Helping low - level learners

use bottom-up processing

strategies to understand
reading texts
Language Systems Assessment 3

31-Aug-13
Distance Delta
Kateryna Kirichenko
Table of Contents
Introduction 153 ..................................................................................................................................... 2
Analysis ................................................................................................................................................... 4
Reading and theories ........................................................................................................................... 4
Bottom-up strategies ........................................................................................................................... 5
Problems and solutions ........................................................................................................................... 8
Problem One Associating letter with sounds ........................................................................................ 8
Solution One........................................................................................................................................ 8
Problem Two Morphology (word formation – parts of speech) ............................................................ 9
Solution Two ....................................................................................................................................... 9
Problem Three Lack of Vocabulary ....................................................................................................... 9
Solutions Three ................................................................................................................................... 9
Problem Four Understanding cohesive devices (conjunctions) ........................................................... 10
Solution Four: .................................................................................................................................... 10
Problem five Understanding referential pronouns ............................................................................. 11
Solution Five ...................................................................................................................................... 11
Bibliography .......................................................................................................................................... 11
Commented [JG1]: Break up the analysis in to key areas for the
sub-headings – these should come back in the problems and
solutions too – so this should help you keep the theme running
Hi Jon, through the lsa as a whole....and edit out any individual WCs etc.

I'm uploading the draft for the BE and the lesson plan (in one document). This is somehow the
most difficult LSA BE for me up to now. I was struggling to identify the actual skills (when I did
writing there was a list of them in DELTA materials) as there are way too many and then
identifying which ones are bottom-up only. I understand that they are in constant interplay
with too-down, but I don’t see how I could do both and for my learners bottom-up are more
important in my opinion. And I’ve already exceeded word limit in my analysis…

So, I will be relying heavily on your feedback as I am not exactly sure if I'm going in a right
direction.

OK!! Let’s have a look!!jon

Thank you!

Katya
Hi Katya!

Here are my comments in general, however please do review comments on your LSA 2 and the
very useful guidance in the end of Unit 5 summary and Feedback on the DD website

Well done for having a go at this clearly thorny area – you’ve done lots of useful reading and research –
now it’s a question of shaping it up to meet the D criteria.

At present the focus as defined by your research is rather too broad. My key suggestion would be to
work backwards from the problems and solutions and then highlight the key areas that underlie these in
the analysis –this will help us meet 2d) it’s not a good idea to go into new areas of analysis in the
problems and solutions sections. The problems need to relate closely to your low level learners (add
background too it can be reasonably broad –see below to meet 3b). The solutions should be presented
as if you are already familiar with them and focus on clearly reconstructable classroom activities – so get
a colleague to review them – would they know what to do in the classroom? When you evaluate them
refer back to your problem – to what extent does this meet the problem – clearly state why.

Title / scope Fine – narrowed down to low level and broad sub-skill

Refs to sources You seem aware of the need to critically comment on your sources – yes this is
important – your voice is occasionally heard, but you could be more persuasive with this in parts. Refer
more directly to your experience of teaching reading skills to low level learners. From summary:
Interpretative comment Remember the importance of adding sufficient interpretative (and critical)
comment to demonstrate your understanding of the reading and research you have done.

“It’s good to see that you are doing a lot of background reading and research, but beware of putting
together assignments that come across as a series of quotes from authors without any of your
‘voice’ in there. It’s important for us to see what your opinion is too.”

Make sure you link your experience to your reading and research. Your experience may lead you to doubt the
received wisdom you read or it may support it. Say which it does and why”.

Analysis There is quite a lot of repetition here so we should be able to slim it down reasonably easily.
Bring out key features of the b/up process and give them sub-headings (consider sticking to just 2 font
sizes?) – this should allow you to be a little more succinct. Consider reviewing the long Grabe quote.
Bear in mind your focus i.e. low level learners – commenting on what sub-skills would be most
appropriate for them. Some of this section seems like work in progress. Your experience has lead you
to some appropriate problems for learners however. In order to meet 2d) we need show that we
highlight key features that return in the problems – so consider working backwards to better focus your
analysis section. E.g. this will mean a greater exploration of phonics / orthography for problem 1 / a
greater look at syntax for problem 2 – how parts of speech are worked through (syntactic processing) –
and so on. Similarly if you feel that a key part of the analysis such a eye direction is very relevant to your
learning context, develop this (e.g. getting Arab beginners to find the first word on page 11) and ensure
it follows through to meet 2d).

