ABSTRACT
This chapter reports a study of reading in general, and reading instruction for beginners in particular. The perspective is that of pre-school children and first-grade children. Reading and writing abilities are essential skills in a modern society. These basic skills have recently been discussed in Sweden in terms of ”the quality of reading/writing performance” and ”methods for early reading instruction”. The problem of tackling compulsory education in Sweden interested laymen, teachers and researchers. The chapter focuses on two main questions. The first regards the WHY-question, and the second the HOW- question of reading. The child’s ability to assume the role of others is a central issue in reading and writing. The children’s descriptions of the reading function can be classified into two qualitatively different categories: reading as a possibility and reading as a demand. Children’s understanding of the meaning of the reading terms indicate difficulties in isolating and relating the concepts letter, name, alphabet, number, word and sentence.
