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Theories of Readinghttp://parlindunganpardede.wordpress.com/articles/language-teaching/a-review-on-reading-theories-and-its-implication-to-the-teaching-of-reading/

So far, there are three main theories which explain the nature of learning to read. First, the traditional theory, or bottomupprocessing, which focused on the printed form of a text. (2) the cognitive view, or top-down processing enhanced the roleof background knowledge in addition to what appeared on the printed page.Third, the metacognitive view, which isbased on the control and manipulation that a reader can have on the act of comprehending a text, and thus, emphasizesthe involvement of the readers thinking about what he is doing while reading.

1. The traditional bottom-up viewThe traditional bottom-up approach to reading was influenced by behaviorist psychology of the 1950s, which claimedlearning was based upon habit formation, brought about by the repeated association of a stimulus with a response andlanguage learning was characterized as a response system that humans acquire through automatic conditioningprocesses, where some patterns of language are reinforced (rewarded) and others are not, and only those patternsreinforced by the community of language users will persist (Omaggio 1993, 45-46). Behaviorism became the basis of theaudio-lingual method, which sought to form second language habits through drilling, repetition, and error correction.

Today, the main method associated with the bottom-up approach to reading is known asphonics, which requires thelearner to match letters with sounds in a defined sequence. According to this view, reading is a linear process by whichreaders decode a text word by word, linking the words into phrases and then sentences (Gray and Rogers, cited in Kucer1987). According to Samuels and Kamil (1988: 25), the emphasis on behaviorism treated reading as a word-recognitionresponse to the stimuli of the printed words, where little attempt was made to explain what went on within the recessesof the mind that allowed the human to make sense of the printed page. In other words, textual comprehension involvesadding the meanings of words to get the meanings of clauses (Anderson 1994). These lower level skills are connected tothe visual stimulus, or print, and are consequently concerned with recognizing and recalling.Like the audio-lingual teaching method, phonics emphasizes on repetition and on drills using the sounds that make upwords. Information is received and processed beginning with the smallest sound units, and proceeded to letter blends,words, phrases, and sentences. Thus, novice readers acquire a set of hierarchically ordered sub-skills that sequentiallybuild toward comprehension ability. Having mastered these skills, readers are viewed as experts who comprehend whatthey read.

The bottom-up model describes information flow as a series of stages that transforms the input and passes it to the next

stage without any feedback or possibility of later stages of the process influencing earlier stages (Stanovich, 1980). In otherwords, language is viewed as a code and the readers main task is to identify graphemes and convert them intophonemes. Consequently, readers are regarded as passive recipients of information in the text. Meaning resides in the textand the reader has to reproduce it.

The ESL and EFL textbooks influenced by this perspective include exercises that focus on literal comprehension and givelittle or no importance to the readers knowledge or experience with the subject matter, and the only interaction is withthe basic building blocks of sounds and words. Most activities are based on recognition and recall of lexical andgrammatical forms with an emphasis on the perceptual and decoding dimension.

This model of reading has almost always been under attack as being insufficient and defective for the main reason that itrelies on the formal features of the language, mainly words and structure. Although it is possible to accept this rejection

for the fact that there is over-reliance on structure in this view, it must be confessed that knowledge of linguistic featuresis also necessary for comprehension to take place. To counteract over-reliance on form in the traditional view of reading,the cognitive view was introduced

2. The Cognitive View (top-down processing)In the 1960s a paradigm shift occurred in the cognitive sciences. Behaviorism became somewhat discredited as the newcognitive theory represented the minds innate capacity for learning, which gave new explanatory power to how humansacquired their first language; this also had a tremendous impact on the field of ESL/EFL as psycholinguists explainedhow such internal representations of the foreign language develop within the learners mind (Omaggio, 1993: 57).

