Reading Comprehension: An Interactive Model
Understanding the Reading Process
The Interactive Model of Reading Comprehension
Several books explain different models to describe the process of reading comprehension, but the most studied is the interactive model, which is the most complete and robust.
The interactive model argues that comprehension of a text is achieved through the interrelation between what the reader reads and what they already know about the subject. The reading process begins *before* starting to receive the text itself, when the reader begins to raise their expectations about what they will read: subject, text type, tone, etc. All the reading experience we have accumulated throughout our life is recorded in the Long-Term Memory (LTM), in cognitive schemes that organize information in a structured manner. Thus, we can foresee what type of text is usually read in each situation, what it looks like, what language will appear, and so on.
Furthermore, the LTM also contains mastery of the language system that we have achieved and our knowledge of the subject on which we will read. All this prior information allows us, before reading the text, to anticipate or make assumptions about it. Also, before starting to read, we mentally set targets for reading related to the communicative situation: What information do we need? What data? How long do we have to read the text? These objectives determine how we read: if we only need an overview or specific data, if it should be fast or slow. When we begin to see the text, the eye scans the prose line by successive fixations. In each fixation, we grasp a few words and tend to focus on larger units, which are those that allow us to receive more information at once. Besides, we use reading skills to quickly and carefully choose what we want from the text.
Verifying Hypotheses and Building Understanding
With the first perceptions we have, we begin to verify the hypothesis of meaning that we had made before starting to read. The information allows us to validate or correct them and serves to refine more precisely the hypothesis that we formulate about what we have not read. The process of formulating and testing hypotheses is the essence of understanding; it is the interaction between what we know and what the new text tells us. It is an instant and active process that works throughout reading. Within the formulation of hypotheses, we can distinguish several micro-skills: anticipation, prediction, and inference.
The Role of Short-Term Memory (STM)
The Short-Term Memory (STM) is what reminds us of some data for a few seconds and processes information. To understand, we remember for a few seconds what we are reading. If we lose ourselves, we can go back to some previous point and replay what we have lost. A simple metaphor can explain the relationship between the STM, the LTM, and the reading process. Imagine writing a report: all the documents and books on the table that you use to write the text are the STM. The other documents and books on the shelves, which you also have but are not needed at this time, are the LTM. When we read, we act the same way.
With the STM, we remember only what interests us at the time of reading, and we store indefinitely in the LTM all the information that interests us. When we understand a phrase or an idea of the text, we retain it in the STM for a few seconds, so that we can relate it to other ideas, which form a more general and structured concept, which is what is kept in the STM again for a few seconds until we can integrate it into a higher unit, and so on until we understand the meaning of the text.
This complex interactive process of reading is completed when the reader manages to form a mental representation of the text, according to the objectives encountered.