Problems Remember the importance of range of contexts 3b) here – naturally you must stay with low
level learners as you do (but inconsistently check this) – but consider also different learning contexts
too including learner styles here: a range of teaching contexts can include things like age, level,
motivation for learning, type of class etc.

Solutions Here you should go for the reconstructable lesson (I would avoid phrases such as discuss with
learners – you need a clear framework with achievable outcomes) – keep your focus on clear aim
(review?) procedure – phrase these as if you have used them a few times and are quite familiar with
them – and then when you come to evaluate – make sure this relates directly back to the problem
context you have described earlier.

Hope these are clear / helpful! All the very best JON

Introduction 153
Having learned English myself, I believe that reading is one of the key parts of language learning. My
teaching experience has shown that students who read often make faster progress learning the
language.

After reading about different theories reading I have decided to focus on bottom-up skills in this essay.
While I believe that interactive model is the most comprehensive, I also believe that bottom –up skills
deserve more attention. Especially for learners whose native language has a different script (Japanese,
Chinese, Arabic, etc.). At the moment I teach Arabic learners and a lot of them struggle with reading
simply because they lack low-level skills. This also affects their writing skills and becomes an obstacle
when it comes to exams and/or further academic study. Commented [JG2]: Fine and clear

Analysis

Reading and theories

Defining reading isn’t easy. It is a complex process. While it is often referred to as a “receptive skill” it
isn’t passive - while reading, people ‘interact’ with the text, they bring their own knowledge and Commented [JG3]: Source?
experience to the text in order to interpret and understand it. So it is an active, even interactive process.

W. Grabe gives the following characteristics of reading process:

 Reading is rapid – the readers need to read at a certain speed to be able to make connections
and process the data.
  Reading is purposeful – the readers have a reason to read. This gives them a motivation to read.
The purpose also defines the skills and strategies needed to fulfil the purpose of reading.
 Reading is interactive – the readers apply their own knowledge to the information in the text to Commented [JG4]: Work with the top down contrast?

make sense of it. Also different kinds of skills (lower and higher level) work together and to help
the reader.
 Reading is comprehensive – the reader expects to understand the text. Commented [JG5]: Not sure how useful this kind of point is –
see my comment below
 Reading is flexible – the readers employ many different skills and strategies, they go back in the
text to when needed, they predict what will happen next.
 Reading develops gradually – nobody becomes a fluent reader instantaneously. It is a result of a
long term effort. Commented [JG6]: This is a big lift Katya – I think it would be
better to make sure that you comment on any key areas – you can
(Grabe, 1991) keep your low level learners in mind during this part of the
assignment – so what of the above areas do you think are
In their attempts to model the reading process the researchers have developed three main models: particularly useful for your context? Remember the importance of
adding some clear critical and/or interpretative comment – to
demonstrate your understanding of your research – make directs
1. Bottom-up – this model was the earliest and was mainly developed by P.B. Gough. It is used to refs to your own experience to endorse or counter key points here
describe how the readers decode the letters ad words and use their lexical and grammatical
knowledge to understand it. (Hedge, 2000). The popular phonics teaching method is associated
with bottom-up approach and many believe that bottom-up strategies are only about decoding
letters or words. However, in my opinion, there is much more to it. As S. Silberstein wrote: Commented [JG7]: Yes – this kind of criticality
‘bottom-up reading requires language processing at all level: word, sentence, and discourse’
(Silberstein, 1994, p. 7).
2. Top-down – this model is usually associated with K.S Goodman and F. Smith. In top-down
approach the readers use their prior knowledge to understand the text. Commented [JG8]: Probably worth a little more
3. Interactive - this model combines both the bottom-up and top-down approaches. According to
its proponents (Stanovich, Rumelhart, etc.) successful readers use both sets of skills while
reading. Commented [JG9]: And in your experience?

