INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF THE CARIBBEAN

Cornwall: Savanna-La-Mar Campus

Presented in partial fulfillment of the course:

READING METHODOLOGY

(Bachelors in Primary Education)

Semester two (January-May 2021)

Course Work:
(Unit 4 – Test Construction Short Answer)

Lecturer:

Ms. Judith Sharp

Submitted by:

Jada Sinanan ID# 1226302

Due date:

February 5, 2021
Research and make notes on:

1) Definitions of reading.

2) Theories of reading

3) Reading as a product

4) Reading as a process
 Definitions of reading

Reading is a mental process. There are many definitions of reading. Reading is when

someone looks into a written text and starts to absorb the information from the written

linguistic message. In Longman Dictionary of Applied Linguistic, reading is said as:

1. “Perceiving a written text in order to understand its contents. This can be done silently

(silent reading). The understanding that result is called reading comprehension.

2. Saying a written text aloud (oral reading). This can be done with or without

understanding of the content.”

Other definition by Collins English Learner’s Dictionary is that reading is an act of looking at

and understanding point. This is very true because reading entails the use of vision to

understand several words in a sentence and make them meaningful. Same goes to each

sentence in order to understand the entire text.

Besides all the definitions from the dictionary there are also definitions made by several

people. According to William (1984), he defines reading as a process whereby one looks at

and understands what has been written. Rohini Arifin (1992:1) in her book entitled

Anthropology of Poetry for Young People defines reading as a highly personal activity that is

mainly done silently, alone. There is a clear understanding that reading is something related

to the activity of acquiring information and it is done either silently or aloud.

 Theories of Reading

The complications of reading and learning how to read can be lost on those who know how to

do it. For many people, it's difficult to remember a time when they couldn't read, as many

learn while very young. For young learners, or those who learn how to read later in life, the

difficulties of reading are clear. To approach these difficulties, literacy experts theorize how

reading happens and develop instructional models to help individuals master this complicated

process.

Traditional theories of reading suggest it's a process by which individuals learn smaller,

discrete words and parts of words before learning how to read whole sentences, paragraphs

and so on. Traditional theories of reading maintain that individuals build up their

vocabularies and grammatical rules, and through this act of accretion they slowly gather

together the necessary components to read fluently. These bottom-up theories of reading lend

themselves to models of instruction such as phonics-based learning, in which individuals

sound out phonemes or parts of words and slowly combine them into whole words, whole

words into sentences, and so on.

Cognitive

So-called cognitive theories of reading counteract traditional theories by maintaining that the

concept and process of reading is learned first and then broken down into individual words,

parts of words, sentences, paragraphs and so on. These top-down theories of reading believe

there's a moment at which individuals understand the process of reading without being

entirely familiar with all the discrete components of how to read, such as individual words,

how words fit together, etc. Cognitive theories of reading lend themselves to models of

instruction like the wholistic model that has individuals approach texts as a whole, even if
they are not familiar with all the words or phrases or even how the words fit together into

sentences. Through context clues and assistance, the wholistic model suggests students can

eventually decode whole texts, which in turns allow them to decode that text’s individual

components.

Hybrid

As the name suggests, hybrid theories of reading borrow liberally from both traditional and

cognitive theories. In hybrid theories, reading is both a top-down and bottom-up approach in

that as individuals approach whole texts and decode discrete components of those texts, they

also build up their vocabularies and personal understanding of grammatical rules which, in

turn, helps them decode future whole texts -- which in turn builds their vocabularies and

grammars. Hybrid models of reading, much as with hybrid theories of reading, encourage

individuals to both compile lists or banks of phonemes, words, sentences and so on, as well

as approach newer and more complicated whole texts as the individual learns how to read.

Metacognitive

Metacognitive theories of reading relate to how an individual thinks about his reading

processes both before, after and during the actual act of reading. Metacognitive theories of

reading maintain that individuals, regardless of whether they approach reading from

traditional, cognitive or hybrid theories or models of reading. Metacognitive theories of

reading lend themselves to modelling practices such as written or spoken reflection following

a reading exercise, as well note-taking on the margins of a page or highlighting lines or

passages while reading.

 Reading as a Product

Reading has been viewed both as a product and as a process. The product view of

reading is generally associated with static information produced by testing techniques.

A major difficulty with the product view seems to be that reading is treated as though

it is stopped in time, captured in the static scores of tests. This feature of the product

view will have to be dealt with to avoid mis isomorphism between a product theory of

reading and the complex, changing referent for that theory as it exists in process. The

process view of reading is concerned with the total process of reading from beginning

to end. Two important aspects of the process view are the author and the reader. The

author's graphic output is the reader's graphic input. A communicative transformation

occurs when the reader, independent of the author, moves into the time and place

conditions that permit sense perception of the author's graphic output. From the

meaning, constructed, reconstructed, or both, the reader constructs knowledge. The

analogies of meaning are in long term memory, fully available for intensive

processing. (WR)
 Reading as a Process

According to Education.com the reading process is, "Steps that most children go through as

they read are pre-reading, first reading (of fiction), re-reading, and extended reading. Process

of constructing meaning from written texts. Complex skill requiring critical and creative

thinking processes to pull together a number of interrelated sources of information."

Reading itself is making meaning of print. So, an easier way to define the reading process is

the five stages that children go through to make meaning of print.

The five stages to the reading process are:

    1.  Pre-reading

    2.  Reading

    3.  Responding

    4.  Exploring

    5.  Applying

Stage 1: Pre-reading

        Pre-reading is where students prepare themselves to read. They may decide or be told

why they are going to read a piece of text. They may use their background knowledge to

make predictions of what the text is going to be about. Teachers may have them use a concept

map called a KWL chart where students put down what they know (K), what they want to

know (W), and after they have read what they learned (L) from their reading.

Stage 2: Reading

        This is where you get down to the actual reading part. The text can be delivered to

students in a variety of ways. Students can engage in individual reading, or they can be read
aloud to. Teachers may use big books or print projected somewhere to do a group reading

session.

Stage 3: Responding

        Responding is where a student reacts to what they have read. Most often this is through

discussion.

Stage 4: Exploration

        This is where students explore their new information. They may re-read part or all of the

text. They may read more texts to expand their knowledge of the new subject. Students may

learn new vocabulary words that they came up against in the text. Exploration is a very broad

stage that can take many paths.

Stage 5: Applying

        During the applying stage students take the new knowledge they have learned and do

more with it. Often, they will have projects that measure how much they have learned. They

may read books related to the original text or participate.

Good readers understand the processes involved in reading and consciously control them.

This awareness and control of the reading processes is called metacognition, which means

"knowing about knowing." Some students don't know when they don't know. They continue

to read even though they are not comprehending. Poor readers tolerate such confusion

because they either don't realize that it exists or don't know what to do about it. Poor readers

focus on facts, whereas good readers try to assimilate details into a larger cognitive pattern.
 Reference

(Definition of Reading (ukessays.com), n.d.)

(Bottom-Up Theories of the Reading Process (theclassroom.com), n.d.)

(ERIC - ED078381 - Reading: Product and Process in Language Use., 1972-Apr, n.d.)

(What is the Reading Process? - The Reading Process (weebly.com), n.d.)