An Interactive Approach to Teaching L2 Reading: From the Bottom-Up Heidi Hyte Brigham Young...

An Interactive

Approach to Teaching

L2 Reading: From the

Bottom-UpHeidi Hyte

Brigham Young University

heidi_hyte@byu.edu

heidi@readinghorizons.com

Webinar Objectives

•Provide examples of bottom-up, top-down, and interactive strategies for teaching L2 reading.

•Provide practical methodology and approaches to teaching bottom-up strategies in L2 reading.

•Offer rationale for the role of students’ phonemic awareness.

•Offer rationale for the use of explicit, systematic bottom-up strategies instruction.

What is reading?

The ability to successfully

generate meaning from

text.

What is fluent

reading?

What is fluent

reading?“The ability to read at an

appropriate rate with

adequate comprehension”

(68).

Anderson, N. J. (2003). Exploring Skills: Reading. In D. Nunan (Ed.), Practical English Language Teaching (pp.

67-86). New York: McGraw-Hill.

What is strategic

reading?

What is strategic

reading?“The ability of the reader to

use a wide variety of reading

strategies to accomplish a

purpose for reading” (68).

Anderson, N. J. (2003). Exploring Skills: Reading. In D. Nunan (Ed.), Practical English Language Teaching (pp.

67-86). New York: McGraw-Hill.

What is the goal of

reading?

Comprehension

Factors that influence

reading comprehension:

Factors that influence

reading comprehension:•The reader

•The text

•Interaction between the reader and the

text:oStrategies

oSchema

oPurpose for reading

oManner of reading

•FluencyAebersold, J. & Field, M. L., (1997). From reader to reading teacher: Issues and strategies for second language

classrooms. New York: Cambridge University Press.

•Bottom-up processing

(decoding)

•Top-down processing

•Interactive approach

Models of Reading

Bottom-up Processing

Reader builds meaning from the

smallest units of meaning to

achieve comprehension.

Example

letters letter clusters words phrases

sentences longer text meaning =

comprehension

Top-down Processing

Reader generates meaning by employing background knowledge,

expectations, assumptions, and questions, and reads to confirm these

expectations.

Example

Pre-reading activities (i.e. activating schema, previewing, and predicting) + background

knowledge (cultural, linguistic, syntactic, and historical) = comprehension

Aebersold, J. & Field, M. L., (1997). From reader to reading teacher: Issues and strategies for second

language classrooms. New York: Cambridge University Press.

Interactive Approach

Reader uses both bottom-up and

top-down strategies

simultaneously or alternately to

comprehend the text.

Example

Reader uses top-down strategies until he/she

encounters an unfamiliar word, then employs

decoding skills to achieve comprehension.

Aebersold, J. & Field, M. L., (1997). From reader to reading teacher: Issues and strategies for second

language classrooms. New York: Cambridge University Press.

Knowledge base + bottom-up

strategies + top-down strategies =

comprehension

Interactive Approach

Which model should be

adopted?

The reader must be competent

in both bottom-up and

top-down processing.

Nunes, T. (1999). Learning to read: An integrated view from research and practice. Dordrecht, The Netherlands:

Kluwer.

Interaction (“balance”) of

bottom-up and top-down

strategies:

Interaction (“balance”) of

bottom-up and top-down

strategies:

Top-down

Interaction (“balance”) of

bottom-up and top-down

strategies:

Bottom-up

Interaction (“balance”) of

bottom-up and top-down

strategies:

Bottom-up Top-down

Interaction (“balance”) of

bottom-up and top-down

strategies:

Bottom-up Top-down

Bottom-up

strategies

(“phonics”

approach)

_______________

_

Examples:

• decoding

• using

capitalization

to infer

proper nouns

• graded

reader

approach

• pattern

recognition

Top-down

strategies

(“whole

language”

approach)

_______________

_

Examples:

• using

background

knowledge

• predicting

• guessing the

meaning of

unknown

words from

context

• skimming/

scanning

Models of Reading:

ApplicationTop-down processing

The kenlig coddlers canly kimpled in the

cumpy kebs.

1) What kind of coddlers were they?

2) What did the coddlers do?

3) How did they do it?

4) Where did they do it?

5) In what kind of kebs did they kimple?

6) What is the subject? What is the verb?

