NON-ENGLISH MAJOR STUDENTS’ ATTITUDES TOWARDS BOTTOM-UP AND TOP-DOWN READING TASKS: A SURVEY RESEARCH AT PHUC YEN COLLEGE OF INDUSTRY (PYCI)

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGE AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES
*****************



NGUYỄN THỊ THU THỦY




NON-ENGLISH MAJOR STUDENTS’ ATTITUDES TOWARDS
BOTTOM-UP AND TOP-DOWN READING TASKS: A SURVEY
RESEARCH AT PHUC YEN COLLEGE OF INDUSTRY (PYCI)

THÁI ĐỘ CỦA SINH VIÊN KHÔNG CHUYÊN ĐỐI VỚI CÁC BÀI TẬP ĐỌC HIỂU TIẾNG
ANH CÓ SỬ DỤNG HAI MÔ HÌNH “TƯ
̀
DƯỚI LÊN” VÀ “TƯ
̀
TRÊN XUỐNG”:
MỘT KHẢO SÁT TẠI TRƯỜNG CAO ĐẲNG CÔNG NGHIỆP PHÚC YÊN



M.A. MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology
Code: 60140111





HANOI – 2014



VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGE AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES
*****************




NGUYỄN THỊ THU THỦY




NON-ENGLISH MAJOR STUDENTS’ ATTITUDES TOWARDS
BOTTOM-UP AND TOP-DOWN READING TASKS: A SURVEY
RESEARCH AT PHUC YEN COLLEGE OF INDUSTRY (PYCI)

THÁI ĐỘ CỦA SINH VIÊN KHÔNG CHUYÊN ĐỐI VỚI CÁC BÀI TẬP ĐỌC HIỂU TIẾNG
ANH CÓ SỬ DỤNG HAI MÔ HÌNH “TƯ

̀
DƯỚI LÊN” VÀ “TƯ
̀
TRÊN XUỐNG”:
MỘT KHẢO SÁT TẠI TRƯỜNG CAO ĐẲNG CÔNG NGHIỆP PHÚC YÊN



M.A. MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS



Field: English Teaching Methodology
Code: 60140111
Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Nguyễn Quang






HANOI – 2014
i
DECLARATION


I hereby certify that the thesis entitled “Non-English Major Students’ Attitudes
Towards Bottom-up and Top-down Reading Tasks: A Survey Research at Phuc Yen
College of Industry (PYCI)” is the result of my own research for the Degree of Master of
Arts at University of Foreign Languages and International Studies, Hanoi National

University, and that this thesis has not been submitted for any degree at any other
universities or institutions.


Hanoi, September 2014




Nguyễn Thị Thu Thủy















ii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

First and foremost, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisor,
Prof. Nguyen Quang, Ph.D for his experienced guidance, valuable suggestions, invaluable

critical feedback and encouragement in the writing of this study. Without his support, this
thesis would not have been completed.
My great gratitude goes to all the lecturers and the staff of the Post-Graduate
Department for giving me valuable knowledge and helpful assistance.
My thanks are extended to my students, especially the students in two classes
TA2.LT1 and TA2.LT3, who provided me with enthusiastic cooperation and valuable
feedback during my research conducting.
Finally, this thesis is also dedicated to my family for their care and encouragement
during the time I carried out this study.

















iii
ABSTRACT

This is a study of students’ attitudes towards Bottom-up and Top-down reading

tasks in Phuc Yen college of Industry, Vinh Phuc. The study is aimed at finding out the
students’ attitudes towards reading tasks using bottom-up and top-down models. Therefore,
the findings of this study can serve as the answer to a main research question: What are
PYCI students’ attitudes towards bottom-up and top-down reading tasks? The data of this
study are collected through questionnaires and interviews. The data from the questionnaire
are calculated in percentage for interpretation and analysis based on the theory of attitude.
The participants are 78 second-year students who come from different majors in Phuc Yen
College of Industry taking English2 course as a general subject. The findings of the study
revealed that most of the participants showed their positive attitude towards both Bottom-
up and Top-down reading tasks; however, they put their positive attitude to the Bottom-up
tasks and preferred to do these tasks more. Through the findings, the research is expected
to give benefit to the students by providing them necessary information about their own
attitudes towards reading, especially bottom-up and top-down reading. Besides, the results
of the study also provide teachers with better awareness of their students’ attitudes. From
that, they will adjust their teaching to encourage and motivate their students in reading
activities as well as prepare more interesting reading materials and activities that meet their
students’ needs and interests.












