Issues of complexity in reading: Putting Occam’s razor aside for now

Abstract

In this article Occam’s razor is used as metaphor to show how different conceptualisations of reading have tended to shave off or exclude important reading variables from their accounts, thus compromising our understanding of reading as a complex phenomenon. It is argued that, although reading and language are inextricably bound, reading is a highly complex system in its own right and, as such, approaches to reading should take account of this complexity and build it into their explanations of how reading works, how it develops and how it is practised. The foundations of a reading theory should include the visual symbolic writing system, the cognitive and linguistic systems, the neuronal underpinnings of cognitive-linguistic operations, the affective dimension of reading and the broader social context in which literacy is enacted, and should explicate the relationships between all these variables. It is also argued that in order to address the literacy challenges in South Africa we need to be well informed about reading and that approaches that articulate the complexity of reading will serve us better than unidimensional approaches.

Southern African Linguistics and Applied Language Studies 2010, 28(4): 339–356