Project ProFix
Individual and social factors contributing to a limitation to the propositional textbase in literary reading
Some students read literary texts as if they were expository texts: limiting themselves to extracting bits of information, without immersing themselves into textworlds or responding affectively or aesthetically to the texts. We call this a “limitation to the propositional textbase”. In our ProFix study, we are working with 400 students from Germany and Switzerland and try to understand who is afflicted by this phenomenon.
In the binational ‘ProFix’ project, we are investigating a repeatedly observed deviation in the reading behaviour of some lower secondary school pupils: These pupils, whom we refer to as ‘limited to the propositional textbase’, do not immerse themselves in the vivid imaginations of fictional textual worlds; they do not reflect on the linguistic and narrative artificiality of the text; they do not contextualise or interpret it; and they read it neither critically nor with enjoyment. Teachers interviewed often suspect that poor reading skills are the cause; however, the ProFix project is also testing the hypothesis that there is a stronger link between limitation to the propositional textbase and a lack of familiarity with fictional written texts.
In order to measure more precisely the respective relationship between limitation to the propositional textbase and reading competence and familiarity with literature – whilst controlling for variables such as family language, socio-economic status and gender – we are collecting data from Year 9 pupils at a total of eighteen schools in Switzerland and Germany: Limitation to the propositional textbase is assessed using a foregrounding test and deductive qualitative content analysis of while-reading think aloud protocols; reading speed and accuracy tests and reading comprehension tests from the DT 9–10 are used to measure fluency and comprehension of expository texts; an ART and a reading habits questionnaire are used to assess familiarity with written fiction; the contextual variables are collected via a questionnaire.
Selected publications
- Carl, M.-O. (2024). Propositionsfixierung – eine Hürde auf dem Weg zu literarischer Bildung verstehen und überwinden, in: M.-O. Carl, M. Jörgens, & T. Schulze (eds.): Literarische Texte lesen – Texte literarisch lesen. Festschrift für Cornelia Rosebrock (pp. 369-389). Heidelberg: Metzler.
- Carl, M.-O. & Rietz, F. (2026): Wer liest literarische Texte propositionsfixiert und warum? Einblicke in die ProFix-Studie. Vortrag im Panel „Literarisches Lesenlernen in schriftfernen Lebenswelten revisited“ auf dem 26. Symposion Deutschdidaktik in Halle an der Saale, 23.09.2026.
- Rietz, F. & Carl, M.-O. (2026). Warum interpretieren sie nicht? Eine binationale Studie zu Ursachen literarischer Rezeptionsblockaden. Vortrag auf dem SGBF/SGL-Jahreskongress, St. Gallen (CH), 19.06.2026.
Funding