Bottom-up strategies
‘Good readers recognise and decode quickly and accurately, words, grammatical structures, and other
linguistic features’. Commented [JG10]: Cut – you’ve already made this point and
used Hedge above?
(Hedge, 2000, p. 92)

A lot have been written on reading processes but it seems that top-down reading processes are often
seen as more important (even when discussing the interactive model) and bottom-up (which is often
referred to as ‘mechanical’ or ‘traditional’) gets a lot less attention. When researching for this paper I
had difficulties finding literature that focused on bottom -up until I found B. Birch’s book ‘English L2
Reading: Getting to the bottom’ (2006). She argues that bottom up processing has been ‘virtually Commented [JG11]: Cut or stick in to your intro to back up
your interest in this area
ignored’ (Birch, 2002) and emphasises the importance of lower level skills for becoming a proficient
reader. One of the popular reading teaching methods associated with bottom-up processes is phonics, Commented [JG12]: You’ve already made this point earlier too
which describes the relationship between the written letter and spoken sounds represented by them.
While it has received a lot of criticism by the proponents of the ‘whole language’ approach, it has been
successfully used to teach children (and adult L2 learners) to read.

According to Grabe’s taxonomy of reading skills there are 6 different categories:

• automatic recognition skills

• vocabulary & structural knowledge

• formal discourse structure knowledge

• content/word background knowledge

• synthesis & evaluation skills

• metacognitive knowledge & skills monitoring

(Grabe, 1991)

For the purposes of this essay I will be focussing on the first three as they are associated with bottom-up
model concentrating on the skills low-level learners use when reading. As Ulijin and Salager-Meyer Commented [JG13]: Ok – this could come earlier and thus help
with slimming down the analysis – this seems to be where you hit
(1998) note in their studies that helping students of low L2 proficiency to improve their word- the kernel of the essay.
identification skill is a more important goal than helping them to develop problem-solving skills such as
using context to figure out interpretations, intentions and conclusions

Automatic recognition skills

Eye movement:

Efficient readers move their eyes left to right (in English), following the text. However, they do not move
continuously in one line, but rather jump between the words/chunks of words. These jumps are called
fixations. Good readers have fewer fixations, taking in a few words at a time by chunking the words into
sense groups. (Nuttal, 1996).For example the sentence My old cat always sleeps in the afternoon will be
processed in following chunks: My old cat / always sleeps / in the afternoon.

As we can see, the good readers do not pause to consider the meaning of individual words which
increases the speed and the understanding of the text.

Phonemes:

develop efficient grapheme-to-phoneme knowledge (Birch p. 101). Commented [JG14]: Exemplify / gloss to show your
understanding
Morphemes:

Morphemes are the smallest units of language that contain meaning. The word bat makes sense in itself,
but the addition of s makes bats either a plural noun, (bats have been at the mulberry tree) or a present
tense verb with a singular subject (he bats left–handed). In the word unhelpful, the prefix un changes the
meaning of helpful to its opposite.

Expert English readers store common morphemes with their phonological representations and can read
them efficiently. Birch p. 114

p. 108 Birch, in reading p. 114

Bound (inflectional) and free Commented [JG15]: This looks like work in progress – you
could check out Perfetti & Hart 2001 in Grabe reading in a second
language (CUP2009) for the orthographic/phonology / semantic /
syntactic breakdown via a table?

vocabulary & structural knowledge

Fluent readers have a wide range of receptive vocabulary and knowledge of syntax that help them
understand the text.

Birch p. 128 Commented [JG16]: See my general point about the big
quotes
using morphological cues – grammar

inferring meaning from context – vocabulary

complex sentences (coordination and subordination) – syntax

Some studies suggest that lexical knowledge is the basis of reading comprehension (Sandy Urquhart and
Cyril Weir, 1998). Other studies suggest that lexical knowledge must also be supported by syntactic
knowledge (Nuttal, 1996). Commented [JG17]: And your take on this -?

Sustaining the ambiguity of authentic reading – not even native speakers know every word in their
language. Efficient readers understand know which words they need to know to extract the meaning
from a text. (Silberstein, 1994). For example, when reading about sea animals in an encyclopaedia, one
doesn’t need to be familiar with all species to understand the gist of the article.

formal discourse structure knowledge

Recognising discourse signals – understanding discourse signals is extremely important for efficient
reading.