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Ausubel (cited in Omaggio, 1993: 58), made an important distinction between meaningful learning and rote learning. Anexample of rote learning is simply memorizing lists of isolated words or rules in a new language, where the informationbecomes temporary and subject to loss. Meaningful learning, on the other hand, occurs when new information ispresented in a relevant context and is related to what the learner already knows, so that it can be easily integrated intoones existing cognitive structure. A learning that is not meaningful will not become permanent. This emphasis onmeaning eventually informed the top-down approach to L2 learning, and in the 1960s and 1970s there was an explosionof teaching methods and activities that strongly considered the experience and knowledge of the learner.These new cognitive and top-down processing approaches revolutionized the conception of the way students learn toread (Smith, 1994). In this view, reading is not just extracting meaning from a text but a process of connecting information

in the text with the knowledge the reader brings to the act of reading. In this sense, reading is a dialogue between thereader and the text which involves an active cognitive process in which the readers background knowledge plays a keyrole in the creation of meaning (Tierney and Pearson, 1994). Reading is not a passive mechanical activity but purposefuland rational, dependent on the prior knowledge and expectations of the reader. It is not merely a matter of decoding printto sound but also a matter of making sense of written language (Smith, 1994: 2). In short, reading is a psycholinguisticguessing game, a process in which readers sample the text, make hypotheses, confirm or reject them, make newhypotheses, and so forth.

Schema TheoryAnother theory closely related to top-down processing called schema theory also had a major impact on readinginstruction. It describes in detail how the background knowledge of the learner interacts with the reading task andillustrates how a students knowledge and previous experience with the world is crucial to deciphering a text. The ability

to use this schemata, or background knowledge, plays a fundamental role in ones trial to comprehend a text.Schema theory is based on the notion that past experiences lead to the creation of mental frameworks that help a readermake sense of new experiences. Smith (1994: 14) callsschemes the extensive representations of more general patterns orregularities that occur in our experience. For instance ones generic scheme of an airplane will allow him to make senseof airplane he has not previously flied with. This means that past experiences will be related to new experiences, whichmay include the knowledge of objects, situations, and events as well as knowledge of procedures for retrieving,organizing and interpreting information (Kucer, 1987: 31). Anderson (1994: 469) presents research showing that recall ofinformation in a text is affected by the readers schemata and explains that a reader comprehends a message when he isable to bring to mind a schema that gives account of the objects and events described in the message. Comprehension isthe process of activating or constructing a schema that provides a coherent explanation of objects and events mentionedin a discourse (Anderson, 1994: 473). For Anderson and Pearson (1988: 38), comprehension is the interaction between oldand new information. They emphasize: To say that one has comprehended a text is to say that she has found a mental

home for the information in the text, or else that she has modified an existing mental home in order to accommodate thatnew information. Therefore, a learners schemata will restructure itself to accommodate new information as thatinformation is added to the system (Omaggio, 1993)Content and formal schemataSchema theorists differentiateformal schemata (knowledge about the structure of a text) from content schemata (knowledgeabout the subject matter of a text), and a readers prior knowledge of both schemata enables him to predict events andmeaning as well as to infer meaning from a wider context.Formal schemata refers to the way that texts differ from one another; for example, a reading text could be a fictional work,a letter to the editor, or a scientific essay, and each genre will have a different structural organization. Knowledge of thesegenre structures can aid reading comprehension, as it gives readers a basis for predicting what a text will be like (Smith1994). For example, if a reader knows that the typical format of a research article consists of sections subtitled Introduction,Theoretical Basis,Methods, Results, Discussion, and Conclusion, that knowledge will facilitate their interaction with the article

and boost comprehension. On the other hand, if he is not familiar with this formal schema, teaching it to him could leadto improved reading ability with lasting and beneficial effects.Content schemata refers to the message of the text. Ones familiarity with the content will make more productive andefficient. As Anderson (1994: 469) explains, a reader comprehends a message when he is able to bring to mind a schemathat gives account of the objects and events described in the message.

