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27Central Asian Research Journal For Interdisciplinary Studies (CARJIS)
ISSN (online): 2181-2454 Volume 2 | Issue 11 |November, 2022 | SJIF: 5,965 | UIF: 7,6 | ISRA: JIF 1.947 | Google Scholar |
www.carjis.org DOI: 10.24412/2181-2454-2022-11-364-368
THE "TOP-DOWN" AND "BOTTOM-UP" APPROACHES IN ENGLISH
LANGUAGE TEACHING
Nodira Suyarkulovna Normuminova
Academic lyceum of UWED E-mail: nodira-sevinch@mail.ru
ABSTRACT
Very often our students may have a feeling that they are lost in meaning when they read or listen to a text in English. Our students face different challenges through two processes that we use to understand written and spoken texts. If you want to help your students improve their reading and listening skills, read on and you will learn how to do it.
Keywords: top-down", "bottom-up", learning mode, teaching listening, mental processes, specific information
The terms "top-down" and "bottom-up" refer to the ways in which we process oral or written text. Many books treat them as two separate strategies that language learners can use to process and understand texts by ear, but what exactly do they mean? There is a difference between top-down and bottom-up text processing. "In metaphorical terms, it can be compared to how we look at something from above -when you see everything - and, conversely, when you find yourself among something and understand where you are, focusing on all individual traits. It's like looking at a forest and studying individual trees inside it," writes Jeremy Harmer in his book The Practice of English Language Teaching.
These processes were triggered by certain recognizable names and words. Without the right kind of prior knowledge, understanding becomes more difficult. This is the problem of some students. Knowledge about cultural values, features and discourse in their native language (L1) is different from this very knowledge in the English they are dealing with. Consequently, they have to work twice as hard to understand what they see or hear. In many cases, students are in a bottom-up learning mode. They are desperately trying to understand every single word in the text they are listening to. Unfortunately, in many situations this is simply not possible. They are often disappointed and just give up.
Therefore, it should be remembered:
Central Asian Research Journal For Interdisciplinary Studies (CARJIS)
ISSN (online): 2181-2454 Volume 2 | Issue 11 |November, 2022 | SJIF: 5,965 | UIF: 7,6 | ISRA: JIF 1.947 | Google Scholar |
www.carjis.org DOI: 10.24412/2181-2454-2022-11-364-368
• During top-down text processing, the reader or listener gets a general view of the passage to read or listen to.
• In the process of processing " bottom-top", the reader or listener focuses on individual words and phrases and achieves understanding by connecting these detailed elements together, thus creating a single whole.
• As teachers, we must be aware of the mental processes that lead to a better understanding of the text. This will help us decide what to do in class to help students read and listen better.
Ideas for lessons.
We define the topic. Good readers and listeners are able to identify the topic of a written or spoken text very quickly. This allows them to process the text more efficiently during the reading process. Before reading or listening, you can ask your students to brainstorm on what they already know about this topic, provide for the characteristics of the genre of the text, or ask what they want to learn from the text / content (if they do not have enough prior knowledge on the topic of the text).
We predict and make guesses. Both readers and listeners sometimes use guesses to try and understand what is written in the text or what is being talked about. Ask students to anticipate what will be discussed, to guess or guess the content at a glance or after listening to a small fragment. Further reading/listening will help them confirm their expectations. Use contextual and non-linguistic information (for example, drawings, text presentation and headings for reading, ask who communicates with whom, what and why - for listening).
We pre-teach the key vocabulary. This helps with bottom-up text processing. However, this should not be abused, because then students will not learn to guess the meaning of words from the context.
We use the techniques of skimming to read the text and listening for gist. Good readers and listeners are able to perceive the flow of discourse and understand its general essence without being distracted by details. By encouraging students to read or listen in order to grasp the essence, we help them to be prepared for reading and listening to more specific information. There are no options "for the lazy". In this way, students will use their opportunities to take more for themselves from the top-down study of what is happening.
We read and listen for specific information. We often turn to written or spoken text because we want specific details. Students should know how to ignore any other information and find specific information. You can ask your students, for example, to
Central Asian Research Journal For Interdisciplinary Studies (CARJIS)
ISSN (online): 2181-2454 Volume 2 | Issue 11 |November, 2022 | SJIF: 5,965 | UIF: 7,6 | ISRA: JIF 1.947 | Google Scholar |
www.carjis.org DOI: 10.24412/2181-2454-2022-11-364-368
quickly review a movie review and find the name of the actor or director.
We read and listen to understand the details. This also includes listening for conclusions about the attitude, intentions of the speaker, and the like. Such tasks are more demanding and require more intensive listening. It might be a good idea to divide the recording into fragments, which will allow students to consult with each other before checking the assignment with the rest of the students. You can also try tasks such as listening bingos, dicto-gloss and gap-fills.
Many students are used to the bottom-up system. When reading, when you are not limited by time, you can afford to crawl from the bottom up. The book page will not run away anywhere, you can reread the same sentence three times to get to the bottom of its deep meaning. But when we listen, it's not always possible to say to the speaker, "Hey, wait, I need to process the information." In reality, the speaker continues to do his job, and, quite possibly, he has already jumped to the next thought. It is important to see the whole brick scene, the whole landscape in order to catch what the interlocutor wants to convey.
