Underlying virtually all of the basal reading series available in the United States today is the assumption that learning to read is a skill-by-skill and word-by-word process. This part-to-whole approach to teaching reading is based on principles of behavioral psychology and "scientific management" developed a half century ago and treats meaning as merely an end to be attained after words are identified and sounded out. More recent research by Frank Smith, Kenneth Goodman (l973), and others indicates reading is a process of constructing meaning rather than merely obtaining meaning. Similarly, Jean Piaget and cognitive psychologists like Lev Vygotsky have advanced the concept that children learn best when what is to be learned is functional and concrete rather than dysfunctional and abstract, indicating that learning to read should be approached as a whole-to-part, whole language process which replaces dull and often frustrating drills with opportunities to develop an understanding of and pleasure in the written word. This approach has been adopted in New Zealand, in parts of Australia and Canada, and in a number of schools and classrooms in the United States. (Examples of each approach are presented, and three pages of references are attached.) (NH)