Activating and building schemataSince the reader plays a fundamental role in the construction of meaning, his age, gender, experience, and culture areimportant considerations for teachers who want to select readings that will motivate their students. Anderson (1994)notes that when readers cannot locate a schema that fits a text, they may find it incomprehensible. In some cases readersmay not have a schema that is significant to the text, or they may need help to activate the pertinent schema to be able tocomprehend the text. In such cases it may not be possible for the reader to understand the text, and the teacher must be

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ready to engage in building new background knowledge as well as activating existing background knowledge (Carrell,1988: 248). In parallel with this, Bransford (1994) points out that difficulties in comprehension may be caused by the lackof background knowledge presumed by the text, and he sees the responsibility of instructors as being twofold: to activatepreexisting schemata and to help students to integrate isolated parcels of knowledge into a schema or to build a newone.

If the texts to be read contain a cultural context that is different from the students, the issues of formal and contentschemata become even more important. McDonough (1995), explains that, to a higher extent, this is the reason why ESL

and EFL students find it difficult to read in a second language with texts that contain cultural assumptions of the targetculture. They may lack the culture-specific background knowledge necessary to process the text in a top-down manner.His reports on several studies demonstrate how people outside a given culture may misunderstand events withunfamiliar cultural connotations. (Students from different cultural backgrounds taking standardized tests which assumecommon schemata for will also face the same problem.)

Applying schema theory to L2 readingBased on the aforementioned ideas, it is obvious that in order to teach reading effectively, the teachers role to activateand build schemata is paramount. To achieve it, he should in advance select texts that are relevant to the students needs,preferences, individual differences, and cultures in order to provide meaningful texts so the students understand themessage, which entails activating existing schemata and helping build new schemata. Then, after selecting the text, heneeds to do the following three stages of activities to activate and build the students schemata. (1)Pre-reading activities, in

which the teacher have students think, write, and discuss everything they know about the topic, employing techniquessuch asprediction,semantic mapping, and reconciled reading. The objective is to make sure that students have the relevantschema for understanding the text. (2)During-reading activities, in whichthe teacher guide and monitor the interactionbetween the reader and the text. One important skill teachers can impart at this stage is note-taking, which allowsstudents to compile new vocabulary and important information and details, and to summarize information and recordtheir reactions and opinions. (3)Post-reading activities which facilitate the chance to evaluate students adequacy ofinterpretation, while bearing in mind that accuracy is relative and that readership must be respected as long as thewriters intentions are addressed (Tierney and Pearson, 1994). Post-reading activities focus on a wide range of questionsthat allow for different interpretations.While schema activation and building can occur in all three stages, the pre-reading stage deserves special attention sinceit is here, during the students initial contact with the text, where their schemata will be activated.

Pre-reading activitiesPre-reading activities is aimed to activate existing schemata, build new schemata, and provide information to the teacherabout what the students know. In their report on the positive effect various pre-reading activities had on readingcomprehension, Chen and Graves (1995, 664), define them as devices for bridging the gap between the texts content andthe readers schemata. Various activities and materials can help the teacher introduce key vocabulary and reinforceconcept association to activate both formal and content schemata. Formal schemata will be activated by employingdevices such as advance organizers and overviews to draw attention to the structure of a text. The content schemata willbe activated by using various pre-reading activities to help learners brainstorm and predict how the information fits inwith their previous knowledge.

One of the most important pre-reading activities proposed by schematic theorists isprediction. According to Goodman(1988: 16), prediction is important because the brain is always anticipating and predicting as it seeks order and

