ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book discusses the developments in several disciplines to the study of reading comprehension. It provides a systematic and scientific basis for the understanding of reading comprehension problems. The book examines aspects of hypothesis generation and addresses a framework within which to conceptualize the representation of knowledge and the processes that bring it into play. It deals with sentence syntax, anaphora, the interaction of text structure with pragmatic considerations, and structural and stylistic characteristics of text as a whole. The book explains the way in which the meaning of a discourse is constructed by the reader and the contribution that knowledge of the world makes to that construction. It also discusses the effects of oral language experiences in nonstandard dialects on the understanding of standard English.
