READING: HIGHER-LEVEL PROCESSES
The processing of visual material at a conceptual level as distinct from a perceptual level. Higher-level reading processes entail:
Constructing abstract meaning from linguistic material that has been decoded. This provides a mental record of the core meaning of the sentence without any of the interpretative and associative detail which the reader then brings to bear.
Drawing inferences which supply links that the writer has taken for granted.
Employing external knowledge to support and enrich understanding. This external knowledge takes the form of schemas in long-term memory which group all that an individual knows about or associates with a particular concept. It is useful to distinguish two types:
World knowledge, including encyclopaedic knowledge and pre vious knowledge of the writer. This helps the reader to construct a content schema for the text.
Previous experience of the type of text and of the type of reading that the text requires. A formal schema of this kind helps the reader to recognise how information is likely to be distributed and how they should engage with the speaker or writer.
Integrating incoming information into the mental representation of the text so far. Incoming information has to be related to what has gone before, so as to ensure that it contributes to the developing representation of the text in a way that is consistent, meaningful and relevant. This process entails an ability to identify main ideas, to relate them to previous ideas and to impose a hierarchical structure on the information in the text.
Monitoring comprehension by checking how viable the current interpretation is.
See also: Inference, Listening: higher-level processes, Reading development, Reading: skilled, Schema theory
Further reading: Oakhill and Garnham (1988); Yuill and Oakhill (1992)