significance in sensory inputs. Smith (1994, 1920) defines prediction as the priorelimination of unlikely alternatives.According to him, predictions are questions the readers ask the world and comprehension is receiving the answers. Heemphasizes that it is prediction that makes skilled readers effective when reading texts that contain familiar subjectmatter. Prediction brings potential meaning to texts, reducing ambiguity and eliminating in advance irrelevantalternatives. Thus, we are able to generate comprehensible experience from inert pages of print (Smith 1994, 18).Another pre-reading activity ispreviewing, where students look at titles, headings, andpictures, and read the first fewparagraphs andthe last paragraph; these activities can thenhelp students understand what the text isabout by activatingtheir formal and contentschemata and making them familiar with thetopic before they begin reading in earnest. Semanticmapping is another pre-readingactivity that Carrell, Pharis, and Liberto(1989: 651) describe as a useful way to pre-teachvocabulary and to provide the teacher with anassessment of the students prior knowledge orschema availabilityon the topic. Thisactivity asks students to brainstorm about thereading topic as the information is displayedon agraphic map. As students make associations,the map becomes a thorough summaryof the concepts and vocabulary

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that theywill encounter in the reading. It can also helpbuild schemata and vocabulary that studentsdo not yet possess.Again, it is important toknow something about the students so theselected texts contain the type of material thatis likelyto be familiar and interesting to them.Reutzel (1985) proposes another type of pre-reading activity called reconciled readinglesson, which reverses the sequencepresented by many textbooks where the text is followed by questions. Instead, the teacher develops pre-reading questionsfrom the questions that appear at the end of the reading. Smith (1994) criticizes comprehension exercises presented at theend of a reading because they are like memory tests. He argues that using prior knowledge efficiently contributes tofluent readers, and he believes that there is a reciprocal relationship between visual and non-visual (prior knowledge)information; the more the readers have of the latter, the less they need of the former. Although not all the post-reading

questions can be easily turned into pre-reading ones, this strategy can be invaluable to activate schemata.3. The metacognitive viewAccording to Block (1992), there is now no more debate on whether reading is a bottom-up, language-based process or a top-down, knowledge-based process. It is also no more problematic to accept the influence of background knowledge on readersResearch has gone even further to define the control executed by readers on their trial to understand a text. This control iswhat Block has referred to as meta-cognition.In the context of reading, meta-cognition involves thinking about what one is doing while reading. Strategic readers donot only sample the text, make hypotheses, confirm or reject them, and make new hypotheses while reading. They alsoinvolve many activities along the process of reading, whose stages can be divided into three, i.e. before reading, whilereading, and after reading. The activities the readers involve before reading are to identify the purpose of the reading,identify the form or type of the text. In the second stage (while reading), they think about the general character andfeatures of the form or type of the textsuch as trying to locate a topic sentence and follow supporting details toward a

conclusion, project the authors purpose for writing the text, choose, scan, or read in detail, make continuous predictionsabout what will occur next based on information obtained earlier, prior knowledge, and conclusions obtained within theprevious stages. Finally, in the last stage, they attempt to form a summary, conclude, or make inference of what was read.

Guidelines for Effective Teaching of ReadingAfter discussing the ideas and concepts presented in the three reading theories, we are now on the position of arrangingtips and guidelines for implementing a theory of reading which will help to develop our learners abilities. These tips arearranged in three sections which are parallel with the three consecutive reading stages: before reading, during reading,and after reading.

Pre-Reading TipsBefore the actual act of reading a text begins, some points should be regarded in order to make the process of readingmore comprehensible. First, teachers need to make sure that the texts to read contain words and grammatical structuresfamiliar to the learners. If the texts contain unfamiliar vocabulary, teachers can introduce key vocabulary in pre-readingactivities that focus on language awareness, such as finding synonyms, antonyms, derivatives, or associated words.Second, teachers should make sure that the topics of texts chosen are in accordance with the age range, interests, sex, andbackground culture of the students for whom they are intended. If they are not, it is necessary to provide the necessarybackground information to the reader to facilitate comprehension. This activity could be carried out by letting the classmembers brainstorm ideas about the meaning of a title or an illustration and discuss what they know.

The followings are some activities teacher can use during the pre-reading stage. These activities will not take a very longtime to carry out. However, they are very effective in overcoming the common urge to start reading a text closely rightaway from the beginning.