iv

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Declaration i
Acknowledgements ii
Abstract iii
Table of contents iv
List of tables and figures vii
List of abbreviations vii
PART A: INTRODUCTION
1. Rationale 1
2. Aims of the study 2
3. Research questions 2
4. Scope of the study 2
5. Methods of the study 3
6. Organization of the study 3
PART B: DEVELOPMENT
Chapter One: Literature Review
1.1. Attitudes 4
1.1.1. Definitions of attitudes 4
1.1.2. Attitudes in language learning 5
1.1.3. Reading Attitudes 5
1.2. Reading and schema theory 6
1.2.1. Reading 6
1.2.2. Schema theory 7
1.3. Types of reading 8
1.3.1. Reading aloud 8
1.3.2. Silent reading 8
1.3.2.1. Intensive reading 8
1.3.2.2. Extensive reading 10
1.4. Models of reading process 11

1.4.1. Bottom-up model 11
1.4.2. Top-down model 12
v
1.5. Reading tasks 13
1.5.1. Pre-reading tasks 14
1.5.2. While-reading tasks 15
1.5.3. Post-reading tasks 16
1.6. Review of previous studies 16
1.7. Summary 17
Chapter Two: The Study
2.1. Context of the study 18
2.1.1. The teachers and the students 18
2.1.2. The course book used 19
2.2. Participants 20
2.3. Methodology 21
2.3.1. Instruments 21
2.3.2. Data collection procedures ………………………………………… 22
2.4. Summary 23
Chapter Three: Data Analysis and Discussion
3.1. Questionnaire 1 24
3.1.1. Bottom-up strategies 24
3.1.2. Top-down strategies 25
3.2. Questionnaire 2 25
3.2.1. Students’ general assessments of the reading tasks 26
3.2.2. Students’ perceptions of difficulties of the reading tasks 27
3.2.3. Students’ perceptions of the most useful stage in reading 27
3.2.4. Students’ attitudes towards bottom-up and top-down reading tasks
in three stages 28
3.2.4.1. In Pre-reading stage 29
3.2.4.2. In While-reading stage 30

3.2.4.1. In Post-reading stage 31
3.2.5. Students’ preference of the teachers’ ways of teaching reading 32
3.3. Interviews 33
3.4. Summary 35

vi
PART C: CONCLUSION
1. Conclusions 36
2. Implications 37
3. Limitations and suggestions for further study 39
REFERENCES 40
APPENDICES I
Appendix 1 I
Appendix 2 III

vii
LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES

Table 1: Types of reading tasks (unit 9 to unit 14) in the Lifelines Pre-intermediate book.
Table 2: Characteristics of the subjects
Figure 1.1: Frequency of the bottom-up strategies used by PYCI students (N=78)
Figure 1.2: Frequency of the top-down strategies used by PYCI students (N=78)
Figure 2.1: Students’ general assessments of the reading tasks (N=50)
Figure 2.2: Students’ general assessments of the types of reading tasks (N=50)
Figure 2.3: Students’ perceptions of difficulties of the reading tasks (N=50)
Figure 2.4: Students’ perceptions of the most useful stage in reading (N=50)
Figure 2.5: Students’ attitudes towards bottom-up and top-down reading tasks in the Pre-
reading stage (N=50)
Figure 2.6: Students’ attitudes towards bottom-up and top-down reading tasks in the
While-reading stage (N=50)
Figure 2.7: Students’ attitudes towards bottom-up and top-down reading tasks in the Post-
reading stage (N=50)
Figure 2.8: Students’ preference of the teachers’ way of teaching reading (N=50)


LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

PYCI: Phuc Yen College of Industry
EFL: English as a Foreign Language
N: Number
Q: Question
BU: Bottom-up

TD: Top-down
1

PART A: INTRODUCTION

1. Rationale:
In this age of globalization, English as a foreign language (EFL) occupies an
important place in Vietnamese educational system. Of the four English basic skills, reading
is considered the most important skill for students to master, as Carrell (1981, p.1)
emphasizes “For many students, reading is by far the most important of the four macro
skills in a second language, particularly in English as a second or foreign language”. As
Eskey (2005) shows in his research that many students of English as a foreign language
rarely need to speak the language in their day-to-day lives but many need to read it in order
to “access the wealth of information” (p.563). The more we strengthen reading skills, the
greater progress we make in English learning as well as in other areas.
Reading is not only a good source of information and enjoyable activity, but a
valuable means of extending and consolidating one's knowledge of the language (Rivers,
1981). In my teaching experience, although I provided my students different reading
strategies to improve their reading comprehension, they have still had a lot of difficulties in
reading and doing reading tasks. As Amiryousefi (2012) states that the problems that
students encounter may be due to a number of factors such as “lack of appropriate reading
strategies, lack of background knowledge related to the topic of the target text, lack of
attitudes toward reading or lack of vocabulary knowledge to name a few” (p. 1172). While
a lot of researchers have carried their studies on students’ reading strategies or ways of
improving reading abilities, not many studies on EFL students’ attitudes towards reading in
higher education, especially reading with particular models like bottom-up and top-down
have been conducted. In fact, students’ attitudes are very important in learning process as it
is one important factor affecting motivation in language learning (Oxford and Shearin,
1994). Having positive attitude towards learning, students will carry out their learning to
the best of their ability and vice verse.

