The multicultural pattern in recent Australian immigration poses a pressing issue for reading instruction. Students coming from homes where only English is spoken, or English and a Northern European language are spoken, perform better on reading tests than do students from homes where other languages are spoken. There is also little reflection among the homogeneous teachers of the cultural diversity of their students, and this mismatch between teachers and students is perpetuated by reading curriculum materials. There are, however, several promising developments in the assessment of reading comprehension and linguistic competence of English-as-a-second-language (ESL) and migrant students. The Cloze Reading Comprehension Test uses a modified form of cloze procedure and--rather than compare ESL students with a standardized group of peers--compares them against a high level of reading competence, measuring how far readers have yet to go for reading competence. "Origins" is a language/history kit, designed to aid language development in non-English background students while introducing them to Australian history. Australian reading books have recently been published in several different languages (Greek, Turkish, Italian) to increase literacy in students' native language and facilitate the transfer of literacy to English. Finally, a Swedish readability formula (Lix) may be useful in multicultural classrooms when applied to texts in foreign languages. (HTH)