Models of Reading:

ApplicationBottom-up processing

The kenlig coddlers canly kimpled in the

cumpy kebs.

When do you spell words with a C or a K?

•kenlig

•coddlers

•canly

•kimpled

•cumpy

•kebs

Decoding Strategy: The C and K

Skill

C – a, o, u K – i, e

cat kid

cob Ken

cup kin

can keg

Models of Reading:

ApplicationBottom-up processing

The kenlig coddlers canly kimpled in the cumpy kebs.

When do you spell words with a C or a K?

•kenlig

•coddlers

•canly

•kimpled

•cumpy

•kebs

Step 1: Read the title. Predict what the text is going to be about.

Step 2: Ask questions:

- What is your purpose for reading this text?

- What type of text is this? (A newspaper article? A letter? A textbook? A poem?)

- What is a “Jabberwocky”?

Step 3: Activate background knowledge: What do you know about Lewis Carroll’s style of writing?

Top-down Strategies: Application

“Jabberwocky”By Lewis Carroll

(from Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There,

1872)

Top-down Strategies: Application

“Jabberwocky”By Lewis Carroll

(from Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There,

1872)

`Twas brillig, and the slithy toves

  Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:

All mimsy were the borogoves,

  And the mome raths outgrabe.

Top-down Strategies: Application

•Which top-down strategies did you use while reading to help you comprehend the text?

•Were your top-down strategies enough to read the text?

•What did you do when you came across an unfamiliar word?

Top-down Strategies: Application

Bottom-up Strategies:

ApplicationHow do you read these words?

wabe

brillig

Bottom-up (Decoding)

Strategies:

Framework of Phonics:

42 sounds

5 phonetic skills

2 decoding skills

1. metX

*

Five Phonetic Skills

2. jumpX

**

Five Phonetic Skills

3. meX

Five Phonetic Skills

4. smileX X

Five Phonetic Skills

5. boatX X

Five Phonetic Skills

1. met2. jump

4. smile5. boat

3. me

X

*

X

**

XX

XX

X

Five Phonetic Skills

wab

e

Five Phonetic Skills

How do you decode this

word?

wab

e

Five Phonetic Skills

How do you decode this

word?

X X

motel

Decoding Skill #1

1. moX

3. moteX X

4. motelX X2. motX

*

Decoding Skill #1

mote

lOne consonant (guardian) goes on

X X

Decoding Skill #1

provideX X X

Decoding Skill #1

One consonant (guardian) goes on

Decoding Skill #2

campusX X

Two consonants (guardians) split

brilli

g

How do you decode this

word?

Decoding Skill #2

brilli

g

How do you decode this

word?

Decoding Skill #2

X X

Bottom-up Strategies:

ApplicationHow do you read these words?

wabe

brillig

The role of phonemic

awarenessWhat is phonemic

awareness?

•The consciousness that words are composed of separate sounds

•The strategies used to:oSegment strings of soundsoDiscriminate between these sounds

The role of phonemic

awarenessWhy is it important for

ESL/EFL readers?

The role of phonemic

awarenessWhy is it important for

ESL/EFL readers?“ESL and EFL learners need to acquire the knowledge base of English phonemes so that their aural discrimination of sounds

can proceed effortlessly, quickly, and unconsciously” (53).

Birch, Barbara M.  (2002).  English L2 Reading:  Getting to the Bottom.  New Jersey:  Lawrence Erlbaum

Associates, Publishers.

The role of phonemic

awarenessWhy is it important for

ESL/EFL readers?“Phonemic awareness is an important precursor for alphabetic reading, but

paradoxically people often acquire it as a result of learning to read an alphabet” (54).

Birch, Barbara M.  (2002).  English L2 Reading:  Getting to the Bottom.  New Jersey:  Lawrence Erlbaum

Associates, Publishers.

The role of phonemic

awareness

•Readers who have it are better readers.

•Readers are able to connect sounds with symbols.

•Readers can attach meaning to sounds.

•If readers can associate the sounds of words when learning the meaning of new vocabulary, it sticks better.

Why is it important for ESL/EFL readers?

Application: Now What?

1) First provide explicit instruction in bottom-

up/decoding strategies, then allow

opportunities to practice bottom-up

strategies in extensive reading materials.

Application: Now What?