Therefore, with a view to gaining some insights into students’ attitudes towards
reading to ascertain what reading task (top-down or bottom-up) EFL students prefer to use
and find out the students’ attitudes towards the two model reading tasks, the writer decides
to do research on “Non-English Major Students’ Attitudes Towards Bottom-up and Top-
2

down Reading Tasks”. It is hoped that the findings from this study will be of some benefit
to teachers and students at PYCI in teaching and learning reading.
2. Aims of the study:
The primary aim of the study is finding out attitudes of the non-English major
students towards bottom-up and top-down reading tasks at Phuc Yen College of Industry.
The author believes that positive attitude is very important in learning because if the
students do not have positive attitudes towards a subject, technique and innovation used by
teachers in teaching that subject seem to be likely worthless. It is hoped that the results of
the study will provide PYCI teachers with better understanding of their students’ attitudes,
and then they can adjust their teaching to teach more effectively. Moreover, the findings of
the study will also be some help to PYCI students by providing them with necessary
information about their own attitudes towards reading. Then, they can know more about
their ways of learning reading and adjust their learning to get better results.
To achieve this aim, the study has the following objectives:
 To examine what strategies (Bottom-up or Top-down) are used by students
at PYCI
 To investigate PYCI students’ attitudes towards Bottom-up and Top-down
reading tasks
3. Research Questions:
The research questions addressed in this study are:
1. What strategies (Bottom-up or Top-down) are frequently used by PYCI
students in their reading?
2. What are PYCI students’ attitudes towards bottom-up and top-down reading
tasks?

4. Scope of the study
This study is limited to the area of investigating attitudes of non-English major
students in doing English reading tasks using bottom-up and top-down models at PYCI. It
is not intended to find out the effect of the two models on students’ achievements in
reading. The study takes place within one vocational school; therefore, there will be no
generalization of the findings for other places.


3

5. Methods of the study
This study adopts a descriptive method, especially, the survey method with two
questionnaires taken as the main instrument in collecting data. Besides, follow-up
interviews are also carried out to get better understanding of the students’ attitudes towards
reading and give more accurate data to the study.
6. Organization of the study
The thesis consists of three main parts: INTRODUCTION which provides an
overview of the study, DEVELOPMENT which is the main part and consists of 3
chapters, and CONCLUSION which includes the summary, pedagogical implications,
limitations of the study and suggestions for further study.
Three chapters in the main part are as follows:
Chapter I:
Literature Review is the review of the literature related to the
research topic, which serves as a theoretical foundation of the
study.
Chapter II:
The Study provides information about the research context,
participants, research approaches, data collection instruments, data
collection procedures, and data analysis procedures.
Chapter III:

Data Analysis and Discussion is the main part of the study,
which reports and discusses the main findings according to the
research questions.












4

PART B: DEVELOPMENT
Chapter One: LITERATURE REVIEW:
This chapter aims at providing a theoretical background to the study. The review of
the issues most relevant to be the focus of the study will be included: theory of attitudes,
reading, reading tasks, top-down and bottom-up strategies in reading.
1.1. Attitudes
1.1.1. Definitions of Attitudes
Generally, attitudes can be understood as people’s response to a certain thing such
as an object, an idea, a person or a situation Hogg & Vaughan (2005) define that an
attitude is “a relatively enduring organization of beliefs, feelings, and behavioral
tendencies towards socially significant objects, groups, events or symbols” (p. 150).
Fishbein & Ajzen (1975, p. 6) state that attitude is “a learned predisposition to respond in a
consistently favorable or unfavorable manner with respect to a given object”. They also

indicate that a person’s attitude towards an object affects the person’s intentions to perform
behaviors relating to that object (Fishbein & Ajzen, 1975).
Kerlinger (1984) has a similar view to the above researchers. He states that
attitudes affect people to have a certain tendency toward things around them such as
environment, issues, and different kinds of ideas. Attitude affects people’s emotion,
motivation, and cognitive response toward certain problems and matters. In other words,
attitude is a special thought or opinion that people have when they face some problems or
view certain matters. Since we are different from each other, we certainly have different
responses or attitudes towards something.
The structure of attitude is constructed by three components mentioned by
Mathewson (1994). They are affective, cognitive, and behavior components. The first
component is affective which refers to a person’s feeling/emotion about an attitude object.
A person can express his opinion of “good-bad” about a particular thing. It can be like or
dislike. The second component is cognitive which involves a person’s belief/knowledge
about a thing such as particular person, idea, argument, and situation. In other words, it is a
set of thoughts or beliefs towards an object. The last component is behavioral response,
which refers to the way the attitude we have influences how we act or behave. When
someone has a certain thought or belief about something, he/she will behave or shows
5

