Cognitive implications of learning to read

This paper explores possible cognitive consequences of the experience of learning to read. Whilst it is written mostly with young learners in Europe and N. America in mind, much may also bear on the experience of learning later in life and in different cultural contexts. The perspective is intentionally broad, recognizing that literacy has complex social and personal significance and arguing that the conditions of learning combine with the degree of technical mastery to affect thinking powers and conceptions of language, of learning, and of authority. Reference is made to existing literature on learning to read, but much of the argument opens up issues for further exploration rather than demonstrating effects with any certainty.