Chapter Two   Literature Review

2.1 Classification of English Reading Teaching Models

2.1.1 Definitions of Reading

The understanding of reading differs from person to person in different times. Some people consider that reading is “reading comprehension” while others may believe that reading is to understand the words through their literal meanings. The reading theory in the 1970s considered reading as a process of decoding language and constructing meaning from words, phrases and sentences. With the development of related human research, people began to lay stress on the influence of the non-linguistic factors on reading comprehension (Zhao, 2001, pp. 189-190).

2.1.2 Three Reading Teaching Models

Reading teaching plays an important role in junior high school English teaching. When teaching reading, great attention should be paid regarding how to teach, which involves selecting materials, designing tasks, motivating students and developing skills. Below are three models for teaching reading.

2.1.2.1 Bottom-up Model

Bottom-up model “basically follows a linear process from the recognition of letters to words, to phrases, to sentences, to paragraphs, and then to the meaning of the whole text”(Wang, 2006, p. 184). To be specific, the teacher who follows this model teaches reading by introducing structures and new vocabulary first, then going through the whole text sentence by sentence and paragraph by paragraph with students. The teacher then will ask some questions to check students’ comprehension. Students are often required to read aloud the text.