From "cracking the orthographic code" to "playing with language": toward a usage-based foundation of the reading...

Area of Science:

• Cognitive Psychology
• Linguistics
• Philosophy of Language

Background:

• Empirical reading research spans over 125 years, yielding fragmented theoretical explanations.
• Existing reading theories often rely on problematic, elemental notions of word meaning.
• Generalizability issues across languages and text types challenge traditional reading models.

Purpose of the Study:

• To address the heterogeneity in reading research by proposing a new conceptual framework.
• To critique current psychological theories of reading and their underlying semantic assumptions.
• To introduce "language games" as a viable alternative for understanding reading as language use.

Main Methods:

• Conceptual analysis of existing reading theories and semantic concepts.
• Philosophical inquiry drawing on Wittgenstein's concept of language games.
• Theoretical argumentation for a new paradigm in reading research.

Main Results:

• Identified "elemental token semantics" as a key conceptual problem in reading theories.
• Proposed that viewing reading as language use resolves many theoretical inconsistencies.
• Outlined "language games" as a scientifically operationalizable framework for reading research.

Conclusions:

• Current conceptions of meaning in reading research are inadequate.
• Reconceptualizing reading as language use provides a more robust theoretical foundation.
• The "language games" approach offers a path toward unifying diverse findings in reading science.