A study examined classroom practices in English, social studies, and science classrooms, seeking information on the purposes for which teachers assign reading within their specific disciplines, the reading activities that might be associated with such assignments, and the assistance or guidance that teachers might give their students to help them carry out these assignments. The results of the questionnaire completed by first-year secondary school teachers indicated that reading assignments that required students to review the content of lessons, or to elaborate on that content accounted for more than 50% of all reading assignments. Answering questions, orally or in writing, accounted for almost half the activities in the classroom. Assistance with lexical items, or vocabulary, was the most reported prereading activity--more direct assistance for dealing with ideas of text was reported much less frequently. In terms of cross-disciplinary comparisons, it is discouraging that the general science teachers seldom reported assigning readings beyond the immediate lesson in a discipline that should be encouraging curiosity. It is also discouraging that questions requiring only literal understanding of a reading passage accounted for most of those asked and that the level of explanation of the aims for the social studies reading assignments was low. The results highlight the need for teachers to monitor constantly their classroom practice in light of the aims and objectives they set for themselves. (HTH)