1 So, what are the reading

processes?
There are two cognitive approaches:
1. THE TOP-DOWN APPROACH: Any ideas on this?
2
In this processing, we draw on our intelligence and
experience – the PREDICTIONS we can make, based
on the schemata we have acquired – to understand
the text.
We try to see the overall purpose of the text or get a rough
idea of the writer´s argument to try to make guesses
and interpret the text.
From a great height, the eagle can have a view of the
landscape; it understands the nature of the whole
terrain, its general pattern and the relationships
between various parts of it.
3

A reader adopts an eagle´s view of the text when he

considers it as a whole and relates it to his own
knowledge and experience.

Predict the writer´s purpose, have an idea of the

writer´s argument to interpret difficult parts of the text
(by using his schemata)
4 2. THE BOTTOM-UP
APPROACH
Can you try to explain this approach based on this
picture?
5

The reader builds up meaning by recognizing letters and

words, and then sentences (examining syntax,
vocabulary in detail).

Is bottom-up sufficient to understand a text?

Full understanding only comes if we can combine

bottom-up and top-down. They complement each
other.
 6 The interaction of top-down
and bottom-up processing
How do you think interactive reading works? Discuss with a partner.

Interactive reading – a reader continually shifts from one focus to

another, now adopting a top-down approach to predict the
probable meaning, then moving to bottom-up to check if that is
really what the writer says.

Source: NUTTALL,C. Teaching Reading Skills in a foreign language.

Oxford: Macmillan, 2000.