Successful reading is a complex, interactive process in which the reader's experience and information are as important to comprehension as the content of the printed page. This article describes several reading processes, discusses the problems involved for the beginning reader, and indicates some implications for reading instruction. Five processes involved in reading comprehension are considered: decoding, syntactic structure, the differences between spoken and written language, semantics, and textual organization. Stressing the inherent difficulties in teaching each of these processes to beginning readers, the article urges further research on how primary grade readers relate personal experience to the reading process. (MAI)