What is a reading model?

What is a reading model?

Introduction
	In the last 40 years reading researchers have been studying the link between the reading process (what goes on in the brain) and how to teach reading. Depending on their interpretation of the reading process, they have developed a model of reading.

Definition
	A reading model is a graphic attempt “to depict how an individual perceives a word, processes a clause, and comprehends a text.” (Singer and Ruddell 1985)

Kinds

Here are some kinds of reading models.

Although there are many models of reading, reading researchers tend to classify them into three kinds.

Top-down
- Emphasizes what the reader brings to the text, such as prior knowledge and experiences
- Says comprehension begins in the mind of the reader, who already has some ideas about the meaning of the text
- Proceeds from whole to part
  
  Example:
  Reader's prior knowledge to semantic cues to syntactic cues to other more specific information
Bottom-up
- Emphasizes the written or printed text
- Says comprehension begins by processing the smallest linguistic unit (phoneme), and working toward larger units (syllables, words, phrases, sentences)
- Proceeds from part to whole
  
  Example:
  Phoneme to syllable to word to sentence
Interactive
- Recognizes the interaction of bottom-up and top-down processes simultaneously throughout the reading process.

See also
	Reading research

Sources
	Adams 1990 Barr, Sadow, and Blachowicz 1990 Carroll 1985 Dechant 1991 Flesch 1955 Gough 1985 Gray 1984 Gudschinsky 1973 Harste 1978 Keller-Cohen 1993 Klein, Peterson, and Simington 1991 LaBerge 1985 McClelland 1988 McCormick 1988 Rumelhart 1985 Samuels 1979 Singer and Ruddell 1985 Weaver, C. 1980 Weaver 1988

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Page content last modified: 27 July 1999