Cognitive and linguistic factors in reading acquisition

Models of the reading process generally describe the relations among the components of reading in skilled readers. In these models, the relations between bottom-up word recognition processes (lower order processes) and top-down comprehension processes (higher order processes) are typically described. In bottom-up models of reading, processing starts with the raw input and passes through increasingly refined analyses until the meaning of the text is grasped. In top-down models, the decisions made at higher levels of processing are used to guide choices at lower levels. Research evidence makes it clear that neither purely bottom-up nor purely top-down models can fully explain the reading process (Rayner & Pollatsek, 1989; Stanovich, 2000). An interactive model of ongoing top-down and bottom-up processes is therefore needed to imply that the reader uses both graphic and contextual information to grasp the meaning of a text (Perfetti, Landi, & Oakhill, 2005; Verhoeven & Perfetti, 2008). In the process of learning to read, children start out acquiring elementary decoding skills and learn to apply these with greater accuracy and speed. Word recognition subsequently becomes increasingly automatized by direct recognition of multi-letter units and whole words (Reitsma, 1983; Ziegler & Goswami, 2005). Automatic word recognition enables children to devote their mental resources to the meaning of text rather than to recognizing words, allowing them to use reading as a tool to acquire new concepts and information (Perfetti, 1998; Samuels & Flor,