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8/20/2019 Theories of Reading and Implications for Teachers
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THEORIES OF RE DING
ND
IMPLIC TIONS FOR TE CHERS
E arcia Sheridan
INDI N
UNIV RSITY
T
SOUTH END
When reading cur ren t r e sea rch , one i s overwhelmed
by the p r o l i f e r a t i o n of new t h e o r i e s of the reading
process . The purpose of
t h i s paper i s
to present the
p re v a i l i n g t h e o r i e s of reading
comprehension,
to ex-
amine
t h e i r
s i m i l a r i t i e s
and
d i f fe rences ,
and
dete rmine
whether t he y a re d i s t i n c t l y d i f f e r en t o r represen t a
gene ra l t heo ry of cogni t ive development
s p e c i f i c a l l y
app l i ed to read ing .
SKILLS MO EL
The
t r a d i t i o n a l
de f i n i t i on of reading
comprehension
as
t i s i n t e r p r e t ed
by the au thors
and w r i t e r s o f
basa l
readers and l i t e r a t u r e anthologies , r e s u l t s
in
the t each i ng of
reading
t h rough
sepa ra t e ly def ined
comprehension s k i l l s ,
and could be ca l l ed
a s k i l l s
model . S k i l l s , sepa ra t e ly t aught in a l o g i c a l and se -
quen t ia l
order ,
i s
thought
to
r e s u l t
in
the
improved
comprehension
of t ex t ua l mate r i a l .
The
t r a d i t i o n a l s k i l l s model view of
reading
i s
a bottom up or data
dr iven
proc e s s ing
model.
In t h i s
view
of r ead i ng , l e t t e r s are perce ived in
a
l e f t to
r i gh t sequence u n t i l a word
i s
perce ived as a whole,
meaning i s obta ined and r e l a t e d to
o t he r words in the
sentence , thus
a c t i v a t i n g
the dominant schema
and
ts
p a r t i c u l a r
concepts .
PSY HOLINGUISTI THEORISTS
About
t en
years
ago,
the psycho l ingu i s t i c
model
of reading
began
to as s e r t t ha t con t ra ry to
t h i s
view
of
reading as a
sequence
of s k i l l s which one could
t each , reading i s in a c tua l i t y a process of
pred ic t ing
meaning based on
the
r eade r ' s knowledge of o ra l l a n -
guage
syntax ,
semant ics ,
and
phonologica l cues . In
o the r
words,
based on
the r eade r ' s
s to re
of in format ion
about
how
language
works
from h is knowledge
of
o ra l
l anguage ,
a r eade r a l r2ady knows something
about
how
words a re orde red and what k inds of meaning words
pos-
se s s in c e r t a i n
con t ex t s .
The e a r ly psycho l ingu i s t i c model
i s
pr imar i ly a
top down
or
c onc e p tua l ly
dr iven
model where
the
empha-
s i s i s
on pred ic t ion of
meaning.
Ult imate ly . t i s the
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rh 67
concepts which generate a search fo r the data or words
to confirm
these predic t ions . (Goodman) Within
t h i s
perspect ive Smith defines reading comprehension
as
mak
ing sense out of
what you
read
by
using
what you
know,
or the
theory
of the
world
which
you have in your
head.
Essen t ia l ly
the
reader i s expected
to use pr i o r
know
ledge and experience with
language
to get meaning from
pr in t .
A
charac te r i s t i c
in
the
development of both
the
s k i l l s and
psychol inguis t ic
theor ies of reading compre
hension i s the
use
of paradigms or
models
from computer
sc ience . (Goodman; LaBerge and Samuels; Ruddell)
Rum-
melhar t ' s
informat ion process ing
model
i n t egra te s
both
the top-down and bottom-up processing concepts i n to
his
i n t e rac t ive theory
of
reading comprehension.
In
th i s
view, while the reader i s processing fea tu res ,
l e t t e r s , spe l l ing
pat
t e rns , e tc . ,
a t
the
same
t ime he
or she
i s also a t tending to
genera l
context ,
syntax,
and the semantic and syntac t ic environment in
which
the
words occur
and from
which
an i n t e rp re t a t ion of
meaning i s made.
