Mindanao State University

General Santos City

College of Education

Bachelor of Elementary Education

GED 115: Beginning Reading

Top-down, Bottom-up Reading Models, and Interactive Model

The top-down and bottom-up models of reading are two distinct approaches to
comprehending how reading works. The top-down model begins with the reader's existing
knowledge and experiences, while the bottom-up model begins with the letters and
sounds of the individual words.

A top-down reading model is a way of reading that focuses on what the reader
brings to the text. It says that reading is driven by meaning and goes from the whole to
the parts. It is sometimes called a concept-driven model.

According to these theorists (e.g., Goodman, 1967; Smith, 1971), reading well
doesn't depend on being able to see things clearly and figuring out what all the parts of a
word are, but from being able to choose the fewest, most useful clues. They say that
readers already have an idea of what might be important in a text based on their past
experiences and what they know about language. In their view, readers don't only have
the letters in front of them as a source of information. They also have access to two other
important types of information at the same time: semantic cues (which tell you what
something means) and syntactic cues (which tell you what a sentence means). So, what
readers know about both the topic and the language helps them guess what the next
words will be.

Readers look at the print, make a guess about what the next word might be, and
then use the meaning to confirm their guess. If meaning is made, readers look at the text
again and come up with a new theory. So, readers only need to quickly look at a few of
the marks on the page to confirm that a word is correct.

In this model, it's clear that information flows from the top down, so figuring out
what a word means is the first step in figuring out what it is. So, the higher-level processes
that come from past experiences and the reader's knowledge of the language pattern
interact with and direct the flow of information, just as listeners can guess what a speaker
might say next. Reading, from this point of view, is like a "psycholinguistic guessing game"
(Goodman, 1967).
The Top-down Reading Model

• The reader makes predictions about what they are about to read based on their
prior knowledge and experiences.
• The students then use their predictions to direct their reading, filling up any
knowledge gaps along the way.
• This paradigm places an emphasis on the reader's prior knowledge and the text's
context.

Strengths of Top-down Model:

• This approach functions effectively when readers encounter familiar texts.

• It lets readers use what they already know and have done to help them understand
the text better.
• It aids the reader in constructing meaning from the text.

Weaknesses of the top-down model:

• For readers lacking the requisite underlying knowledge, this paradigm may not be
effective.
• If the reader's prior information is erroneous or partial, it could result in faulty
predictions and misunderstandings.
• It is perhaps ineffective for reading unfamiliar texts or in a second language.

Activities for reading the top-down model:

• Teach pupils to consider what they already know about a topic before reading
about it in order to activate prior knowledge.
• Students should forecast what they believe will occur next in a story based on what
they have read.
• Utilizing contextual hints: Use the surrounding text to help students comprehend
new words.

The Bottom-up Reading Model

The reader begins by decoding the letters and sounds that make up each word.
They then use this knowledge to construct a complete comprehension of the text.
This model highlights the significance of decoding and word recognition accuracy.
 To explain further, Gough (1972) proposes a phonics-based or bottom-up model
of the reading process. This model shows that processing in reading goes in a series,
from letter to sound, to word, to meaning.

Strengths of bottom-up models:

• This model is useful for readers with insufficient background information.

• It promotes decoding and word recognition accuracy.
• It can be useful while reading foreign texts or learning a second language.

Weaknesses of the bottom-up model:

• This model may not be suitable for extracting meaning from text.
• It may not be useful for reading books that require higher-order thinking skills or
are more complex.
• Readers who struggle with decoding or phonics may not find it beneficial.

Activities in reading for the bottom-up model:

• Give specific education on the relationships between letters and sounds in

phonics.
• Encourage kids to practice word recognition using high-frequency words.
• Practice decoding: Provide pupils with opportunities to practice deciphering
unfamiliar words.

In conclusion, both the top-down and bottom-up theories of reading offer advantages
and disadvantages. Good reading education should include both approaches, helping
students gain background knowledge while also offering decoding and comprehension
practice.

Interactive Model

Since neither the bottom-up nor the top-down model of the reading process fully
accounts for what occurs during the reading process, Rumelhart (1977) proposes an
interactive model in which letter features or data-driven sensory information and non-
sensory information are combined in a single location. Using a computer analogy,
Rumelhart identifies this location as a "message board." In this approach, reading is not
considered solely as a bottom-up or top-down process, but rather as a pattern synthesis
that requires the application or integration of all previously identified information sources,
as depicted in the accompanying image.
 In addition, there are interactive-compensatory models that mix top-down and bottom-
up processing methodologies. These models show that a processing stage's strength can
compensate for another's weakness. Using Stanovich's interactive-compensatory model
from 1980, flaws in both bottom-up and top-down models can be mitigated.

Stanovich (1980) provides an interactive-compensatory model, which adds a new

element to the interactive Rumelhart Model by proposing that a processing stage's
strength can compensate for a stage's weakness.

Stanovich claims that his model can decrease difficulties in both the bottom-up and
top-down models. So, bottom-up models do not account for the influence of higher-level
processing methods on lower-level processing, and top-down models do not account for
the case in which a reader has limited understanding of a text topic and, as a result,
cannot generate predictions. In the words of Stanovich, "Interactive models presume that
a pattern is synthesized from information delivered simultaneously from several
knowledge sources. The compensating assumption argues that a deficiency in any
knowledge source leads to a greater reliance on other knowledge sources, independent
of their processing hierarchy level (1980, p. 63). Stanovich's theory explains the apparent
oddity observed in numerous tests, wherein weak readers may demonstrate greater
sensitivity to contextual restrictions than competent readers. Unskilled readers may be
misled.

Reference:

Liu, F. (2010). A short analysis of the nature of reading. English Language Teaching, 3(3),
152. [Link] (E-ISSN 1916-4750)