ABSTRACT

In this chapter, we explore the concept of reading-to-learn as it is most commonly described for academic reading skills development, with perspectives from both first language (L1) and second language (L2) reading. The chapter identifies reading-to-learn as one of a number of major purposes for reading (and reading development). It reviews common L2 curricular approaches, first highlighting those that tend not to foster reading-to-learn skills. It then draws upon a set of curricular principles from content-based instruction (CBI) in L2 contexts to describe effective ways to teach reading-to-learn skills to academically oriented L2 students. The chapter identifies nine points of intersection connecting content-based instruction with reading-to-learn skills development. The chapter concludes with a brief description of two specific approaches to content-based instruction (the Six Ts Approach to CBI and Concept-Oriented Reading Instruction) that provide effective platforms for the development of reading-to-learn abilities for academic purposes.