his/her response in a certain way towards that thing. In other words, people’s behaviour
will normally be decided by what they thought and believe and this behavior can be acted
positively or negatively depending on what is in people’s mind. Therefore, it can be said
that an attitude is a tendency to respond emotionally, cognitively, or behaviorally to a
particular entity in a particular way towards anything.
In this study, the writer would like to focus “attitude” as “learning attitude”,
particularly, student’s attitude in learning reading. To measure attitude in reading,
Mathewson’s definition of attitude is considered an effective and reliable way. This study,
therefore, adopts the definition by Mathewson (1994) as its framework, which mentions
three components: affective, cognitive, and behavior. The reason is that it can cover the

meaning of how the students think, feel and react to bottom-up and top-down reading tasks.
1.1.2. Attitudes in language learning
Attitudes and learning have a close relationship. A lot of researches have been
proved that students with positive attitudes towards learning can go further in their study,
while those with negative attitudes often fail in achieving their goals. As Gardner and
Lamper (1972, p. 132) conclude “success in mastering a foreign language would depend
not only on intellectual capability and language aptitude”, but also on “one’s attitudes
towards representatives on that language” as well.
According to Gardner (1979), there is obviously a mutual relationship between
attitudes and motivation in language learning. He also adds in his later research (1985) that
positive attitude and motivation are related to success in second language learning. If
learners have positive attitudes, they will have motivation in their study and then can get
better results. Also, Champer (1999) asserts that when the learner has a positive attitude
towards the language learning, their learning will occur more easily. Positive attitude can
enhance an integrative motivation, so enhance the proficiency as well.
In conclusion, all researchers have claimed that students’ attitude is an integral part
of learning, and therefore, should be an essential component of second language pedagogy.
1.1.3. Reading Attitudes
For a particular skill like reading, some researchers give their conclusions about the
relationship between attitudes and learning reading. Reading attitude is defined as “a
system of feelings related to reading which causes the learner to approach or avoid a
reading situation” (Alexander and Filler, 1976, p. 1). Smith (1990, p. 215) describes it as
6

“a state of mind, accompanied by feelings and emotions that make reading more or less
probable”. According to Harris and Sipay (1990), “pupils’ attitudes toward reading can be
an important factor in their voluntary reading and reading achievement.” (p. 668).
Gillespie's (1993) investigation with older readers concurred with this notion, “For
students to be successful readers they must have a positive affective predisposition towards
reading instruction” (p. 336). More recently, Kush & Watkins (2001, p. 315) states that

students’ attitudes significantly influence their level of engagement with reading. All
researchers state the vital role of attitudes in learning reading. If we can find out students’
attitudes, we will have a clearer sight about our students and can make some adjustments in
teaching to suit with their needs and interests.
As mentioned above, Mathewson’s three-component view of attitudes including
affective, cognitive, and behavior show one’s attitude towards reading. The study, however,
focuses on the first two of the three components: affective and cognitive. The behavioral
component is not included because it will need much more time and effort to measure
separately the behavioral response with the two models: bottom-up and top-down. In this
case, the behavior is understood as “the action readiness for reading” (Yamashita, 2004, p.
84). For example, a person will regularly spend time to read books or newspapers when
he/she believes that reading is important or necessary thing to do. That is a kind of positive
response. In contrast, if one has negative thought or feeling about reading, he/she may
show negative response to reading. Therefore, it can be understood that students will act
positively and negatively basing on what they believe or think about reading.
1.2. Reading and Schema Theory
1.2.1. Reading:
There have been many definitions of reading defined by many linguists,
psychologists, educators and second language researchers, but an exact definition of
reading still causes some confusion.
Goodman (1971, p. 135) defines that reading is “psycholinguistics process by
which the reader, a language user, reconstructs, as best as he can, a message which has
been encoded by a writer as a graphic display”. When reconstructing the message, the
reader needs to use his/her background knowledge to communicate with the written text, so
that the text could be comprehended. Koda (2005, p. 14) and Sweet and Snow (2003, p. 1)
have the same opinion. They think that reading is a process of deriving meaning from the
7

print and integrating the new information with the old one. The old information is the
reader’s prior background knowledge and experience.

