Discusses the apprenticeship approach to teaching reading. Finds two useful insights to be drawn from traditional apprenticeship: (1) the movement from observation, through coaching, to practice can act as a model for reading instruction; and (2) the importance of the social context in which learning takes place. (MG)

Describes two models of childrens' literacy acquisition developed by research psychologists. Argues that these models make practical sense by embodying within them the notion that children use a combination of top-down and bottom-up processes to solve the problems of how to read. (RS)