TOPIC 2

Theoretical Models of Reading

Research on Reading
1. Bottom-up and Top-Down Processing (Goodman, 1970) 2. Schema Theory and Background Knowledge 3. The Power of Extensive Reading 4. The Reading-Writing Connection

1. Bottom-up Processing
Readers must first recognize multiple linguistic signalsletters, syllables, words, phrases, grammatical cues, discourse markersin order to understand their reading. These data-driven operations require a sophisticated knowledge of the language. From all the perceived data, the reader 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-driven processing, relying on their experience and intelligence.

2. Schema Theory and Background Knowledge

A text by itself does not carry meaning. The reader brings information, knowledge, emotion, experience, and culture to the reading. As Guy Cook stated, this is our preexistent knowledge of the world (1989). This knowledge is known as Schema. In fact, Clarke & Silberstein (1977) claim that more information is contributed by the reader 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 of lotus-shaped cupolas and copper-gilt walls. Dhoticlad men lowered themselves into the water to perform ablutions; women in saris murmured prayers in Punjabi. Such a domain of peace and pietythe 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 of lotusshaped 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 and pietythe 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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2. Background Knowledge
John was on his way to school. He was really worried about the science lesson. Yesterday, he had been unable to control the 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, linguistic competence, vocabulary, spelling, and writing. Green & Oxford (1995) found that reading for pleasure and reading without looking up unknown words were correlated with increased language proficiency.
Krashens acquisition vs. learning 13

4. The Reading -Writing Connection

Reading has been found to have a reciprocal relationship with writing; development of good reading habits and skills improve students ability to write. In fact, reading within a discipline helps students to write professionally in their field; biology professors learn to write articles the way biology professors do by reading articles that biology professors have written (Leki, 1993, p. 10). Students reading and writing skills, developed in their first language, are generally transferable to their second language. 14

10 Strategies for Improving Reading Comprehension

1. 2. Identify the purpose in reading Use graphemic rules and patterns to help bottom-up processing (for beginners) 3. Use efficient silent reading techniques 4. Skim the text for main ideas 5. 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 have difficulty in making connections between spoken/oral and written English/spelling. Pointers on Short vowel sounds in bat, him, leg Long vowel sounds in late, time, bite And numerous other phonic approaches.

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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Reading Strategies Explained

4. Skimming Quickly running your eyes over a text to get the gist. Can predict purpose, main topic, and supporting ideas. 5. Scanning Quickly searching for specific information (names, dates, a definition, etc.) in a text.
6. Semantic Mapping or Clustering AIDS in Asia China India lack of awareness poverty + ignorance solutions education cheaper treatment
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Reading Strategies Explained

7. Guess when you arent certain Meanings of words Grammatical relationship (e.g., pronoun reference) Discourse relationships Implied meanings (between the lines) Cultural references 9. Distinguish between literal and 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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Reading Strategies Explained

10. Discourse markers Explicative: namely, in other words, that is Enumerative: first, to say second, one, two, next, finally, to conclude Illustrative: for example, for instance Additive: again, also, moreover; equally, Contrastive: again, on similarly the other hand, instead, by contrast, Logical sequence: so however, though, yet far, then, thus, therefore
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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 words needed for study at secondary and university level is the Academic Words List. http://www.vuw.ac.nz/lals/re search/awl/ The AWL is a compilation of words from academic journals, textbooks or course books, chapters from 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 into four categories: Arts, Commerce, Law, and Science. Words were selected for the AWL if they were not among the first 2,000 high frequency words in English and if they occurred at least 10 times in each of the four main categories. The 570 word families cover about 10% of the words in academic articles and text books, about 4% of the words in newspapers, and less than 2% of the words in novels and conversation; it is clearly a specialized vocabulary. Academic vocabulary is a very important learning goal for learners who are going for higher studies in English.
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The following is an academic text. Which words are from the Academic Words List?

The second idea is used to justify a rule based approach to policy is the idea of time consistency which implies that discretionary policy has systematic inflation bias. I attach less significance to this second idea than many of my colleagues in the profession do. The reason is that in the time consistency theories, the benefits of policy rules largely arise from how they influence inflation expectations.
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Words from the Academic Words List

The second idea is used to justify a rule based approach to policy is the idea of time consistency which implies that discretionary policy has systematic inflation bias. I attach less significance to this second idea than many of my colleagues in the profession do. The reason is that in the time consistency theories, the benefits of policy rules largely arise from how they influence inflation expectations.
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Can you raed this?

I cdnuolt blveiee that I cluod aulaclly uesdnatnrd what I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it dseno't mtaetr in what oerdr the ltteres in a word are, the olny iproamtnt tihng is that the frsit and last ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can still raed it whotuit a pboerlm. This is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the word as a wlohe. Azanmig huh? Yaeh and I awlyas tghuhot slpeling was ipmorantt! Movie after break
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Home Work - Writing Assignment

Hong Kong universities plan to increase the number of international students to about 20% of the total enrollment. Supporters of this plan say that international students will add more diversity to our universities. Opponents argue that international students will take places away from Hong Kong students. Which position do you support? Give specific reasons for your response. Please write a clear thesis statement and a topic sentence for each paragraph. You should also ensure proper organization and cohesion. Your paper should be about 600-words (about two doublespaced pages) in length, and should be word-processed. Your primary readers will be your classmates.
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