There are several types of listening comprehension tasks:
Understand everything. That is, all words and expressions should be understandable, as in the case of simultaneous translation. Only then can the task be completed.
Understand only the information that needs to be understood. This is a very important skill. For example, you ask how to get to Buckingham Palace, and they explain in detail where it is located. Mentally stumbling over every unfamiliar word or trying to translate all the familiar words in a sentence, you miss important points that will help you achieve your goal, namely Buckingham Palace: turn right / left, walk along the street, walk right at the intersection.
Often the psychological aspect hinders understanding: frustration. In a conversation, hearing an unfamiliar word, "ear" paralysis occurs, and further words of the interlocutor are not perceived due to excitement. In fact, you need to try to get out of this state, switch to the interlocutor and continue listening, trying to catch the thread of the interlocutor's speech.
There is another strategy that helps to improve the skill of listening to speech. If, after listening to one task four or five times, the meaning of some parts remains unclear, then it is recommended to listen again while looking at the printed text. And then again, but without looking at the text.
When learning new words, I advise you to pronounce them out loud, or listen
Central Asian Research Journal For Interdisciplinary Studies (CARJIS)
ISSN (online): 2181-2454 Volume 2 | Issue 11 |November, 2022 | SJIF: 5,965 | UIF: 7,6 | ISRA: JIF 1.947 | Google Scholar |
www.carjis.org DOI: 10.24412/2181-2454-2022-11-364-368
to them in an electronic dictionary, so that you can then easily recognize them by ear.
The top-down technique approaches understanding from the other end, beginning with the listener's prior knowledge of the non-linguistic environment and moving down to individual sounds. Listeners will actively interpret what they hear in terms of their overall understanding of the situation and the world. As an example, suppose I tell you:
McKenzy gave me yet another gift today. I buried it in the garden since it was too late to preserve it. I believe I'll have to put a bell around his neck.
You will undoubtedly grasp all of the words in this chapter, but do you understand what they mean? Consider what occurred as you read. The first phrase most likely went off without a hitch. But there was more going on than just word decoding. Without your even realizing it, subconscious expectations based on your knowledge of the world were formed in your head - McKenzy is presumably a friend, probably a guy as just the surname is used, the present will be something pleasant, and so on. The fact that you probably took a double-take when you came to the second sentence - buried it? - demonstrates the existence of these presuppositions. And at that time, you will have begun to actively seek the meaning.
Maybe you figured it out by the end. If this is the case, you should be aware that it was your knowledge of the world that assisted you in understanding, not what was written in the book. Perhaps you're still in the dark. My cat's name is McKenzy, and I can assist you by providing contextual or situational knowledge. Combine that with your understanding of the world (the habit of cats giving their owners "presents" of half-dead birds and mice they've caught, and the idea that the noise of a bell will prevent the cat from sneaking up on them unnoticed) and you'll understand the text.
Whatever assistance you need or did not require, you can see that there was a lot more going on in comprehending the material than just passively interpreting the sounds (or in this instance letters, as you were reading it - but the idea is the same), then the words, then the sentences. Your mind was actively striving to comprehend the passage, and it was employing a lot of non-textual data to do so. And how simple it was will depend on how near the top of your head that knowledge was. If your cat was sitting on your lap as you read the paragraph, you undoubtedly tuned in right away. It may have taken longer if you had never kept a cat before.
I'm not implying that this isn't a viable option. It is. The shift to a top-down strategy was a necessary departure from the excessive bottom-up approach that persisted in some situations in foreign language instruction as late as the 1960s. The
Central Asian Research Journal For Interdisciplinary Studies (CARJIS)
ISSN (online): 2181-2454 Volume 2 | Issue 11 |November, 2022 | SJIF: 5,965 | UIF: 7,6 | ISRA: JIF 1.947 | Google Scholar |
www.carjis.org DOI: 10.24412/2181-2454-2022-11-364-368
learner's listening capacity was viewed as proved in this technique by his or her ability to take down a dictated paragraph precisely as it was read aloud, or to answer extensive comprehension questions on a written piece read by the teacher. With little exposure to the natural elements of spoken language and no training in the top-down listening procedures.
Summing up, I will say that in addition to the above, constant practice is the best generator of the ability to listen and understand. Films, TV series, foreign TV channels not only help to overcome the "auditory barrier", but also make it possible to recognize dialects and styles (formal and informal).
REFERENCES
1. Harmer J. (2013). "The Practice of English Language Teaching" New York. Longman publishers.
2. Sonbul, S., & Schmitt, N. (2010). "Direct teaching of vocabulary after reading: Is it worth the effort"? ELT Journal,64, 253-260. doi:10.1093/elt/ccp059
3. Wesche, M., & Paribakht, T. (1996). "Assessing second language vocabulary knowledge: Depth versus breadth". Canadian Modern Language Review, 53, 13-39.
