......
2.2 The Top-Down Model
This model stresses that readers are active participants in reading. They usetheir existing knowledge to predict the meaning of the reading materials and willeither affirm or refute the information in them. This model has a great impact onunderstanding the readers' reading behavior.Here are some features of this model: (Gove 1983: 200-210)"The comprehension of a text could be achieved even if the readers do notrecognize each word.The identification of unfamiliar words could be achieved by making use ofgrammatical clues,?The ultimate goal of reading is processing for meaning instead of the mastery ofletters, letter-sound relationships and words.? Reading requires the use of meaning activities rather than the mastery of a seriesof word—recognition skills.?The reading of sentences, paragraphs, and whole selections is the primary focusof instruction.?The most important fiinction of reading comprehension is to acquire informationthrough reading.
.....
Chapter Three The Definition and Basic Notions of RT......9
3.1 Relevance.....9
3.2 The Relevance-theoretic View of Communication.....14
3.3 Relevance-theoretic View of Inference.....19
3.4 Relevance-theoretic View of Context.....20
Chapter Four Relevance-theoretic Account of Reading Comprehension.....24
4.1. Reading Comprehension and Relevance.....24
4.2 Reading Comprehension and Inference.....26
4.3 Reading Comprehension and Mutual Manifestness.....27
4.4 Reading Comprehension and Context.....29
4.5 Explicature and Implicature in Reading Comprehension.....31
4.6 Relevance-theoretic Model of Reading.....37
Chapter Five Testing the Relevance-Theoretic Reading Model.....40
5.1 Experimental Description.....40
5.2 Application of Relevance Theory in English Reading Teaching.....41
5.3 The Grammar Translation Reading Teaching Method......48
5.4 Results and Discussions.....49
Chapter 6 Implications for English Reading Teaching in VoC
6.1 Implications for English Reading Teaching in VoC
According to the Relevance Theory (Sperber & Wilson [1995] 2001: 298), thesmaller the processing effort of discourse, the stronger the relevance is. In other words,in the communication process, readers do not need to make much effort when readingthe articles with optimal relevance. If the reading material can create adequatecontextual effect for the readers, the degree of difficulty for readers' processing effortwill diminish. For example, the reading materials in CET4 or CET 6 tests will be hardfor the students in VoC to understand. This is because the content for them to read hasfar exceeded their cognitive level. Below I present some implications for Englishreading teaching in vocational colleges:The selected reading materials should be consistent with the readers'linguistic competence and cognitive ability. The readers with better linguisticcompetence and cognitive ability can achieve optimal relevance and get the writer'scommunicative intention more easi
