WEEK 4: Interactive Reading Model

Introduction
An interactive reading model attempts to combine the valid insights of bottom-up and topdown models. It attempts to take into account the strong points of the bottom-up and topdown models, and tries to avoid the criticisms leveled against each, making it one of the
most promising approaches to the theory of reading today. (McCormick, T. 1988)
Definition
An interactive reading model is a reading model that recognizes the interaction of bottomup and top-down processes simultaneously throughout the reading process.
Proponents
Here are some proponents of the interactive reading model:

Rumelhart, D. 1985

Barr, Sadow, and Blachowicz 1990

Ruddell and Speaker 1985

Discussion
Here are the views of some researchers about the interactive reading model:
Emerald Dechant:
The interactive model suggests that the reader constructs meaning by the selective
use of information from all sources of meaning
(graphemic, phonemic, morphemic, syntax, semantics) without adherence to any
one set order. The reader simultaneously uses all levels of processing even though
one source of meaning can be primary at a given time. (Dechant 1991)
Kenneth Goodman:
An interactive model is one which uses print as input and has meaning as output.
But the reader provides input, too, and the reader, interacting with the text, is
selective in using just as little of the cues from text as necessary to construct
meaning. (Goodman, K. 1981)
David E. Rumelhart:
Reading is at once a perceptual and a cognitive process. It is a process which
bridges and blurs these two traditional distinctions. Moreover, a skilled reader
must be able to make use of sensory, syntactic, semantic, and pragmatic
information to accomplish the task. These various sources of information appear to
interact in many complex ways during the process of reading (Rumelhart, D.
1985).
Examples
The distinction between reading methodologies which are classified as wholelanguage (top-down) in contrast to interactive is not always clear. Here are some
examples, though, of instructional programs that incorporate the interactive reading

model:

The Multistrategy method with its workbook track and storybook track is a fairly
clear-cut example of a methodology which attempts to focus on all levels of the
reading hierarchy.

Another method which is traditionally labeled as bottom-up but does have

components which attempt to guide the reader through all levels of the reading
hierarchy is the Gudschinsky method.

An interactive whole language instructional program developed by SIL in Papua

New Guinea focuses on using whole texts to teach reading. These texts are
reproduced in primers, story books, or Big books. Various reading activities are
constructed around the texts. Lessons include the systematic teaching
of phonics or syllables. If primers are constructed, their lessons link with the story
in focus.

Exercise:
Read the story "The Star Llama" and then answer
Numbers 1 to 6.

nce there was a young Inca boy. He had no family except for an
old llama. Each day the boy and his llama walked many miles,
looking for a home. Each night they curled up together and slept.
But one starry evening, the old llama died. The boy buried his
friend next to an icy stream. Then he sat under a tree and cried.
What would he do? He had no family and no home.

The boy cried for a very long time. But there was no one to
comfort him. There were only the stars in the sky.

Suddenly, the sky filled with bright light. The boy held his breath.
He was afraid to move. One bright star fell to the ground. Slowly,
the star took the shape of the old llama. She bent her head and
drank from the stream. She looked at the boy and smiled. As she
jumped back into the sky, bits of llama wool fell.
As the Sun began to rise, the boy picked up the soft, warm wool. It
glowed in his hands like starlight. He carried the wool to the city
and sold it. With the money, he bought a house. He bought two
young llamas. He never forgot the star llama. And he was never
lonely again.

Why does the boy cry when

the old llama dies?
because he is afraid of the dark
because he is always sad
because the old llama is his only
family
because he is lost
What happened BEFORE the old llama died?
The boy bought two new llamas.
The boy and the llama walked many
miles looking for a home.
The boy collected the wool and sold it
in the city.
The old llama fell to the ground in the
shape of a star.

Read this sentence from the story.

One bright star fell to the ground.

What does bright mean?
old
shining
new
clean

What does the boy in the story want?

a cart
a horse
a new wool shirt
a home

What happens at the end of the story?

The boy buys a house and two llamas.
The boy buries the llama next to an
icy stream.
The boy and his llama walk for many
miles.
The boy cries for a very long time.

Read this sentence from the story.

As the Sun began to rise, the boy picked up the soft,
warm wool.
What does rise mean?

grow darker
fall down
come up
take a step