In teaching reading in English as a second language, teachers must diagnose student difficulties and individualize instruction. They must analyze why students are in the course, determine what their individual reading backgrounds are in their native language and in English, and adapt class activities and reading materials to students' expectations and needs. The adult ESL reader's main problems involve: (1) working with English in its written form, (2) reading about an unfamiliar culture, and (3) lack of English language competence. The student's native language may not use the Roman alphabet and may have a different writing, punctuation or organizational system. The teacher must sort out students' language backgrounds and identify particular reading and pronunciation problems deriving from that background. Comprehension problems may arise from vocabulary pertaining to American culture, which must be explained. Problems in English language competence often depend on the student's literacy in his native language. Texts for ESL adult courses should be geared to students' interests, whether comic books, sports pages, newspapers or professional literature. Students often are blocked by unfamiliar vocabulary; therefore they should be encouraged to skip the word or to try to glean its meaning from the context, to avoid constant dictionary searching. (CHK)