By Feny Martina

Characteristics of Reading and

Reading Test Formats
READING APPROACHES

 Top-down : we begin from a general idea

of a reading text based on our background
knowledge (called schemata) and our
expectation, and then we proceed to the
detailed information.
 Bottom-up : we begin from learning the
words, phrases, and combination of
sentences to get the whole meanings of a
text.
Interactive Approach

 In practice, the two approaches are often

used together or simultaneously, which are
termed as an interactive approach. If we want
to read a newspaper, for example, sometimes
we need to read the details first to come up
with a tentative whole idea, and then based
on the tentative whole idea we go to the
details again to correct or confirm with the
whole idea that we have made.
GENRES OF READING

 Brown and Abeywickrama (2010: 225-226) classify

reading into: 1) academic reading; 2) job-related
reading, and 3)personal reading.
 In the 2013 Curriculum in Indonesia, Badan
Standard Nasional Pendidikan or BSNP classifies
texts into: 1) interpersonal and transactional texts
(spoken); 2) short functional texts (spoken and
written), and 3) long functional texts (spoken and
written).
1) Academic reading
 General interest articles (in magazines, newspapers, etc.) ;
 Technical reports (e.g., lab reports),
 Professional journal articles ;
 Reference material (dictionaries, online encyclopedias,
etc.);
 Textbooks;
 Theses essays;
 Papers;
 Test directions;
 Editorials; and
 opinion writing.
2) Job-related reading

 Messages (e.g., phone messages)

 Letters/e-mails
 Memos (e.g., interoffice)
 Reports (e.g., job evaluations, project reports)
 Schedules, labels, signs, announcements
 Forms, applications, questionnaires
 Financial documents (bills, invoices, etc.)
 Directories (telephone, office, etc.)
 Manuals,
 directions
3) Personal reading
 Newspapers and magazines
 Letters, e-mails, greeting cards, invitations
 Messages, notes, lists, blogs Schedules (train, bus, plane,
etc.)
 Recipes, menus, maps, calendars
 Advertisements (commercials, want ads)
 Novels, short stories, jokes, drama, poetry
 Financial documents (e.g., checks, tax forms, loan
applications)
 Forms, questionnaires, medical reports, immigration
documents
 Comic strips, cartoons
4) Short functional texts

 Advertisements
 Announcements
 Greeting cards
 Instructions
 Invitations
 List of things
 Notices
 Short messages
5) Long functional texts

 Analytical exposition
 Anecdote Descriptive
 Discussion Explanation
 Hortatory exposition
 Narrative News item
 Procedure
 Recount
 Report
 Review
 Spoof
TAXONOMY OF READING
The Barrett’s taxonomy of reading :
 1. Literal comprehension, which consists of recognition and recall of details,
main ideas, a sequence, comparison, cause and effect relationships, and
character traits.
 2. Reorganization, which consists of classifying, outlining, summarizing, and
synthesizing.
 3. Inferential comprehension, which consists of inferring supporting details,
main ideas, sequences, comparisons, cause and effect relationships, and
character traits, predicting outcomes, and interpreting figurative language.
 4. Evaluation, which consists of judgments of reality or fantasy, fact or
opinion, adequacy and validity, appropriateness, and worth, desirability and
acceptability.
 5. Appreciation, which consists of emotional response to the content,
identification with characters or incidents, reactions to the author’s use of
language, and imagery. The micro skills and macro skills of
TAXONOMY OF READING
Brown and Abeywickrama (2010: 227)

 Micro skills
1. Discriminate among the distinctive graphemes (letters or letter
combinations that produce a phoneme) and orthographic patterns of
English
2. Retain chunks of language of different lengths in short term memory
3. Process writing at an efficient rate of speed to suit the purpose
4. Recognize a core of words and interpret word order patterns and their
significance
5. Recognize grammatical word classes (nouns, verbs, etc.), system (e.g.,
tense, agreement, pluralization), patterns, rules, and elliptical forms
6. Recognize that a particular meaning may be expressed in different
grammatical forms
7. Recognize cohesive devices in written discourse and their role in
signaling the relationship between and among clauses
TAXONOMY OF READING
Brown and Abeywickrama (2010: 227)

 Macro skills
1. Recognize the rhetorical conventions of written discourse and their significance for
interpretation
2. Recognize the communicative functions of written texts, according to form and
purpose
3. Infer context that is not explicit by activating schemata (using background
knowledge)
4. From described events, ideas, etc., infer links and connections between events,
deduce causes and effects, and detect such relations as main idea, supporting idea,
new information, given information, generalization, and exemplification
5. Distinguish between literal and implied meanings
6. Detect culturally specific references and interpret them in a context of the
appropriate cultural schemata
7. Develop and use a battery of reading strategies, such as scanning and skimming,
detecting discourse markers, guessing the meaning or words from context, and
activating schemata for the interpretation of texts
TYPES OF READING TASKS
 The reading assessment tasks are divided into three
levels, i.e. word level, sentence level, and discourse level.
 The word-level comprehension is the basic level of
comprehension, i.e. an ability to identify the form and
meaning of a word. It overlaps with vocabulary
assessment, but the focus here is on recognition, and not
on the construction of words.
 Sentence-level comprehension is an ability to get
meaning from a sentence level.
 Discourse-level comprehension is an ability to get
meaning from a context of paragraph or essay.
QUIZ

