This series of position papers in reading and language arts was sponsored by the Reading Center of University of Maryland in order to stimulate the kinds of thinking and reactions which might lead to improvement of teacher training programs and of reading programs on all levels. The topics treated reflect both traditional concerns of educators, and issues and interests which signal new areas of emphases in the field. Titles of the papers are: A Competency Program in the Undergraduate Reading Course; Children's Responses to Stipulated Literature Selections; Jamaicanism: Its Influence on the Spoken and Written Communication of Elementary School Pupils; Standardized Tests: Use and Misuse; Cloze Procedure as a Predictor of Comprehension in Secondary Social Studies Material; A Psycholinguistic Look at Reading: Definitions and Directions; and Questioning for Thinking: A Teaching Strategy that Makes a Difference for Disadvantaged Learners. References are included following most of the papers. (Author/AW)