, decide what to retain or

not, and read on. This is where readers use

top-down or conceptually-drivenprocessing, relying on their experience and

intelligence.


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2. Schema Theory and Background Knowledge

A text by itself does not carry meaning. Thereaderbringsinformation, knowledge,emotion, experience, and culture to thereading. As Guy Cook stated, this is ourpreexistent knowledge of the world(1989). This knowledge is known asSchema.

In fact, Clarke & Silberstein (1977) claim thatmore information is contributed by thereader than by the print on the page.


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2. Schema

If you hear

someone describe

what happened in

a hospital, you

dont have to be

told what is

normally found

in a hospital.

Doctors

Nurses

Patients

Wards

Pharmaceuticals

Trolleys A peculiar smell

Heathrow Airport?


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Group Task: Top-down or Bottom-up processing?

Across the emerald pool fell a shimmering image oflotus-shaped cupolas and copper-gilt walls. Dhoti-

clad men lowered themselves into the water to

perform ablutions; women in saris murmured

prayers in Punjabi. Such a domain of peace andpietythe Golden Templehad been impossible

to imagine in the clamorous lanes of Amritsar

outside. The temple was orderly, efficient. Sikh

guards, dressed in robes of alabaster white and

turbans of royal blue,


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Across the emerald pool fell a

shimmering image oflotus-

shapedcupolas and copper-giltwalls. Dhoti-clad men lowered

themselves into the water to

perform ablutions; women in

saris murmured prayers in

Punjabi. Such a domain ofpeace and pietythe Golden

Templehad been impossible

to imagine in the clamorous

lanes ofAmritsaroutside. The

temple was orderly, efficient.

Sikh guards, dressed in robes

ofalabaster white and turbans

of royal blue,


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2. Background Knowledge

John was on his way to school. He was really worried about the science

lesson.

Yesterday, he had been unable to controlthe class.

It was unfair of the teacher to ask him to

teach the lesson. After all, it was not the cleaners duty.


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3. The Power of Extensive Reading

Krashen (The Power of Reading, 1993) and

Day & Bamford (1998) have made the case

for extensive reading in developing

students reading ability, linguisticcompetence, vocabulary, spelling, and

writing. Green & Oxford (1995) found that

reading for pleasure and reading withoutlooking upunknown words were correlated

with increased language proficiency.Krashens acquisition vs. learning


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4. The Reading -Writing Connection

Reading has been found to have a reciprocalrelationship with writing; development of goodreading habits and skills improve studentsability to write. In fact, reading within a

discipline helps students to writeprofessionally in their field; biologyprofessors learn to write articles the waybiology professors do by reading articles thatbiology professors have written (Leki, 1993,p. 10).

Students reading and writing skills, developed intheir first language, are generally transferable totheir second language.


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10 Strategies for Improving Reading Comprehension

1. Identify the purpose in reading2. Use graphemic rules and patterns to help bottom-up

processing (for beginners)

3. Use efficient silent reading techniques

4. Skim the text for main ideas5. Scan the text for specific information

6. Use semantic mapping

7. Guess when you arent certain

8. Analyze vocabulary

9. Distinguish between literal and implied meanings

10. Capitalize on discourse markers (Brown, 2001)


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Reading Strategies Explained

2. At beginning levels,students may havedifficulty in makingconnections betweenspoken/oral and written

English/spelling. Pointerson

Short vowel sounds inbat, him, leg

Long vowel sounds inlate, time, bite

And numerous other phonicapproaches.

3. Silent Reading

Dont move lips

Perceive more than

one word at a time,possibly phrases

Skip over difficult

words unless they are

needed for global

understanding


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4. SkimmingQuickly running youreyes over a text to getthe gist. Can predict

purpose, main topic,and supporting ideas.

5. Scanning

Quickly searching for

specific information(names, dates, adefinition, etc.) in atext.

6. Semantic Mapping orClustering

AIDS in Asia

China India

lack of awareness

poverty + ignorance

solutions

education cheaper

treatment


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7.Guess when you arentcertain

Meanings of words

Grammatical relationship

(e.g., pronoun reference) Discourse relationships

Implied meanings

(between the lines)

Cultural references

9. Distinguish between literaland implied meanings

Shut the door

Its getting cold in

here. Shall we keep out the

draft?

Now, Karen, what have

you forgotten to do? Brrr!


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10. Discourse markers Enumerative: first,

second, one, two, next,

finally, to conclude

Additive: again, also,

moreover; equally,

similarly

Logical sequence: sofar, then, thus,

therefore

Explicative: namely,in other words, that is

to say

Illustrative: for

example, for instance

Contrastive: again, on

the other hand,

instead, by contrast,however, though, yet


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Group Task

Do you read English material for

pleasure? If yes, what do you read?

Has this habit helped in the acquisition

of English? How?


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How many words are necessary to do the things that

a language user needs to do?

For learners who are going to

do academic study in

English, the most accurate

indication of the wordsneeded for study at

secondary and university

level is theAcademic

Words List.

http://www.vuw.ac.nz/lals/re

search/awl/

TheAWL is a compilation of

words from academic

journals, textbooks or

course books, chaptersfrom college textbooks,

and other academic

sources. The resultant 414

source materials yielded a

total of 3,513,330 words,70,377 individual words,

and 570 word families.


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Academic Word List (AWL)

The total group of words(corpus) was divided intofour categories: Arts,Commerce, Law, andScience.

Words were selected for theAWL if they were notamong the first 2,000 highfrequency words inEnglish and if they

occurred at least 10 timesin each of the four maincategories.

The 570 word families coverabout 10% of the words inacademic articles and text

books, about 4% of thewords in newspapers, and

less than 2% of the wordsin novels andconversation; it is clearly aspecialized vocabulary.Academic vocabulary is a

very important learninggoal for learners who aregoing for higher studies inEnglish.


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The following is an academic text. Which words are

from theAcademic Words List?

The second idea is used to justify a rule basedapproach to policy is the idea of timeconsistency which implies that discretionary

policy has systematic inflation bias. I attachless significance to this second idea thanmany of my colleagues in the profession do.The reason is that in the time consistency

theories, the benefits of policy rules largelyarise from how they influence inflationexpectations.


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Words from the

Academic Words List

The second idea is used tojustify a rule basedapproach topolicy is the idea of timeconsistency which implies that discretionary

policy has systematic inflationbias. I attachless significance to this second idea thanmany of my colleagues in the profession do.The reason is that in the time consistency

theories, thebenefits of policy rules largelyarise from how they influence inflationexpectations.


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Can you raed this?

I cdnuolt blveiee that I cluod aulacllyuesdnatnrd what I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal

pweor of the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to arscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it dseno't

mtaetr in what oerdr the ltteres in a word are, theolny iproamtnt tihng is that the frsit and last ltteer

be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl msesand you can still raed it whotuit a pboerlm. This

is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed erveylteter by istlef, but the word as a wlohe. Azanmighuh? Yaeh and I awlyas tghuhot slpelingwas ipmorantt! Movie after break


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Home Work - Writing Assignment

Hong Kong universities plan to increase the number ofinternational students to about 20% of the total enrollment.Supporters of this plan say that international students willadd more diversity to our universities. Opponents arguethat international students will take places away from

Hong Kong students. Which position do you support? Givespecific reasons for your response.

Please write a clear thesis statement and a topic sentence foreach paragraph. You should also ensure properorganization and cohesion.

Your paper should be about 600-words (about two double-spaced pages) in length, and should be word-processed.Your primary readers will be your classmates.

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Theoretical Models of Reading