SCHEM
THEORY
A more
recen t theory
of
reading comprehension i s
cal led schema theory or the schema perspec t ive .
The
goal
of
schema
theory
i s
to
descr ibe
in te rac t ion
between what i s in the t ext and
how
tha t information
i s shaped and s tored
by
the
reader .
(Adams and Col l ins)
The under lying
assumption
i s t ha t meaning does
not l i e
sole ly in the
pr in t
i t s e l f , but
i n t e rac t s
with
the
cog
ni t ive s t ruc tu re or schemata a l ready presen t in
the
reade r ' s mind. These
schemata
represent ,
in Ausubel 's
terms,
the
idea t iona l scaf folding
or
framework
fo r
understanding new
informat ion.
Thus the reader has pre -
sent in cognit ive s t ruc tu re schemata which cons t i tu te
a cognit ive f i l t e r through which one views the world
and
from
which one predic ts
or
makes inferences about
what
i s
read.
Schemata,
according to Rummelhart
and
Ortony, re -
present
generic concepts which
are
s tored
in memory.
The way in which a
par t i cu la r
concept
i s
s tored i s not
by
remembering
tha t
i so la ted event
in i t s t o t a l i t y
down
to
i t s
most bas ic components,
but
by iden t i fy ing those
aspects
of
the
event re la ted
to
other concepts al ready
s tored. We
make
connect ions between the information
in
the t ex t
and what
we
already
know.
A par t icu la r schema would be analogous to a play
with i t s
i n t egra l s t ruc tu re corresponding to
the
sc r i p t
of
the
play (Rummelhart and Ortony) .
So
a schema repre -
sents
genera l ized
knowledge about a
sequence
of
even ts
and, as
a
play has
a
cas t of charac te r s
and a
sequence
of scenes,
a schema
has
i t s par t s and sequenced events .
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68 rh
e
comprehend
the
message
in a
t e x t when
we are
able to c a l l up thp appropr ia te schema, f i t t i n g it i n to
an
i n t p r p n ~ t a t i on which
a l lows
us
to
see
the
t e x t in
a
c e r t a i n
way.
What
we
s to re
i s
the
i n t e r p r e t a t i o n
of
the
t e x t ,
which we then
c a l l up
to
make i n f e rences
about
a u t h o r s purpose , s p e c i f i c
cha rac t e r s ,
and so
on
in
o the r
s i mi l a r t e x t s .
Genera l ized schemata
al low
us to l e a rn or make
sense
o f
a
wide a r r ay of informat ion
or
very
abs t r ac t
ideas ,
and these
gene ra l i zed schemata can
be modif ied
or
adap ted
as we
l e a rn new
in format ion .
This
i dea
i s
a lmost
i d e n t i c a l to the Piage t i an concepts of ass imi -
l a t i o n
and accommodation except t ha t schema t he o ry
l i m i t s the input to
pr in t ed
mate r ia l . In
P i a g e t
s
de-
f i n i t i o n
a s s im i l a t i o n t akes place
when
new
knowledge
i s i n t e g ra t e d i n to
a
preex i s t ing knowledge base . Thus,
accommodation occurs when
the
knowledge
base , or a
schema i s changed in
order
to it in new in format ion .
e
can
cons t ruc t
very
s p e c i f i c schema to
account
fo r s i t u a t i o n s
and
events
which occur f r equen t ly
in
our
environment .