Table 16.1. Types of Discourse Markers (Mackay, 1987, p.254) can I insert it as an appendix? Commented [JG18]: Well – see my point about relevance to
your low level learners – I would be tempted to acknowledge this in
passing
Notional category/meaning Marker
first(ly), second(ly), third(ly), one, two, three / a,
1. Enumerative
b, c, next, then, finally, last(ly), in the first /
Introduce in order in which points are to be
second place, for one thing / for another thing,
made or the time sequence in which actions or
to begin with, subsequently, eventually, finally,
processes took place.
in the end, to conclude
2. Additive
2.1 Reinforcing. Introduces a reinforcement or
confirmation of what has preceded.
2.2 Similarity. Introduces a statement of
similarity with what has preceded.
2.3 Transition. Introduces a new stage in the
sequence of presentation of information.
3. Logical Sequence
3.1 Summative. Introduces a summary of what
has preceded.
3.2 Resultative
Introduces an expression of the result or
consequence of what preceded (and includes
inductive and deductive acts).
4. Explicative
Introduces an explanation or reformulation of
what preceded.
5. Illustrative
Introduces an illustration or example of what
preceded.
6. Contrastive
6.1 Replacive. Introduces an alternative to whatthen, on the other hand
preceded.
6.2 Antithetic. Introduces information in
opposition to what preceded.
6.3 Concessive. Introduces information which is nonetheless, notwithstanding, still, though,
unexpected in view of what preceded.
McKay, R., 1987. Teaching the information gathering skills. In Long and Richards 1987.
again, then again, also, moreover, furthermore,
in addition, above all, what is more equally,
likewise, similarly, correspondingly, in the same
way
now, well incidentally, by the way. O.K., fine
so, so far, altogether, overall, then, thus,
therefore, in short, to sum up, to conclude, to
summarize so, as a result, consequently, hence,
now, therefore, thus, as a consequence, in
consequence
namely, in other words, that is to say, better,
rather, by (this) we mean
for example, for instance
alternatively, (or) again, (or) rather, (but)
conversely, instead, then, on the contrary, by
contrast, on the other hand
anyway, anyhow, however, nevertheless,
yet, for all that, in spite of (that), at the same
time, all the same

Problems and solutions

Problem One Associating letter with sounds

A lot of English learners have difficulties understanding how letters/combinations of letters form
sounds. Arabic learners have difficulties differentiating between vowel sounds such as /æ/, /ʌ/ and /e/
or /i:/ and /ɪ/; and some consonants such as /p/ and /b/ or /g/ and /ʤ/. Often when they read a word
they don’t associate it’s written form with its pronunciation and need to ask for it (Some students asked
me what gym /gɪm/ was and when I said gym /ʤɪm/? They all said that they know the meaning.

Solution One
Phonics

minimal pairs – pronunciation journey from Pronunciation Games supplementary book

introduce phonemic chart??? Commented [JG19]: Well that’s worth a debate earlier – some
would say that it’s yet another alphabet for Arab beginners – so
could be confusing, although I use it pretty frequently I haven’t real
beginners for ages -

Problem Two Morphology (word formation – parts of speech)

Lower level students of all nationalities (from my experience) have difficulties differentiating between
parts of speech. Questions like ‘What’s

Solution Two
Aim: to raise awareness of word formation by using monolingual dictionaries.

Procedure:

1. Display a word your students most likely don’t know, such as ‘dehydration’. Ask the students to look it Commented [JG20]: How relelvant to low level learners?
up in a dictionary.

2. Ask them to look for other words they are familiar with and see what other parts of the speech there
are that stem from the same root. Discuss how some words are made (affixation)
Evaluation: A lot of students at lower levels will benefit from an activity like this. Using a dictionary is an
important skill and it needs to be introduced in class to help students use it independently
Commented [JG21]: I don’t think discuss is possible with low
level learners really – and how useful would that be? Think of
practical outcomes? (remember the CELTA adage – illustrate don’t
explain ;)

Adapted from S. Silberstein ( 1994)

Problem Three Lack of Vocabulary

Lack of vocabulary is probably the biggest and the most common spread problem when reading. For
lower level students it is probably the biggest problem as not knowing the meaning of words can make
reading a frustrating experience. At beginner and elementary levels most students don’t have a large
vocabulary of automatically recognised items. It has been suggested that moderate L1 readers can
recognise about fifty thousand words. However, most foreign language syllabuses present only a few
hundred words a year. (Nuttal, 1996). There are also complex words, idioms and phrasal verbs that are
difficult to understand.

