- •Language comprehension
- •Input reading 1
- •Exploratory task 1.1
- •Exploratory task 1.2
- •Input reading 2
- •Warming up discussion 2.1
- •Match the following word-recognition theories and theoretical propositions
- •Exploratory task 2.1
- •Exploratory task 2,2 Match the given metaphorical and idiomatic phrases with their meaning intepretation
- •Input reading 3 Theories of sentence comprehension
- •Exploratory task 3.1
- •Exploratory task 3.2
- •Input reading 4
- •Exploratory task 4.2
- •Exploratory task 4.3 What prior knowledge do you need to comprehend the text? (Mask the “tip” while doing the task)
- •Exploratory task 4.4
- •Exploratory task 4.5
- •Exploratory task 4.6
- •Exploratory task 4.7
- •Exploratory task 4.10
- •Exploratory task 4.11
- •Input reading 5
- •Exploratory task 5.1
- •Exploratory task 5.2
- •Exploratory task 5.3
- •Exploratory task 5.4
- •Exploratory task 5.5
- •Exploratory task 5.6
- •Exploratory task 5.7 Read this short joke and compile the “grammar” of this story in the space provided
- •Exploratory task 5.8
- •Exploratory task 5.9
- •Reference and further reading
- •Eysenck, m. And m. Keane. 1995. Cognitive Psychology. Psychology Press Harley., t. The Psychology of Language. Psychology Press. 1995
Exploratory task 4.5
In the process of comprehension the content of the message integrates with the social expectations and stereotypes as part of one’s individual schemata. Read the following contributions to the debate on “Legalizing drugs” and comment on what you agree or disagree with as prompted by your social expectations and stereotypes
Texts |
Comments |
As a society we have too much free will, we need laws and rules to confine us and hold us in form. That way we can help each other to help ourselves. As people we do not have enough sense to determine for ourselves what is right and wrong so we need a higher power to dispense information for us to follow. |
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Cannabis is a naturally occurring substance which poses far less danger than cigarettes and alcohol. It has proven benefits for the terminally ill, for example, and the most overwhelming statistic is that in over 10,000 years of use not one person has ever died using it. Let's stop wasting resources on imprisoning young people found with small amounts of this substance. |
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The reason why most people take drugs is for fun. We enjoy a pint and we enjoy a cigarette. You are more likely to die from eating a bay leaf than you are from taking a drug. Drugs do occasionally kill people but not on the scale of poor health service funding or careless rail organisations. Drugs do ruin lives but not as much as poor and highly biased education. Let educated drug takers talk to kids. (BBC Front Page. Talking Points) |
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Top-down and bottom-up processing
Comprehension processes can proceed top-down (based on knowledge and expectations) and bottom-up (based on textual material). Bottom-up word processing starts with the phonemes and goes up to the meaning. There is evidence that fluent readers do not always read the words that are on the page and do not make much use of the bottom-up approach. Top-down processing starts with the knowledge and anticipations in mind and goes down to the recognition of the contents. This anticipatory meaning often stems from the past experience and prior knowledge, imaging and guesses. Interactive processing means using both top-down and bottom-up strategies. Efficient readers usually use both strategies on balance (Nunan, D. 1993. Introducing Discourse Analysis. Penguin Books. P.78-84)
Exploratory task 4.6
Read the text and indicate the processing strategy that you have been using. Explain why.
Text |
Strategy |
Reasons |
The synchrotron The synchrotron is the most recent and most powerful member of the accelerator family. A synchrotron consists of a tube in the shape of a large ring through which the particles travel; the tube is surrounded by magnets that keep the particles moving through the center of the tube. The particles enter the tube after already having been accelerated |
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The process of comprehension is aimed at comprehending the text message, i.e. what the text is intended to communicate. A popular model of message comprehension is called "construction-integration model" proposed by Kintch and Van Dijk (Cited in Eysenck and Keane. 1995. P. 315-322). First, propositions are inferred from the text. These propositions get integrated into larger chunks of meaning because the capacity of the processing memory is limited. Finally, communicative message evolves in the reader's mind. Thus the process of comprehension is a chain of summarizing cognitive acts.