Smith (1985, p. 102) defines that “reading is understanding the author’s thought”
and the readers “read the author’s mind not the author’s words.” That is because the
meanings of the text need to be understood in context, not the words in isolation. Therefore,
when reading, if readers only focus on the words, they are not be able to catch exactly what
the author implied. William (1986, p. 3) reconfirms what Smith said before about reading.
He says, “written texts, then, often contain more than we need to understand them. The
efficient reader makes use of this to take what he needs, and no more, to obtain meaning”.
In different view, Harmer (1989, p. 153) only focuses on two actions dominated by the
eyes and the brain when one reads. He considers reading a mechanical process that “eyes
receive the message and the brain has to work out the significance of the message”. Later
in their study, Stephenson and Harold (2009) define reading as “a complex cognitive
process dependent on integration between information processing/decoding skills and
background knowledge combined with social experiences” (p. 14).
In short, all the definitions above reveal one common feature, that is, reading
involves the reader, the text, and the interaction between the reader and the text.
1.2.2. Schema Theory
According to DiMaggio (1997), a schema “describes an organized pattern of
thought or behavior that organizes categories of information and the relationships among
them” (cited in Wikipedia). Anderson (1977) points out that schema provide a form of
representation for complex knowledge and provide a principled account of how old
knowledge might influence the acquisition of new knowledge. Schema theory is applied to
understanding the reading process. According to the schema theory, the reader brings
previously acquired background knowledge organized into interrelated patterns, or
schemata, to the reading process. Then the reader creates meaning by relating the text to
this background knowledge, including knowledge of customs and beliefs from his or her
own experiences.
Schema theory states that readers will base on their knowledge of the world in
order to help them understand what they read (Anderson, 2004). Alptekin (2003) identifies
three types of schemata, which have an impact on reading comprehension. The first one is
background knowledge of the subject of the text called “content schemata”. If the reader

8

has it, it is likely that the comprehension of the text will be easier, or vice versa. The
second one is prior knowledge of rhetorical structures and conventions called “formal
schemata” such as cause and effect, comparison and contrast, problem and solution, and
chronological order, etc.). The last one is “abstract schemata”, which refers to the social
relationships and activities that happens in specific situations or cultures. Students who are
equipped with abstract schema can make use of the memory about the events and thus
contribute to their comprehension.
1.3. Types of reading
According to manner, reading can be classified into two types: reading aloud (loud
reading) and silent reading. Each type of reading has its own characteristic.
1.3.1. Reading aloud
According to Doff (1988, p. 70), “Reading aloud involves looking a text,
understanding it and also saying it. Its purpose is not just to understand the text but to
convey the information to someone else”. Reading aloud, in one way, can be an advantage
as it enhances students’ ability to ''hear'' what they are reading. It is a good way for
beginners learning a foreign language to establish the connection between sound and
spelling. However, because of totally focusing on the pronunciation when reading, students
tend to misunderstand the meaning of the text. Moreover, it takes more time for readers to
read out loud. As Abott and Wingard (1981, p. 82) mention “the reader is often merely
mouthing meaningless language because of lack of rehearsal and time to comprehend what
he has to read aloud”. Therefore, the usefulness of reading aloud is limited and reading
aloud might be a good way for students to practice and enhance pronunciation.
1.3.2. Silent reading
As suggested by Brown (1989), one will encounter intensive and extensive reading
when he/she reads a text silently. Intensive reading is used to teach or practice specific
reading strategies or skills. Extensive reading on the other hand, involves reading of large
quantities of material, directly and fluently. It may include reading simply for pleasure or
reading technical, scientific or professional material. This later type of text, more academic,

may involve two specific types of reading, scanning for key details or skimming for the
essential meaning.
1.3.2.1. Intensive reading
9

According to Brown (1990, p. 297), intensive reading "is usually a classroom-
oriented activity in which students focus on the linguistic or semantic details of a passage".
Long and Richards (1987) say intensive reading is a "detailed in-class" analysis, led by the
teacher, of vocabulary and grammar points, in a short passage". Agreeing with this view,
Brown (1989) explains that intensive reading "calls attention to grammatical forms,
discourse markers, and other surface structure details for the purpose of understanding
literal meaning, implications, rhetorical relationships, and the like." According to Nutall
(2000, p. 38), intensive reading involves approaching the text under the guidance of a
teacher or a task, which forces the student to focus on the text. For example, students have
to learn the new vocabulary and phrases, study the grammar rules and the structures of the
context. Then, after the teacher gives instructions, a test of the vocabulary, grammar
knowledge and the text’s content is followed. The objective of intensive reading is to
understand not only what the text means but also how the meaning is produced. Intensive
reading has some characteristics. They are:
a) Usually classroom based
b) Reader is intensely involved in looking inside the text
c) Students focus on linguistic or semantic details of reading
d) Students focus on surface structure details such as grammar and discourse markers
e) Students identify key vocabulary
f) Students may draw pictures to aid them (such as in problem solving)
g) Texts are read carefully and thoroughly, repeatedly
h) Aim is to build more language knowledge rather than simply practice the skill of
reading
Advantages and disadvantages of Intensive reading
Some advantages and disadvantages can be pointed out. For advantageous points,