Solutions Three
While acquiring vocabulary is an obvious answer to this problem, it takes time.Moreover, nobody will
ever know all the words in a language. Even if it’s L1. But to help students improve their reading there
are certain reading techniques that will help students become better readers even if their vocabulary
range is limited. Commented [JG22]: This is overgenreralised and you don’t
have the WC for it – so if you focus on this then you will need to
discuss the content vs throwaway words in the analysis (e.g. how
Aim: to raise students awareness of essential and throwaway words (words that are not necessary to NS will read)
understanding) to cope with unfamiliar words in texts.

Procedure:

1. Prepare a few slips of paper with sentences each containing one difficult word. In some the words are
essential and in some they are throwaway.
2. Working in groups students decide which ones they need to look up in a dictionary and which ones
they don’t need to get the gist of the sentence.

3. Discuss as a group. Commented [JG23]: Avoid?

Adapted from Nuttal (1996)

Example sentences:

 His stylus broke so he couldn’t write anymore. The main idea of the sentence is that he couldn’t
write anymore. Stylus in this sentence is not essential and doesn’t require translation.
 She declined my offer to help. Decline in this sentence is essential and needs to be researched.

Evaluation: By doing this activity students learn to understand that translating every word is not
necessary and often impedes the understanding of the general idea of the text. It helps them to validate
not having to look up every word.

Problem Four Understanding cohesive devices (conjunctions)

For most beginner and elementary students conjunctions are a grey area. From my experience, beginner
students do not see the difference between and and but. As a result they often have difficulties with
reading comprehension.

Solution Four:

Aim:

Help readers understand the meaning of text by using discourse markers to identify the relationship the
writer intends between two parts of the text. If the reader understands one part of the text, the
discourse marker can be a key to the other part.

Procedure:

1. Introduce the students to the functional groups of conjunctions (additive, contrast, etc). Commented [JG24]: Give clear examples (say which ones)
relate to your LOW LEVEL context – go through this as if you have
clearly taught the lesson before
2. Ask the students to read a text with highlighted conjunctions and discuss how they indicate the
relationships between the parts of the sentences/words.

3. Give a gapped text with a list of conjunctions. Students fill in the gaps.

4. Once students have finished, discuss the choices students made and what differences in meaning
would occur with different choices made. This discussion part provides the real value in the activity.

5. Once students are familiar with discourse markers give them a text with the first part of the sentence
and a conjunction. Give two choices of finishing the sentence. Students need to look at a conjunction
decide which one would be more appropriate. Discuss their choices. Point out that sometimes one of
the alternatives is easily ruled out when the context and marker are considered together. They should
begin to see that discourse markers can help make sense of a difficult text.

Adapted from Mackay, R., Teaching the Information Gathering Skills, in Long and Richards (1987)
Methododology in TESOL: A Book of Readings, p. 254)

Evaluation: in this activity students learn to pay attention to conjuncts and their importance in
understanding the text.

Problem five Understanding referential pronouns

Lower level students often have difficulties understanding the relationships between parts of the text
marked by referential pronouns. When giving doing comprehension tests they often give wrong answers
simply because they don’t pay attention to them. Arab learners have difficulties in this area because
Arabic verb forms incorporate personal pronouns as suffixes. Japanese students face a similar problem –
their verbs can stand on their own which can lead to Japanese students omitting all pronouns. (Michael
Swan and Bernard Smith, 2001). J

Solution Five
Aim: to highlight the relationships referential pronouns represent in a text Commented [JG25]: See my general lcomment on solutions –
try and be specific by giving an example – this will make it so much
more reconstructable – the key to this section.
Procedure:

1. Give students a short paragraph with personal pronouns. Ask them to find and underline the
pronouns. If possible have the text on IWB or OHP for the discussions.

