Reflecting an intensified concern for good educational research on instruction, the papers in this collection demonstrate the growing awareness of and sensitivity to the classroom environment by reading researchers. The 51 articles, selected from those presented at the 1981 meeting of the National Reading Conference, are divided into the following categories: (1) research on reading instruction; (2) reading comprehension: learning and instruction; (3) comprehension: vocabulary; (4) beginning reading; (5) research and measurement concerns; (6) teacher effectiveness; (7) review of research on technology and reading instruction; (8) story structure; and (9) writing. The collection concludes with the complete list of conference papers from the 1981 meeting. (HTH)