摘要
This paper is intended to reveal the likelihood that conceptual categorization can be used to understand a text by reconstructing the semantic categories through which the author＇s meaning is conveyed, and proposes an alternative way to look into reading comprehension. It is proposed that categorization can be taken as an alternative approach to second/foreign language reading instruction. That is, while reading comprehension is defined in terms of the ability to recognize the inclusion and membership properties of contextually determined semantic categories in a text, the learner needs to arrange the events, actions, or concepts into a structured unit, both horizontally and vertically. Categorization theory will be introduced in relation to Rosch famous studies （1973, 1975）, examples taken from a graded reader will be illustrated as how to identify items with category structure, and finally issues that are not addressed in this paper will be discussed.
