Cognitive processing Top-down vs bottom-up processing

The interactive model
The interactive model (Rumelhart, 1977; Stanovich, 1980, cited in Abraham, 2000) stressed both what is on the written page and what a reader brings to it using both top-down and bottom-up skills.
Teachers who adopt the interactive approach acknowledge that there is an interaction between both the text and the reader in the reading process.
When both top-down and bottom-up techniques are used consciously by learners, they become effective strategies to get the most of a text.
Intensive and extensive reading
A distinction is made in the literature between two forms of reading: intensive and extensive reading.
Intensive reading involves the deconstruction of a text. The aim is to get as much information as possible. By reading intensively, we are concerned with every detail related to the text. The learner is encouraged to deal with vocabulary and grammar activities to get a closer understanding of the text.
Extensive reading, however, refers to simply reading as much as possible, without concerning oneself with every detail. Occasional unknown words are not supposed to get too much attention because the focus is on the overall meaning. That is to say, extensive readers look up words only when they deem it absolutely necessary to their understanding of the text.
How to teach reading skills In the classroom
Following the above theoretical background, while teaching reading skills we, as teachers, should respect certain fundamental principles.
Principles of teaching reading
According to Nation (2009), teaching grammar should follow specific principles that help boost reading skills.
1. Reading is a purposeful enterprise
Training students to develop their reading skills should be done to fulfill a range of purposes:

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  To search for specific information through skimming and scanning activities.
  
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  To learn and gain knowledge about different topics
  
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  To be entertained
  
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  To react to a text and have a say about its content.
  
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