Science of Teaching Reading Resource Guide

The reading brain can also be understood through the Four-Part Processing Model for Word Recognition (1989). This model is a simplified representation of the cognitive processing work our brains do to result in fluent reading. According to Seidenberg and McClelland, these four parts are the: phonological, orthographic, meaning or semantic, and context processing systems.

• the phonological processing system, which enables our work with the speech-sound system of our own language and other languages. This is system is responsible for our ability to:
  • Identify and categorize the phonemes in a given language system
  • Produce speech sounds and syllables
  • Compare and contrast words that sound similar
  • Segment a word into its phonemes and hold those individual phonemes in memory so that the word can be translated into print
• the orthographic processing system, which enables us to recognize and recall written language symbols. This system stores information about print and increases the efficiency and automaticity of word decoding and encoding (spelling). For example, even though letters are abstract visual symbols that can vary in size, font, case, and style (consider, for example, the differences between printed text and handwritten text or two fonts on your computer), we have little difficulty recognizing and interpreting these symbols once we’ve learned them. That’s the orthographic processing system at work.
• the meaning processing system, or semantic processing system, interprets words’ meanings in and out of context. Consider this our mental dictionary. According to Marilyn Adams, a single word activates a web of connected knowledge—this knowledge is stored in our meaning processing system. As an example, consider all of the different meanings that come to mind when you consider the word “bug” (Adams, 2011).
• the context processing system, which interacts with and supports the meaning processing system to help us comprehend text. This system helps us establish a word’s meaning based on its context: where the word is located in a given sentence in addition to the ideas, concepts, and events present across a text. Because a single word activates a web of connected knowledge, this system helps us identify and prioritize the most applicable knowledge given context to make meaning. Consider, for example, how your understanding of the word “bug” changes across the following passage:
  • Driving through the English countryside in her blue Bug, Stella fiddled with the radio. She searched frantically for something—anything—to settle her nerves and keep her mind busy. Unknown to the rolling hills, quiet homes, and quaint roads surrounding her, Stella was a spy on her very first reconnaissance mission. Though she had quickly established herself in training as cool and confident, Stella was, at this very moment, a nervous wreck. She frantically turned the radio dial from one station to the next—nothing but static. There’s a darn bug in this radio, she thought. Spiraling, her imagination raced to the worst. Could the radio be bugged? Oh, it must be. Why else wouldn’t it be working?

Reference: Adams, Marilyn J. “Advancing Our Students' Language and Literacy: The Challenge of Complex Texts.” Achievethecore.org :: Advancing Our Students' Language and Literacy: The Challenge of Complex Texts, American Educator, 2011, achievethecore.org/page/877/advancing-our-students-language-and-literacy-the-challenge-of-complex-texts.

Seidenberg and McClelland’s Four-Part Processing Model (1989) illustrates the complex and sophisticated work happening across regions of the brain to read fluently — and make meaning from text. For a table version of each of the four parts of the model, see below.

Reference: Adams, Marilyn J. “Advancing Our Students' Language and Literacy: The Challenge of Complex Texts.” Achievethecore.org :: Advancing Our Students' Language and Literacy: The Challenge of Complex Texts, American Educator, 2011, achievethecore.org/page/877/advancing-our-students-language-and-literacy-the-challenge-of-complex-texts.