The 10 articles in this book examine how comprehension is affected by what the reader brings to the text, the manner in which the text is structured by the author, and the contextual variables that shape the meaning derived by the reader. Specific topics covered in the articles are (1) background knowledge and comprehension, (2) learning how to learn from reading, (3) discourse comprehension and production, (4) children's initial encounters with print, (5) situational differences in the use of language, (6) facilitating text processing through the elaboration of prior knowledge, (7) extending concepts through language activities, (8) comprehending narrative discourse, (9) reading to children, and (10) dialect and reading. (FL)