The process of translating print into meaning, initiated by predicting meaning or decoding symbols, is best described by which reading model?

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Reading is a dynamic back-and-forth between what the text signals and what the reader brings to it. The Interactive Model treats understanding print as a two-way process: you actively predict meaning from the context and your prior knowledge, and you also decode the actual letters and words to confirm or adjust those predictions. When you encounter a sentence, you might anticipate what comes next based on how it sounds or what makes sense in the topic, then decode the words to see if your expectation holds. If the prediction fits, comprehension flows; if not, you revise your understanding. This explains how people can grasp meaning even with tricky words, using context to guide decoding, and why decoding skills bolster overall understanding. Other approaches focus more on either decoding alone or meaning-making from context without that ongoing interaction, but the described process aligns with how readers actively integrate both pathways.