Which model proposes that readers use their prior knowledge to predict meaning before decoding?

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Multiple Choice

Which model proposes that readers use their prior knowledge to predict meaning before decoding?

Using prior knowledge to predict meaning before decoding is a hallmark of the top-down model. In this view, readers bring their background, expectations, and context to a text and generate hypotheses about what will come next. Those predictions guide how they interpret upcoming words and sentences, and decoding happens in light of what they’re expecting. When the text fits the reader’s predictions, processing feels smooth and rapid; when it doesn’t, readers adjust their understanding as they go. This contrasts with bottom-up processing, which starts with decoding letters and sounds and builds up to meaning without relying on pre-formed predictions. The other term listed points to letter-sound relationships rather than a prediction-based approach, and miscues describe reading errors rather than a theory about how prediction shapes comprehension.

Using prior knowledge to predict meaning before decoding is a hallmark of the top-down model. In this view, readers bring their background, expectations, and context to a text and generate hypotheses about what will come next. Those predictions guide how they interpret upcoming words and sentences, and decoding happens in light of what they’re expecting. When the text fits the reader’s predictions, processing feels smooth and rapid; when it doesn’t, readers adjust their understanding as they go.

This contrasts with bottom-up processing, which starts with decoding letters and sounds and builds up to meaning without relying on pre-formed predictions. The other term listed points to letter-sound relationships rather than a prediction-based approach, and miscues describe reading errors rather than a theory about how prediction shapes comprehension.

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