Understanding reading development

A phenomenological perspective

Abstract

The starting point of this article is a challenge presented to the research community in recent reviews of reading research and practice (Alexander & Fox 2004, 2008; Fox & Alexander 2009). That challenge is twofold in that it argues for the need for a unifying theory of reading that not only entails an expansion of the concepts of “text” and “reading” but is also capable of accounting for reading development throughout life. The present article compares and contrasts Alexander's own attempt at taking up this challenge—the Model of Domain Learning (MDL)—with a general model of skill development—the Skill Model—which is rooted in a phenomenological understanding of being-in-the-world. The MDL is based on concepts that are generally accepted in the dominant reading-research community, meaning that the choice of concepts and dimensions to be included in the model represents a characteristic cognitive bias despite its explicit rejection of traditional expertise research. The Skill Model is put forward as a meaningful and promising framework based on an alternative understanding of “expertise” and “expert performance” in general that might provide fruitful answers to this and other challenges of current reading research.