Papers delivered at the First American Reading Forum are collected in this yearbook. Focusing on the theme of comprehension, many of the essays respond to a preceding essay. The essays and reactions cover a variety of topics, including the following: (1) comprehension measures, (2) instructional strategies to promote comprehension, (3) current research and analysis of definitions of comprehension, (4) studies assessing secondary teachers' attitudes and perceptions of competency in content area reading instruction, (5) pupil reading pursuits in content area classrooms, (6) reducing test anxiety effects on reading comprehension of college students, (7) the comprehension of mathematical language, (8) the development of children's composition skills following targeted discussions of a distinctive literature selection, (9) adolescent literature as a vehicle for developing comprehension and composition skills, (10) reading instruction for prison illiterates, (11) sentence complexity, (12) strategies employed in miscomprehension, (13) textual constraints affecting adults' free recall, (14) teaching disabled students to read, (15) individualized reading programs, and (16) using advanced organizers in the classroom. (HTH)