While stimulus-response theories of learning maintain the reality and importance of the stimulus outside the perception of the person, a cognitive-field learning theory insists that, in order to make meaning, a person must perceive and react with the stimulus. Holding to this or any learning model has implications for the following: a definition of reading, a theory of language, the value of perception, and a method of reading instruction. Holding to a cognitive-field theory of learning implies that the definition of reading involves the semantic-symbolic message of a written work and the reader's options of meaning that are brought to the written message because of past experiences. Cognitive-field learning theory also implies that language, because of its relationship to dynamic, purposive, and value-loaded people, must be dynamic, purposive, and value-loaded. It means that there is more to language than literal meaning. Concerning the question of perception, the cognitivist would state that perception ties intrinsically to reading because the perception process clearly involves components of prediction, identification, and interpretation. For reading instruction, the cognitive theory calls for instruction in meaning emphasis--the acquisition of a sight vocabulary through a whole word or Gestalt method and for a language immersion approach that is based on the belief that reading is a personal, dynamic, sharing relationship between reader and language. (HOD)