DEVELOPMENTAL READING
Reading As A Physiological Process
Several Eye Movements
a. fixation or the eyes stopping or getting fixated on the word or words
b. inter-fixation or the eyes moving from stopping point to the other (horizontally from left to
right, up coming down under)
c. return sweeps with the eyes swinging back from the end line to the beginning of the next line.
d. saccades or short quick hop and jump movements done especially by literate people, to move
ahead on a line of point.
e. regressions or backward right-to-left movement in case there is need to double check what is
being read
f. span of recognition or the eyes’ recognition of a group of words.
Reading As A Cognitive Process
Two basic steps of reading comprehension
1. The Extraneous Process that creates a stimulus on the visual centers of the brain
2. Fusion/interpretation/construction of “meaning” by the mind out of the stimuli
Levels of Comprehension
1. Literal – knowing what’s read as is (who, what, where, when, why, how)
2. Interpretative – what is read combined with one’s subjective ideas
3. Applied – forming opinions and applications
4. Evaluative – judgment on the reading material such as on the information data, the event,
persons involved etc,
Reading As A Communication Process
Characteristics of Language
1. Clarity
2. Simplicity
3. Adopted Language
4. Forceful
5. Vivid Language
Reading As Skill/Skills
Reading Skills Ladder by Grace Goddel
1. Basic sight words
2. Using phonetic analysis
3. Using structural analysis
4. Using contextual analysis
5. Vocabulary building
6. Finding the main idea
7. Finding the supporting details
8. Interfering meanings, drawing conclusions
9. Classifying and organizing facts
10. Using parts of the book
11. Using the dictionary
12. Using the encyclopedias and other reference books
13. Borrowing library books for research and enjoyment
14. Starting your private library collection
15. Exposure to reading from mass media
16. Reading from the Internet
Different Reading Models
1. Top-Down Approach
- also known as inside out model, concept-driven model, and whole-to-part model
- uses the meaning given by the reader to the text
Features of the Top-Down Approach
a. It allows readers to decode a text even without understanding the meaning of each word.
b. It helps readers to recognize unfamiliar words through the use of meaning and grammatical
cues.
c. It emphasizes reading for meaning instead of giving attention to each word, its letters and
sounds
d. It engages the readers in meaning activities instead of concentrating on the enhancement
of word-attack skills.
e. It considers reading of sentences, paragraphs, and whole texts as the core of instruction.
f. It identifies the amount and kind of information derived from reading as an important
element.
2. Bottom-Up Reading Model
- also known as part-to-whole model
- considers the importance of the written or printed text as it brings about reading
Features:
a. Reading starts with the understanding of the code and writing only records speech
(Leonard Bloomfield)
b. The hierarchical organization of the written text is important in reading (Emerald Dechant)
3. Interactive Reading Model
- is an attempt to combine the two models.
- it selects the strong points of both models and integrates them in learning to read.
Features:
a. Meaning is constructed by the selective use of information from the various sources,
without relying on anyone set order (Emerald Dechant)
b. Reading is understood at once as both a perceptual and cognitive process. (Kenneth
Goodman)
Reading for Appreciation and Enjoyment
- reading literary selections (poems, short stories, novels, plays, or essays) not only to
provide pleasure.
Reading for Critical Understanding
- reading an argumentative/persuasive discourse
- you identify the issue, weigh the arguments, and follow them in their logical conclusion
- you become discriminating, checking out the facts, generalizing cautiously on the basis of
what you know
Reading for Study
- reading technical or scientific materials for they use jargon or the professional language of
a specialized group
COMPREHENSION SKILLS
A. Skimming
- to skim, examine the title and headings, read the first paragraph and last paragraph of the
text to find out its main idea or the topic sentence.
B. Scanning
- to scan for important information, direct your reading to specific paragraph where you can
locate the answers to your questions or those which your teacher asks. Scanning involves
reading quickly.
C. Noting Details
- to note details, read the text slowly, remember items in it, relate them to the topic
sentences of each paragraph or differentiate them from the main ideas the passage
conveys.
D. Getting The Main Idea
- to get the main idea of the passage, look for the most important thing the author says or
find the central thought of the passage.
E. Inferring
- to infer, read between the lines or look for information that is not stated in the text by relying
on clues given by the author
F. Sensing cause and effect relationships
- to sense cause and effect relationships, look for signal words, such as for, thus, as, since,
therefore, as a result, consequently, in order that, so that, and because.
G. Recognizing fact and opinion
- to recognize fact and opinion, find out if the statement can be proved true or false, and if it
expresses attitudes, evaluations, judgments, or even predicts the future respectively.
H. Predicting outcomes
- to predict outcomes, analyze the events and study their relationships. Then decide what
happens next or make a guess about what you think may happen as a result of several
events.
STUDY SKILLS
A. Taking Notes
- allows you to recall what you read and heard in class. To ensure that your notes become a
useful aid, develop a format that separates the main ideas from the supporting details or
illustrates the organization of the material.
B. Outlining
- outlining the content of a report will ensure good organization.
C. Summarizing
- summarizing abstracts the important ideas of a selection which may be poetry or prose,
expressing them in the briefest way possible.
D. Using Graphic Organizers
- graphic organizers depict the relationships between facts, concepts, or ides. They will help
you increase recall, arrange information, interpret, and understand learning.
- They may be concept map, story map, series-of-events chain, flow chart, T-chart, Venn
diagram, and discussion web
