1.0 IntroductionReading is one of the most important skills for acquiring a second language. In recent years there has been a growing interest in the development of the reading process. Reading was seen as a receptive linguistic process in which students did not need to produce any form of language. This means that the reader is given a passive role where they only receive input such as opinions, new information, or a sense of enjoyment and try to figure it out. no form of interaction with the text occurs. In addition to receiving input, readers should also go through a process of decoding certain types of information, such as understanding new words, making sense of larger blocks of clauses and sentences, and finally understanding complete sentences. this reading process is called a bottom-up reading approach. at the end of this process, readers would be able to understand what the writer is trying to express. However, only until recently many researchers disagreed with this and stated that reading is also an active process in which the reader is constantly engaged in the text (Carrell,2000). This suggests that readers try to construct meaning through prior experiences or prior knowledge about related topics. This process is called a top-down approach. This is supported by Duffy and Roehler (1987) who state that readers are actively engaged with a text when they use the ability to identify blocks while reading and think of a way to overcome those blocks using prior knowledge introduced in the text. Goodman (1967) also supports this by stating that a reader who constantly rearranges structures to understand messages clearly shows signs of an active reader. During this process, Go......middle of paper......text.Works CitedCarrell, PL, Devine, J. & Eskey, DE (1988). Interactive approaches to second language reading. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Duffy, G. G. & Roehler, L. R. (1987). Teaching reading skills as strategies. The reading teacher, 40 (4), pp. 414--418. Goodman, K. S. (1967). Reading: A psycholinguistic guessing game. Literacy Research and Education, 6(4), pp. 126--135.Grabe, W. (1991). Current developments in second language reading research. Tesol quarterly, 25 (3), pp. 375-406. Nagao, H. (2002). Use top-down skills to increase reading comprehension. Eric. Stanovich, K. E. (1980). Toward an interactive-compensatory model of individual differences in the development of reading fluency. Reading Research Quarterly, pp. 32-71.Williams, R. (1986). The ten main principles for teaching reading. Elt Diary, 40 (1), pp. 42--45.