1. Teacher-directed pre-reading, in which some key vocabulary, ideas in the text, and the type of the text are explained.In this approach the teacher directly explains the information the students will need, including key concepts,important vocabulary, and appropriate conceptual framework. The text types are also necessary to introduce becausetexts may take on different forms and hold certain pieces of information in different places. The students familiaritywith the types of the text they are reading will develop their understanding of the layout of the material. Suchfamiliarity will, in turn, enable them to focus more deeply on the parts that are more densely compacted withinformation. Even paying attention to the year of publication of a text, if applicable, may aid the reader inpresuppositions about the text as can glancing at the name of the author.

1. Interactive activities, in which the teacher leads a discussion in which he/she draws out the information studentsalready have and interjects additional information deemed necessary to an understanding of the text to be read.Moreover, the teacher can make explicit links between prior knowledge and important information in the text.

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1. Reflective activities, in which students are guided to make themselves aware of the purpose and goal for reading acertain piece of written material. At the beginning stages this can be done by the teacher, but as the reader becomesmore mature this strategy can be left to the readers. For instance, the students may be guided to ask themselves,Whyam I reading this text? What do I want to do or know after finished reading this? Being aware of their purpose and goal toread, laterin during reading activitiesthey can determine what skill(s) to employ: skimming, scanning, readingfor details, or critical reading

During-reading tipsThe activities carried out in during-reading stage consist of taking notes, reacting, predicting, selecting significantinformation, questioning the writers position, evaluating, and placing a text within ones own experience. Theseprocesses may be the most complex to develop in a classroom setting, the reason being that in English reading classesmost attention is often paid to dictionaries, the text, and the teacher. The followings are tips that encourage active readingPracticing them will help the students be active readers.

1. Making predictions: The students should be taught to be on the watch to predict what is going to happen next in thetext to be able to integrate and combine what has come with what is to come.

2. Making selections: Readers who are more proficient read selectively, continually making decisions about theirreading.

3. I

ntegrating prior knowledge: The schemata that have been activated in the pre-reading section should be called uponto facilitate comprehension.4. Skipping insignificant parts: A good reader will concentrate on significant pieces of information while skipping

insignificant pieces.5. Re-reading: Students should be encouraged to become sensitive to the effect of reading on their comprehension.6. Making use of context or guessing: Students should not be encouraged to define and understand every single

unknown word in a text. Instead they should learn to make use of context to guess the meaning of unknown words.7. Breaking words into their component parts: To keep the process of comprehension ongoing, efficient readers analyze

unfamiliar words by break them into their affixes or bases. These parts can help them guess the meaning of a word.8. Reading in chunks: To ensure reading speed, students should get used to reading groups of words together. This act

will also enhance comprehension by focusing on groups of meaning-conveying symbols simultaneously.9. Pausing: Good readers will pause at certain places while reading a text to absorb and internalize the material being

read and sort out information.10. Paraphrasing: While reading texts, it may be necessary to paraphrase and interpret texts sub-vocally in order to verify

what was comprehended.11. Monitoring: Good readers monitor their understanding to evaluate whether the text, or the reading of it, is meeting

their goals.After-reading tips

12. Post-reading activities basically depend on the purpose of reading and the type of information extracted from thetext. Barnett (1988) states that post-reading exercises first check students comprehension and then lead studentsto a deeper analysis of the text. In the real world the purpose of reading is not to memorize an authors point ofview or to summarize text content, but rather to see into another mind, or to engage new information with whatone already knows. Group discussion will help students focus on information they did not comprehend, or didcomprehend correctly. Accordingly, attention will be focused on processes that lead to comprehension ormiscomprehension.

13. Generally speaking, post-reading can take the form of these various activities: (1) discussing the text:written/oral, (2) summarizing: written/oral, (3) making questions: written/oral, (3) answering questions:written/oral, (4) filling in forms and charts (5) writing reading logs (6) completing a text, (7) listening to orreading other related materials, and (7) role-playing.

RESEARCHED BY: FARNAIDA L. ABUBACAR, MAT-ENGLISH JULY 01, 2011

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