also states that for learners of English, two primary hurdles must be cleared in order to become efficient readers. First, they need to be able
to master fundamental bottom-up strategies for processing separate letters, words, and phrases, as well as top-down, conceptually driven
strategies for comprehension. Second, as part of that top-down approach, second language readers must develop appropriate content
and formal schemata – background information and cultural
experience – to carry out those interpretations effectively.
b. Types of Reading
According to Brown 2004: 189-190, there are several types of reading performance as follows:
1 Perceptive Perceptive reading task involves attending to components of
larger stretches of discourse: letters, words, punctuation, and other graphemic symbols. Bottom-up processing is implied.
2 Selective In order to ascertain one’s reading recognition of lexical,
grammatical, or discourse feature within a very short stretch of language, certain typical tasks are used: picture-cued tasks,
matching, truefalse, multiple choice, etc. a combination of bottom-up and top-down processing may be used.
3 Interactive
Reading is a process of negotiating meaning: the reader brings to the text a set of schemata for understanding it and in
take is the product of that interaction. Top-down processing is typical of such tasks, although some instances of bottom-
up may be necessary. 4 Extensive
Extensive reading applies to texts of more than a page, up to and including professional articles, essays, technical reports,
short stories, and books. Top-down processing is assumed for most extensive tasks.
c. Micro and Macro Skills of Reading
Brown 2004: 187-188 stated that the skills and strategies for accomplishing reading emerge as a crucial consideration in the
assessment of reading ability. The micro skills and macro skills below represent the spectrum of possibilities for objectives in the assessment
of reading comprehension. Micro skills
1 Discriminate among the distinctive graphemes 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 noun, verbs, etc., systems e.g., tense, agreement, pluralization, patterns,
rules, and elliptical forms.
6 Recognize cohesive devices in written discourse and their role in signalling the relationship between and among
clauses. 7 Recognize cohesive devices in written discourse and their
role in signalling the relationship between and among clauses.
Macro skills 8 Recognize the rhetorical forms of written discourse and
their significance for interpretation. 9 Recognize the communicative functions of written texts,
according to form and purpose. 10 Infer context that is not explicit by using background
knowledge. 11 From described events, ideas, etc., infer links and
connections between events, deduce causes and effects, and detect such relations as main idea.
12 Distinguish between literal and implied meaning. 13 Detect culturally specific references and interpret them in a
context of the appropriate cultural schemata. 14 Develop and use a battery of reading strategies, such as
scanning and skimming, detecting discourse markers, guessing the meaning of words from context, and activating
schemata for the interpretation of texts.
3. The Writing Skills