2) Use shorter passages to teach intensive

reading skills and longer texts to apply top-

down strategies.

Application: Now What?

3) Select materials for both intensive (teaching explicit strategies) and extensive (application of strategies) purposes. One single text generally cannot meet both needs.

Application: Now What?

4) When teaching new vocabulary, provide explicit decoding strategies to enable learners to develop phonemic awareness.- rhyming games (mat pat)

- manipulation of beginning, middle, and end of words (mat pat pet pen)

Self Reflection

Take a moment to ponder the answers to the questions on the following slide. As you answer these questions, think of your students’ needs. What kind of strategies do you need to equip your students with in order to help them achieve the goal of comprehension?

Self Reflection

1) What strategies do YOU use to teach

reading?

Self Reflection

1) What strategies do YOU use to teach

reading?

2) When you learned how to read, did

you learn both bottom-up and top-down

skills?

Self Reflection

1) What strategies do YOU use to teach

reading?

2) When you learned how to read, did you

learn both bottom-up and top-down skills?

3) When you teach reading, do you rely

more on teaching top-down strategies?

If so, why?

Self Reflection

1) What strategies do YOU use to teach

reading?

2) When you learned how to read, did you

learn both bottom-up and top-down skills?

3) When you teach reading, do you rely

more on teaching top-down strategies? If

so, why?

4) Are you an interactive reading

teacher?

Why bottom-up?

“Despite the emergence of interactive models, I am concerned that much of the second language reading literature continues to exhibit a strongly top-down bias… This research has resulted in many useful insights, but the lack of attention to decoding problems has, I think, produced a somewhat distorted picture of the true range of problems second language readers face” (95).

Eskey, D. (1993). Holding in the bottom: An interactive approach to the language problems of second language

readers. In P. Carrell, J. Devine, & D. Eskey (Eds.), Interactive approaches to second language reading (pp.

93-100). Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.

Why bottom-up?“In practical terms, my concern is thus to keep the language in the teaching of second language reading. That may not sound very controversial, but I think that in promoting higher-level strategies--like predicting from context or the use of schemata and other kinds of background knowledge--some researchers have been sending a message to teachers that the teaching of reading to second language readers is mostly just a mater of providing them with the right background knowledge for any texts they must read, and encouraging them to make full use of that knowledge in decoding those texts. Though that is certainly important, it is also, I think, potentially misleading as a total approach…We must not, I believe, lose sight of the fact that language is a major problem in second language reading, and that even educated guessing at meaning is not a substitute for accurate decoding” (97).

Eskey, D. (1993). Holding in the bottom: An interactive approach to the language problems of second language

readers. In P. Carrell, J. Devine, & D. Eskey (Eds.), Interactive approaches to second language reading (pp.

93-100). Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.

What’s your opinion?

“[The introduction of top-down processing]

has had such a profound impact [on second

language reading] that there has been a

tendency to view the introduction of a strong

top-down processing perspective as a

substitute for the bottom-up, decoding view

of reading, rather than its complement” (3-

4).Carrell, P. (1993). Introduction: Interactive approaches to second language reading. In P. Carrell, J. Devine, &

D. Eskey (Eds.), Interactive approaches to second language reading (pp. 1-7). Cambridge, England: ambridge

University Press.

SourcesAebersold, J. & Field, M. L., (1997). From reader to reading teacher: Issues and

strategies for second language classrooms. New York: Cambridge University Press.

Anderson, N. J. (2003). Exploring Skills: Reading. In D. Nunan (Ed.), Practical English

Language Teaching (pp. 67-86). New York: McGraw-Hill.

Birch, B. M, (2002). English L2 Reading: Getting to the Bottom. Mahwah, New Jersey:

Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Carrell, P. (1993). Introduction: Interactive approaches to second language reading. In

P. Carrell, J. Devine, & D. Eskey (Eds.), Interactive approaches to second language

reading (pp. 1-7). Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.

Eskey, D. (1993). Holding in the bottom: An interactive approach to the language

problems of second language readers. In P. Carrell, J. Devine, & D. Eskey (Eds.),

Interactive approaches to second language reading (pp. 93-100). Cambridge, England:

Cambridge University Press.

Nunes, T. (1999). Learning to read: An integrated view from research and practice.

Dordrecht, The Netherlands: Kluwer.