A naturalized view of literacy education: what the neuro- and life sciences may offer language and literacy research

We review mainstream research findings and theoretical constructs from the neuro- and related life-sciences to clarify misunderstandings about reading-relatable neuroscience. We propose a more comprehensive life-science informed narrative of literacy development for application to education than current narratives constrained by cognitive models of mental process allow. Support for extending this interdisciplinary synthesis would be found in developmental science, life-science informed social science, and naturalized philosophy of mind and of language. Conjoining life-science informed insights about living organisms and systems, including human beings and sociality, with mainstream scholarship in literacy education could theoretically refresh the latter and open new vistas for research.