ABSTRACT
Reading is seen as decoding the phonemic or sound patterns of spoken language rather than decoding single letters. Before examining skilled reading it is necessary to clarify two points which have caused confusion and have led to inaccurate conclusions about the best way to teach reading. The first point concerns the statement frequently made that skilled readers recognize words as wholes, implying that they do not have to examine the word letter by letter. The second point of possible confusion concerns what is loosely termed perception. There are several major factors that should have a profound effect upon the approach to the teaching of reading that is adopted. The first of these is that reading is skilled behaviour performed in order to obtain information of one kind or another. The second major factor is that reading is a linguistic process and as such reflects the constraints of language.
