1. Psychological
Processes: Bottom-Up
and Top-Down
Listening Schemata
JC Mark Gumban

2. Bottom-Up Processing
Externally Based
Involves the listener
playing close attention to
every detail of the
language input.
Top-Down Processing
Internally Based
Involves the listener’s
ability to bring prior
information to bear on the
task of understanding the
‘heard’ language.
The understanding of the
Used by the listener to
‘heard’ language is worked make predictions about
out proceeding from
what the incoming
sounds to words to
message is expected to be
grammatical relationships at any point, and how the
to lexical meaning.
pieces fit into whole.

3. Language Functions
1.Interactional – to interact with the teacher
and other students while accomplishing
class tasks (i.e. “classroom” talk).
2.Transactional – to assimilate new
information, construct new concepts, and
acquire new skills.

4. Richard’s Functions/Processes Chart
INTERACTIONAL
1
2
BOTTOM-UP
3
4
TRANSACTIONAL
TOP-DOWN

5. In the bottom-up mode:
Cell #1:
Listening closely to a joke (interactional) in order to
know when to laugh.
Cell #2:
Listening closely to instructions (transactional) during
a first driving lesson.
In the top-down mode:
Cell #3:
Listening casually to cocktail party talk (interactional).
Cell #4:
Experienced air traveler listening casually to verbal
safety instructions (transactional) which have been
heard many times before.