intensive reading provides a base to study structure, vocabulary and idioms. Besides, it
provides a base for students to develop a greater control of language. Moreover, it also
provides for a check on the degree of comprehension for individual. For the opposite point,
there have been some disadvantages. Firstly, there is little actual practice of reading
because of the small amount of text. In a class with multi-reading abilities, students may
not be able to read at their own level because everyone in the class is reading the same
material. Secondly, the text may not be interesting to the students because it is chosen by
10

the teacher or already fixed. Thirdly, there is little chance to learn language patterns due to
the small amount of text. Finally, because exercises and assessment usually follow
intensive reading, students may come to associate reading with testing and not pleasure.
1.3.2.2. Extensive reading
Brown (1989) explains that extensive reading is carried out “to achieve a general
understanding of a text”. Long and Richards (1971, p.216) identify extensive reading as
"occurring when students read large amounts of high interest material, usually out of class,
concentrating on meaning, “reading for gist" and skipping unknown words”. Lewis and
Hill (1992, p. 109) also point out that “extensive reading means students have a general
understanding of the text without necessarily understanding every word”. What is more,
Nuttall (2000, p. 127) argues, “getting students to read extensively is the easiest and most
effective way of improving their reading skills”. This type of reading is suitable for
students' self-learning. They read directly and fluently in the foreign language for their own
enjoyment without the aid of the teacher. However, extensive reading can be best achieved
only through an instructional program.
Extensive reading involves skimming and scanning as strategies to gain general
sense of a text, skimming for the gist and scanning for some key details.
Scanning
Scanning is a quick reading, focusing on locating specific information. According
to Francois (1981), “when scanning, we only try to locate specific information and often
we do not even follow the linearity of the passage to do so. We simply let our eyes wander

over the text until we find what we are looking for, whether it is a name, a date, or a less
specific piece of information” (p. 19). Therefore, scanning involves quick eye movements
until the reader finds the piece of information needed. Before finding the information, the
reader knows what the item looks like and so, knows when he has located what he was
searching for. There is a great range of text suitable for scanning - indexes, dictionaries,
maps, advertisements, labels, reference material, etc.
Skimming
Skimming is also a quick reading to get to know the general meaning of a passage,
the structure of the text, and to get an idea of the intention of the writer. Nuttall (1982, p.36)
states, “by skimming, we mean glancing rapidly through a text to determine whether a
research paper is relevant to our own work or in order to keep ourselves superficially
11

informed about matters that are not of great importance to us”. Skimming is considered a
more complex task than scanning because it requires the reader to organize and remember
some of the information given by the author, not just to locate it.
Advantages and disadvantages of Extensive reading
There are also some advantages and disadvantages of extensive reading. The
advantages can be developing students’ reading habit, gaining more confidence in reading
and improving their attitude towards reading. From that, they become motivated to read.
However, an extensive reading program may be costly and time-consuming to set up if
materials are not already available. Besides, students need to have easy access to texts
within their language proficiency level. An extensive reading program is easiest to
establish when the students have a high level of second language proficiency. For
intermediate levels, students require a specialized library within their language proficiency
range. They need texts they can read without great use of a dictionary. Finally, it may be
difficult to keep students challenged to read more difficult texts as the program continues.
To sum up, for second or foreign language learners, both intensive and extensive
reading are of great importance as they act as a means not only to gain knowledge but also
to develop learners' language skills.