2. Using different colours highlighters highlight the pronoun and its corresponding noun in the text. Ask
them if seeing the relationship helps them understand the text better. Discuss.
3. Give a longer text with a few paragraphs and comprehension questions to answer which students
need to see the connections marked by referential pronouns. Ask the students to answer the questions
individually. Then they work in small groups discussing how they found the answers and again
highlighting the nouns/concepts and their corresponding pronouns.
Commented [JG26]: As above somewhere – how would this
work in the lesson?? Can you predict what SS would say? When
you do your planning (below) do consider really getting inside the
classroom, these students, anticipating what they will do / say at
each stage of the lesson etc i.e. see the whole process from their
point of view (as opposed to say what the T does).

Evaluation: This activity is very simple, but at the same time it helps the students to see the
relationships between words, sentences and even paragraphs. If done regularly, it can increase reading
comprehension by becoming automatic.

Bibliography
Birch, B. (2002). English L2 Reading: Getting to the bottom. LAWRENCE ERLBAUM ASSOCIATES,
PUBLISHERS.
Grabe, W. (1991). Current developments in second language reading research. TESOL Quarterly , 375-
406.

Grellet, F. (1981). Developing Reading Skills. CUP.

Hedge, T. (2000). Teaching and Learning in the Language Classroom. OUP.

Michael Swan and Bernard Smith. (2001). Learner English . CUP.

Nuttal, C. (1996). Teaching Reading Skills in a foreign language. Macmillan Heinemann.

Sandy Urquhart and Cyril Weir. (1998). Reading in a Second Language: Process, Product and Practice.
Longman.

Silberstein, S. (1994). teachniques and resources in teaching reading. OUP.

Lesson plan
I will do all the other things, like rationale, class and individual profile and others. It’s just that today
it will be my 2nd lesson with the class so I need a bit more information about them.

Elementary 3 group, follow New Cutting Edge book units 11-15.

16 students, 19 to 48 years old.

Most work, some are students and a couple are unemployed but looking for a job. About 8 said that
they will/might take and IELTS in the future or study abroad.

Lesson aim: to help students better understand the text by recognising the relationships between parts
of the text marked by referential (anaphoric) pronouns. Commented [JG27]: Ok so this will need to be discussed more
on the analysis too
Lesson outline:

Test-Teach-Test?

1. Give the students a text and a list of comprehension questions. Set a time limit (10 min). They need
to answer the questions. 10 min
2. Go through the questions and see if they were correct. 5-10 min
3. Give the slips of paper with different sentences with pronouns in them. Distribute different colour
highlights. Ask the students to highlight pronouns and words they refer to in the same colour. Discuss
the relationships. 10 min
Commented [JG28]: Context / questions first? Checking of
questions
Commented [JG29]: Answers? This will need a feedback stage
where SS can justify their answers by going back to the text no?
Commented [JG30]: I take it these are from the same text
4. Do the same with the text they read in the first part. Ask if it is clearer when they see the
relationships between the sentences/ideas 5-10 min

5. Repeat part 1 and see the result (should be faster and more accurate.) 10 min

6. Discuss 5 min

OR
Lesson aim: to help learners understand the meaning of text by using discourse signals (linkers) to
identify the relationship between parts of the text. Commented [JG31]: My initial reaction would be to stay with
the obvious reading one above – do remember to include feedback
stages in your plan -= this is where learning really takes place imhe
Lesson procedure: (i.e. when you can really help the penny drop).

1. Display various linkers on the board. Elicit what they do in a text. 5 min

2. If needed explain the meaning of some of them – 5 - 10 min.

2. Ask the students to put the linkers into right category according to their functions – contrast, addition,
etc. 10 min

3. Give a reading passage with omitted linkers and ask the students to answer some comprehension
questions. 10 min

4. Students work in pairs and fill in the gaps. Ask them if it is easier to read it with the linkers. 10 min

4. In groups, students compare their results and discuss the choices they’ve made. 10 min.

Do I have to do ACTUAL reading in the lesson? I know when I did writing it was essential that the Commented [JG32]: Oh yes you do -
students actually produced some writing. Is it the same for reading?