Reading as a conceptual reasoning task : towards a cognitive developmental theory of learning to read

Abstract

On the basis of a range of theory and research it is argued that reading is fundamentally a conceptual reasoning task. Studies of strategic processes in reading, the examination of children's concepts of the nature of print and the naturalistic study of oral reading behaviour, give support for this contention. Since, in Piagetian theory, the emergence of concrete operations gives major new impetus to the conceptual reasoning capacities, the significant positive relationship of concrete operations to reading provides further evidence for this view. The relationship also gives a basis for studying the development of these conceptual processes in regard to the emerging reading competence of young school pupils.