TOP-DOWN READING MODEL DEFENITION

 The text is the main aspect of the reading process.

 Top-down models see the involvement of the reader’s prior knowledge in the reading
process.
 In other words, the reader is less text-bound.

TOP-DOWN MODEL OF READING FEATURES

 Starts with the reader making predictions about the text.
 His or her predictions are guided by his or her prior knowledge.
 Rather than decoding each symbol, or even every word, the reader forms hypotheses about
the text and then ‘samples’ them to determine whether or not the hypotheses they made are
correct.
 If the hypotheses are incorrect, the reader re- hypothesize and so the same process
continues.
 Knowledge of the linguistic form and knowledge of the world is close and that it has
direct implications on the reading process.

CONCLUSION
 The words themselves do not have meaning
 The reader brings personal meaning to the text from background experiences

Reading begins with the reader’s knowledge, not print

Frank Smith is a contemporary psycholinguist recognized for

his contributions in linguistics and cognitive psychology, both
nationally and internationally, over the past 35 years. He is
regarded as an essential contributor to research on the nature of
the reading process together with researchers such as George
Armitage Miller, Kenneth S. Goodman (see Ken Goodman),
Paul A. Kolers, Jane W. Torrey, Jane Mackworth, Richard
Venezky, Robert Calfee, and Julian Hochberg. Smith and
Goodman are founders of whole-language approach for reading
instruction. He is the author of numerous books and his books
have been republished through several editions.

VIEWS ON TOP-DOWN READING MODEL

1. Reading is not decoding written language to spoken language
2. Reading does not involve the processing of each letter and each word
3. Reading is a matter of bringing meaning to print