This a l lows us to process
t h i s
i n f o r -
mation f a s t e r and
eas i e r by
he lp ing
us
focus on
a
pa t t e r n of elements which occurs both in the s to red
schema
and
in
the t e x t .
p a r t i c u l a r r e a d e r s i n t e rp re t a t i on of a pr in ted
message
i s
in f luenced
by the r e a d e r s
personal
back-
ground and h i s t o r y , knowledge,
and
the be l i e f s
which
a re brought to
bear
in cons t ruc t ing
schemata
to provide
the i n t e r p r e t a t i v e framework fo r comprehending d i s -
course . The
e f f e c t
of
pr i o r exper ience
can be
so
grea t
t ha t
a
reader may perce ive
only one
i n t e rp re t a t i on fo r
a t e x t
to the
exclus ion
of o the r poss ib l e
i n t e r p r e t a -
t i ons . Anderson, Ju ly , 1976)
Anderson
and others ( Ju ly , 1976) conducted an ex-
per iment
with
col l ege s tuden t s
from
two
d i f f e r e n t
d i s c i p l i n e s .
Each
group was
asked
to
read
two
passages
each
of which
was
s u f f i c i e n t l y
ambiguous so t h a t it
could be
i n t e r p r e t ed
in
ways r e l a t ed
to
e i the r of the
two d i s c i p l i n e s .
Scores
on
mul t i p l e choice and o the r
t e s t s ind ica ted t ha t
t he re
was
a s t r i k ing
r e l a t i o n -
sh i p between i n t e rp re t a t i on
and pro fe s s iona l d i s c i -
p l in e .
Most
subj ec t s were unaware t ha t more than one
i n t e r p r e t a t i o n was
poss ib l e
fo r
each
of the passages .
The exper imente r s s t a t e d
t ha t
the r e s u l t s i nd ica t ed
t ha t
h igh
l eve l schemata in f luenced the
i n t e r p r e t a t i o n s
of
t hese passages .
Schemata serve as the
bas i s fo r making in fe rences
or
reading
between
the
l i ne s
and
fo r
making
pred ic t ions
based
on obse rva t i on
of only pa r t of
the
input . Sche-
mata a l s o
serve
as
the
veh ic l e s fo r
search ing
memory
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rh 69
fo r previously
read
mater ia l
and recons t ruct ing mean-
ing.
IMPLIC TIONS
OR
INSTRUCTION
We
can
see
t ha t schema theory
has
placed new
empha-
s i s
on
var ious
par ts
of
the
teach ing p rocess , pa r t i c u
l a r ly the
importance
of
ut i l i z ing preex is t ing knowledge
and experience of the reader , se t t i ng
purposes
fo r
reading,
and asking
appropr ia te ques t ions
before and
a f te r reading.
While
we have always
deplored
the
t eacher
who
in
s t ruc ted
s tudents to read from pages 91 to 124, the
importance
of motivating
and bui lding in te r e s t as wel l
as assess ing the knowledge and exper ience of the reader
before
having
the
student
read
i s
more
important
in
l i gh t
of the
schema
theory. The
secondary
reading
teacher
needs to
determine
whether
the
s tudents
have
the
general background knowledge or exper ience to
under
stand what
they
are reading as
well as how
to use it
For the
remedial
student
with
l imi ted exper ience in
reading,
re la t ionsh ips
or
s im i l a r i t i e s to v icar ious
or r e a l - l i f e s i tua t ions
need to be
drawn. Students
also need to
become
aware
of
the i r personal a t t i tudes
and be l i e f s
which
can shape t h e i r i n t e rp re t a t ion of
a
t ex t ,
giving
it
a
meaning
unl ike
tha t which
the
author in tended.
When
an
ex is t ing
schema
i s
i nappropr i
a te to account for
the informat ion
in the t ex t , t eacher
wil l
need
to
help s tudents modify the schema or
s h i f t
gears
to
another more appropr ia te
schema.
I t
seems ra ther
evident t ha t i f
we want s tuden t s
to comprehend
a t ex t in a par t i cu la r way,
tha t
we
must
ass i s t them in
se t t ing
up
a cogni t ive
s t ruc tu re fo r
doing so. I t
should also
be apparent
tha t
we cannot
presume
tha t s tudents have schemata
fo r
a l l poss ible
purposes
for reading.
Ins t ruc t ion
should
provide
ap-
propr ia te models or exemplars
so
t ha t s tudents can
develop
schemata which can
be
used
as
the
bas i s fo r
in fe r r ing
when faced with
the
purpose
in another
context .
