Imagine that I just said this sentence to you and this was the first time you had heard it. I like eating fish, but only when it’s cooked just right. Wǒ xǐhuān chī yú dànshì wǒ zhǐ chī wǒ xǐhuān de fēngwèi. Instead of getting angry and running off in a huff because you don't understand what they're saying, you would likely use top down processing to piece it all together. You then have to rely on other bits of information, combined with what you understand, to create meaning.įor instance, when (you're in a loud place) and your friends are talking to you, but you can only understand a little of what they say. Especially when you are taking content from somewhere else and can't fully understand it.

So whilst in some ways listening can be a bottom up processing example as you are building meaning, it can also be a top down processing example. However, when we learn a second language and start to listen to more complex sentences, we start to find words or phrases which we don't understand. Well, in some ways it is bottom up because we are taking the smaller elements and combining them to create meaning. Listening is basically the opposite of speaking, right? So do you think it’s top down or bottom up? Listening on the other hand.īottom up: It doesn't mean you have to start physically at the bottom, just with the simplest things. And just like Gordan Ramsey’s taste tests, writing is going to involve a good deal of awkward experiences to start off with. They both have a tendency towards working best with bottom up processing. Writing and speaking are practically two peas in a pod when it comes to top down or bottom up processing. That ink blotch is not part of the bottom up process.

Once you’ve put in enough time on this, you can then start to use the other skills listed below to start building up your vocabulary and content with a top down approach. Begin by working on basic vocabulary acquisition, then start to move onto stringing that vocab together. When it comes to speaking, a bottom up approach is almost always the best starting point. Unless you have the building blocks which come with bottom up processing, you’re not going to be able to string much more than a couple of possibly 你好’s together. Unless your reading off a piece of paper (and that’s not speaking, it’s reading), you should be coming up with words and sentences on the fly.

Going from the bottom of the pyramid (bottom up) or starting from the top (top down), both work better when it comes to different skill sets.ĭo you think speaking is a predominantly top down or bottom up process? Speaking Whilst some educators believe that this depends on the level of the learner, the skill you are using can actually be more important. Well, when you’re learning a language you actually use both to some degree. Without the foundations, how can you construct anything? After all, words and vocabulary are the easiest to learn and are an integral stepping stone to being able to master a language. Surely any learner would start at the bottom though, right? When it comes to top down or bottom up processing, bottom up must be where you need to start. Further up the pyramid, you start to see more complex phrases and smaller sentences, and then finally at the top you see a fully constructed and accurate complex sentence.Įssentially, you’re looking at a graduation of difficulty, from easy to hard. At the bottom the bricks represent words and letters, up a little bit and you start to see phrases form. Imagine the language you’re learning as a kind of pyramid. Thanks to What’s the Difference Between the Top Down And Bottom Up Approach? You’ll also know in what ways to use them to help you boost your Mandarin Chinese proficiency in no time. If not, don’t worry, by the time you finish this article you’ll know what they are and the advantages and disadvantages of using them. You might have heard of top down or bottom up language learning techniques.

Top down processing example