1.4. Models of reading process
The reading process involves the text, the reader and the interaction between the
two. Theorists have proposed three basic models of how reading occurs (bottom-up, top-
down and interactive). In the bottom up process, learners use their linguistics ability to
work with a text, whereas in top-down process, learners activate their background
knowledge and reflect it on the text they read. The third models claims that a learner needs
to combine the two processes mentioned above. In this study, the author only analyses two
models of reading process: bottom-up model and top-down model to focus only on the
reading tasks using the two models.
1.4.1. Bottom-up model
The first and oldest approach to the reading process is the bottom-up processing,
which can be said to be a traditional view of the reading process. In bottom-up model,
comprehension begins by processing the smallest linguistic unit (phoneme) and working
towards larger units (syllables, words, phrases, sentences ), and proceeds from part to
whole. In other words, bottom-up process refers to deriving the meaning of the text based
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on the incoming language data, from sounds, words, grammatical relationships, to meaning.
In this way, reading is viewed as a passive process dependent on the written or printed text.
Nuttall (2005, p. 17) also points out that reading is a process of identifying letters and
words, figuring out sentence structures and then constructing a meaning from the printed
words. That means they use linguistic knowledge to understand the meaning of a text.
According to Nunan (1991), reading in bottom-up view is basically a matter of decoding a
series of written symbols into their aural equivalents in the quest for making sense of the
text. The reader reaches at understanding, in bottom-up reading, first, by putting different
text elements together; that is, letters and words until a chunk of data is created (decoding
stage). Paran (1996) and Alderson (2000) have the same view when they agree that the
bottom-up process of reading can be as a serial model where the reader begins with the
printed word, recognizes graphics stimuli, decodes them to sounds, recognizes words, and
decodes meaning.

Students may use some bottom-up strategies in their reading performance like
identifying the meaning of unknown words (by dividing them into their component
morphemes and analyzing each morpheme separately), analyzing sentences grammatically
for their syntax, tense, reference, punctuation… (to determine what is happening and how
sentences are related to each other), paying attention to the body of text (looking for visual
aids or examining general context to determine the meaning of unknown words and
phrases), identifying a paraphrase that sums up a difficult word or phrase…
As Anderson (2008) concludes in his study “beginning-level readers should be
exposed to a strong bottom-up component” and “with a strong foundation in bottom-up
skills, beginning-level readers will become more-proficient readers more quickly.” (p. 28),
bottom-up reading model is considered an effective way for beginning English proficiency
learners. It is, however, criticized for its failure to account for the contribution of the reader,
whose expectations about the text, which are informed by his/her knowledge of language
and his/her prior background knowledge, are employed as part of the reading process.
Eskey (1973) also agrees that the decoding model is inadequate because it underestimates
the contribution of the reader who makes predictions and processes information. It fails to
recognize that students utilize their expectations about the text based on their knowledge of
language and how it works. (p. 3)
1.4.2. Top-down model
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A top-down reading model, which is called a cognitive view, can be described as a
complete contradiction of a bottom-up model. Goodman (1970) calls it "a psycholinguistic
guessing game", which is quite exact that the reader does not immediately concentrate on
the elements of text, but makes predictions about the meaning based on his/her knowledge
of syntax and semantics. Therefore, this model mainly focuses on the learners/readers.
In top-down process, “The knowledge, experience, and concepts that readers bring
to the text, in other words, their schemata, are part of the process” (Dechant, 1991, p. 25).
Learners use their prior knowledge to make predictions about the text they are reading. It is
possible to say that it is easier for students to comprehend the passage if they have

background knowledge about it. When students are familiar with the topic, they are able to
process it much better. Whereas, if students have difficulties with it, they may not truly
understand the text and finish the reading task well.
The top-down model could involve skimming over an entire text (to locate
important points and gain a general understanding of the text), identifying the discourse
structure of the text (to locate important information), predicting desired information,
relating pieces of information, making inference, analyzing of the author’s motives,
combining the information presented in the text with their background knowledge…
Although considered a good way of comprehending a text, the top-down model of
reading also has shortcomings. Samuels and Kamil (1988, p. 32) reveals that a reader will
be unable to generate hypotheses about a text if he/she has insufficient prior knowledge of
the topic, so according to the top-down theory, reading process will not occur. Eskey (1988)
also emphasizes the limitations of the top down model by pointing out that this model is
dependent on the prediction of meaning (by using context clues) and combining contextual
clues with background knowledge, so this model is only useful with skillful and fluent
readers and does not work well with less proficient readers. Moreover, if a skilled reader
can generate predictions, this would take much longer than it would to recognize the words.
1.5. Reading tasks
In teaching receptive skills like reading comprehension, there are usually three
main stages which consist of several tasks. The tasks are based on the purpose we want to
achieve in each stage. Before analyzing each in details, we first see what good reading
tasks are. Nunan (1999, p. 262) points out some characteristics of good reading tasks as
follows:
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- Typically make use of authentic and challenging text
- Provide students with a rhetorical or topical framework for processing and analyzing
the text
- Frequently involve an oral reading of the text by the teacher or a student followed by
silent reading and rereading of the text