For your comprehension of the content of this

activity, answer the following questions.
1. What is meant by reading ability?
2. What is top-down approach in reading?
3. What are schemata, and what is its role in reading
comprehension?
4. What is meant by interactive approach in reading?
5. Recognizing grammatical word classes in micro
skill is comparable to which of type of
comprehension in Barrett’s taxonomy!
QUIZ

1. If we read a text, starting from identification of word

meaning, and going on to sentence meaning, to get
whole meaning, what reading approach do we use?
2. Write an example of a message in a job-related reading
and an example of a message in a personal reading.
3. What is the difference between a narrative text and a
recount text, and between an anecdote and a spoof?
4. Give an example of a particular meaning which is
expressed in different grammatical forms.
5. What is the difference between scanning and skimming
in reading?
Reading Assessment Tasks

Word level
▪ Identify the part of speech of a word from its form
▪ identify the part of speech of a word from its form;
▪ get meaning from analyzing word parts;
▪ get meaning of a word from a context

Sentence Level
▪ Ability to get sentence meaning from different sentence constructions
▪ Ability to get meaning of a sentence or a phrasal expression

Discourse Level
▪ ability to get meaning from a context broader than a sentence (can be any
of the genres in the form of paragraph or essay)
1. Word level
Ability to identify the part of speech of a word from its form

Example 1.
Determine whether each of the following words
is a noun (N), a verb (V), an adjective (Adj), or an
adverb (Adv). Circle your choice.
1. frivolous (N - V - Adj - Adv)
2. imperishable (N - V - Adj - Adv)
3. incantation (N - V - Adj - Adv)
4. mechanism (N - V - Adj - Adv)
5. strengthen (N - V - Adj - Adv
1. Word level
Ability to identify the part of speech of a word from its form

 Example 2. Choose the correct answer, and write

it in the space provided.

1. Between friendly and kindly, the adjective is

_______________ 2. Between criminal and economical,
the noun is ______________ 3. Between quick and fast,
the adverb is ______________ 4. Between blender and
advisor, the word to indicate non-person is
_____________ 5. Between assistance and assistant,
the word to indicate a person is _____________
1. Word level
Ability to get meaning from analyzing word parts

Example.
Choose the meaning of the bold-typed word.

1. The word teleprinter has a meaning of printing…

a. from a distance c. very rapidly
b. in a hidden place d. using a small printer
2. The word multitude indicates . . . .
a. completeness c. depth
b. complication d. largeness
1. Word level
Ability to get meaning of a word from a context

Example.
Choose the (closest) meaning of the underlined word.
1. Some living things are quite tiny that we need a
microscope to see them.
a. deep c. small
b. short d. unclear
2. These seats are reserved for the elderly or disabled
persons.
a. foreign c. overweight
b. old-aged d. VIP
2. SENTENCE-LEVEL READING TASKS
Ability to get sentence meaning from different sentence constructions

 Example 1.
Choose the sentence which has the closest meaning to the
bold-typed sentence.

1. Most people in Indonesia eat rice.

a. Rice is eaten by most people in Indonesia.
b. In Indonesia, rice has been eaten by most people.
2. Alfima said: “I was in the U.S. for 6 months”.
a. Alfima said that I was in the U.S. for 6 months.
b. Alfima said that she had been in the U.S. for 6
months.
2. SENTENCE-LEVEL READING TASKS
Ability to get meaning of a sentence or a phrasal expression

Example:
Choose the expression which is closest in
meaning to the bold-typed expression.
1. I wish I could help him.
a. Unfortunately, I cannot help him.
b. Fortunately, I can help him.
2. The man-eating tiger was killed.
a. The man who ate a tiger was killed.
b. The tiger which ate a man was killed.
3. DISCOURSE-LEVEL READING
TASKS
 Discourse-level comprehension is an ability to
get meaning from a context broader than a
sentence.
 The reading texts can be any of the genres in
the form of paragraph or essay. The specific
objectives of the test tasks refer to the
Barrett’s taxonomy or Brown and
Abeywickrama’s micro- and macroskills.
3. DISCOURSE-LEVEL READING
TASKS
 In this discourse level, the examples are taken
from TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign
Language), IELTS (International English
Language Testing System), and TOEIC (Test
of English for International Communication).
3. DISCOURSE-LEVEL READING
TASKS
 TOEFL (as cited in PDEC, 2012: 206-275) determine 13 subskills for its reading
(including vocabulary) section, namely as follows.
1. Answering main idea questions
2. Recognizing the organization of ideas
3. Answering stated detail questions
4. Finding “unstated” details
5. Finding pronoun referents
6. Answering implied detail questions
7. Answering transition questions
8. Finding definitions from structural clues
9. Determining meanings from word parts
10. Using context to determine meanings of difficult words
11. Using context to determine meanings of simple words
12. Determining where specific information is found
13. Determining the tone, purpose, or course
TASK

 Please write the examples of reading test

items for discourse-level reading tasks taken
from the aforementioned subskills in TOEFL!