ABSTRACT
This chapter concentrates mainly on the reading of print. Reading plays a particularly important role in education. Not only does our education system demand a lot of reading in the process of learning, it also tends to use the capacity to read fluently as an indicator of more general intellectual ability. In the reading of narrative, readers need to be able to relate to a large number of conventions. Like any other form of language activity, reading always takes place in particular historical circumstances; in real times and places. Reading in school must take account of the role of reading in our society and the nature of reading as a process. The encouragement and teaching of reading is a whole-school responsibility and each department should be clear about its own role in this process. English teachers ought not to have the sole responsibility for the development of reading.