Vocabulary
development
becomes more
than
simply
in troducing words,
looking up
def in i t ions
in
the d ic
t ionary , and using
the
words in
sen tences . Developing
vocabulary means
developing concepts fo r words,
and
seeing how
they
are
a l ike or di f fe ren t from other words.
Since Socrates i f not before) t eachers have recog-
nized
the
importance and value of
ques t ion ing . To a
somewhat
s imi la r
end,
reading
mater i a l s
have
at tempted
to
generate
quest ions
a t a
var ie ty of co'mprehension
leve ls
following a taxonomic mode. The s t ruc tu re of
a comprehension
taxonomy
presupposes
t ha t
higher
order
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7o rh
unders tandings
a re based on
the
a c q u i s i t i o n of lower
orde r knowledge. Yet
we have a l l had
exper iences of
s tuden t s
answer ing so -ca l l ed
higher orde r or eva lua t ive
ques t i ons
abouL
a
Lext
without
r eca l l i ng
some
l l L e r a l
f ac t s i n the s to ry , and
giv ing
a
low
l eve l response
to a high l eve l ques t ion . s we
begin to focus
on
read ing comprehension
in a more whol i s t i c
way the
over lapping na t u re
of
comprehension
s k i l l s
as wel l as
the
impor tance of knowing which to use and
how
to i n t e
gra te t h i s
i n to
one ' s cogn i t i ve
s t ru c tu r e
becomes more
the i s sue .
Hopeful ly
the
most s i g n i f i c a n t
r e s u l t
of
recent
re sea rch on comprehension
would be to see
the demise
o f
the p ra c t i c e of
t eaching
s k i l l s in
i s o l a t i on .
Anyone
who
has
worked
with
remedia l
r eade r s
has noted
t ha t
some
of
them a re unable to t r a n s f e r
the
knowledge of
s k i l l s
developed
in i s o l a t i on in to context
whi le
read ing .
The
s i t u a t i o n
of s tuden t s t ry ing to outguess
the
t e ache r must be
changed. t eacher must f i r s t asses s
s tuden t s ' menta l
background
so
t ha t
new mate r i a l
can
be r e l a t ed to what
i s
known.
The process of l e a rn ing from wri t t en mater ia l must
be
made
more e f f i c i e n t .
Students
need
to be
compensated
fo r t ak ing
r i s k s
and specu la t ing about meaning. I f the
t e ache r w i l l
give t r u s t
and
conf idence
t o s tuden t s ,
s /he
w i l l
f ind them more wil l ing to
r e l a t e
how a pas
sage may have a
spec i f i c
meaning fo r them.
This
process
l e ads to f r ee exchange of i deas about why passages have
var i ous i n t e rp re t a t i ons fo r d i f f e r e n t people .
The
c la s s
may
t hus avoid
the
numbing
process
of the t e a c h e r ' s
eva lua t ing i n t e r p r e t a t i o n s by absolu te au tho r i ty .
ON LUSION
In examining the var ious
t h e o r i e s
of reading com-
prehens ion
one
i s
s t ruck
by
the
p r o l i f e r a t i o n
of
d i f
f e r e n t
te rms,
and what s u p e r f i c i a l l y appear to be
d i f f e r e n t t heo r i e s . There
seems
to
be
a tendency fo r
r e sea rche r s t o coin
a new te rm
whenever
they propose
a new pe r spec t ive on the reading comprehension
process ,
l eav i ng t
up to
the r eade r
t o d i sce rn
whether
and
how
t h i s i s
d i f f e r e n t
from or s im i l a r t o o t he r t h e o r i e s .
We
a re
beginning to
i n t eg r a t e the reading process
i n to
l a r ge r t h e o r i e s o f
cogni t ive
development and l e a rn ing .
For the mature r eade r , reading i s an
a c t i v e
process
and unders tanding what you read i s
as
much what i s
a l ready in your head as what i s on the page.
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rh 71
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the
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