- Involve students in direct analysis of the text instead of indirect question answering
- Frequently involve the transfer of information from the text to a visual or diagrammatic
representation
1.5.1. Pre-reading tasks
The pre-reading tasks in a reading are often aimed at providing anticipation and
activating the reader’s schema (Ur, 1996). They generally help students to
- Activate or develop prior knowledge
- Activate or provide knowledge of the text structure
- Introduce key vocabulary
- Establish a reason for reading
The pre-reading activities are considered as vital because they provide students
with required background knowledge that will be needed to have a better comprehension
when the students interact with a passage. They are also useful for students to set up a
purpose for reading. With the pre-reading activities, students get familiar with the topic,
vocabulary, or complex structures in the passage. Moreover, pre-reading activities are
important factors in motivating the readers to read the text, and when they are motivated,
then they are prepared for the reading activity. Thus, they can finish the activity better
without spending too much effort and are more willing to take a part in the activity as they
have gained confidence.
Ur (1996) believes that pre-tasks make the activities more interesting because they
let the students have a purpose in reading, and give the teacher a chance to see how well
the text can be understood with the help of the tasks given before/after reading. In pre-
reading activities, the teacher should prepare different tasks by getting students think, write,
and discuss everything they possibly know about the topic, applying techniques like
semantic mapping, prediction, previewing, brain showering, etc. Here is a summary of
some tasks used to predict the content in pre-reading stage:
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- Activating background knowledge: open prediction, True/ False prediction, pre-
question.

- Previewing: look at the title and the headings for each section to predict what the
reading text is about, look at the pictures to predict what the reading text is about.
- Overviewing: read the first and the last paragraphs of the text to predict what it is about.
In short, the pre-reading tasks prepare the learners for a reading selection, or give
them the first steps in order to develop skills in anticipation and prediction for the reading,
activating background knowledge so they could later interact better with the text. With
these tasks, teachers give students meaningful pieces of information that they would
encounter in the reading.
1.5.2. While-reading tasks
The aims of this stage are to help students to understand the specific content and to
perceive the rhetorical structure of the text (Celce-Murcia, 1991). This stage is quite
important because the tasks aid students developing reading strategies, as well as
improving their control of the second language by decoding problematic text passages.
Given tasks may consist of guessing word meaning by using contextual clues, word
formation clues, or cognate practice like considering syntax and sentence structure (by
noting the grammatical functions of unknown words, analyzing reference words, predicting
text content, reading for specific pieces of information, and even learning to use the
dictionary effectively). With these tasks, teachers take the learners through the reading and
they interact in the text.
A few examples of while-reading tasks could be any one of the following:
- Identify topic sentences and the main idea of paragraphs.
- Distinguish between general and specific ideas.
- Identify the connectors (however, moreover, thus, etc) to see how they link ideas
within the text.
- Check whether or not predictions and guesses are confirmed.
- Skim/scan a text for specific information.
- Answer literal and inferential questions
1.5.3. Post-reading tasks
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Post-reading stage consists of tasks in which learners, after interacting with the
reading, reflect, argue and give their points of view. Post-reading tasks help students
understand texts further through critically analyzing what they have read.
In this stage, the students have chances to check their understanding of what they have
already read, as well as applying and using the information they have gained. Moreover,
the tasks in this stage also give the teacher a chance to judge and check the students'
comprehension, clarify their understanding, which results in having comprehension beyond
the literal level to the interpretive and critical levels.
Thinking aloud, discussion, and summarizing are considered useful post-reading
tasks. As Karakas (2002) declares that using activities like summarizing, question and
answer type of activities, and drawing conclusions, readers can comprehend the text better.
Thus, the teacher can create activities like asking the students to retell story with new
endings, re-enact text; dramatize interviews based upon the text, and create role-play
situations, etc.
1.6. Review of previous studies
There have been studies highlighting students’ attitudes towards some aspects of
learning reading. Black (2006) investigates students’ reading attitudes across the primary
years and finds out that “with a positive attitude towards reading engagement, students are
more likely to engage fully in reading activities in a recreational or an academic context”
(p. 150). Measuring third through fifth grade students’ attitudes towards digital and print-
based reading, Allen’s (2013) research indicates that the female students have more
positive attitudes toward reading than males; “younger students do not have more positive
attitudes toward reading than older students” (p. 160); and students’ attitudes towards
reading are not depended on their access to modern technologies (p. 161). In comparison
with the research related to early readers, research related to adolescent readers seems to
fall short. Sarawit (2009) do research on freshman students’ attitude towards reading in an
international bachelor degree program in Thailand, the results show that, in general, there
are slightly negative attitudes towards reading among all of the students but they have
positive attitudes toward the SAP program (a reading program with short stories and
articles selected for cultural diversity). It can be seen that most of the research mainly

focus on students’ attitudes towards reading in general, little attention has been given to
students’ attitudes towards particular reading tasks. It can be found only two of recent