Models of reading
- Bottom-up: readers decode letters and words and build meaning upward, as in beginners' script and vocabulary work.
- Top-down: Goodman (1967) called reading a "psycholinguistic guessing game" in which readers predict from background knowledge and confirm; schema theory supports this.
- Interactive: Rumelhart (1977) and others argue both work at once, with knowledge compensating for weak decoding.
Pre-reading
Predicting from titles and pictures, sharing experiences and previewing key words activate schemata and set a purpose.
While-reading
Skimming for gist, scanning for details, answering questions, completing tables, ordering paragraphs and guessing words from context.
Post-reading
Summaries, comprehension checks, responding in speech or writing and role plays integrate skills and extend the text.
Materials design
Suitable difficulty, authentic texts such as notices, ads and articles, genre variety and linked activities matter. The same principles apply to listening instruction.
References
- Goodman, K. S. (1967). Reading: A psycholinguistic guessing game. Journal of the Reading Specialist, 6(4), 126-135.
- Rumelhart, D. E. (1977). Toward an interactive model of reading. In S. Dornic (Ed.), Attention and Performance VI (pp. 573-603). Erlbaum.
- Grabe, W., & Stoller, F. L. (2011). Teaching and Researching Reading (2nd ed.). Pearson Longman.