Culture and language shape the way people read. Yet, within many popular reading models of reading development, culture is a component, if featured at all. Illustrated through examples of pro-Black, culturally sustaining, emancipatory practices of one teacher, this article highlights the Cultural Sustenance View of Reading, a reader model that can…

Reading involves and is influenced by many factors, which makes reading difficult to understand, teach, and explain to parents, policymakers, and other stakeholders. A metaphor of driving, which likens reading to an everyday practice, demystifies complexities inherent in reading. Both reading and driving are active, strategic processes. Just as…

Practitioners face many challenges when working with students who are experiencing difficulty with comprehension. The act of creating meaning with texts is complex, and comprehension is often measured in schools as a product of reading. Product assessments, such as answering questions or retelling a text, take place after reading, which makes it…

Reviews the literature in the Educational Resources Information Center (ERIC) on models describing the reading process. (RB)

Emphasizes, with reference to Piaget, the importance of cooperative learning. Presents a text model describing the four aspects/participants of literal communication, and asserts that children confront a text from all aspects simultaneously. Describes three examples of interpersonal reading and writing activities observed in Austrian classrooms.…

Discusses a model of the reading process drawn from ideas used in foreign language instruction and resting on the distinction between reading acquisition and reading learning. Explains how the model can be applied in the classroom. (FL)

Presents an interactive instructional model of reading instruction, in which teachers have a central role in determining the goals, materials, and methods of instruction. Suggests that this approach would improve students' reading performance. (MM)

Defines the notion of literacy scaffold and explains why literacy scaffolding applies to both first- and second-language learners. Offers criteria for teachers to apply in developing scaffolds. Illustrates the model with scaffolding activities used with elementary children, emphasizing the kinds of social contexts that optimize learning. (MG)