Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts covered in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book discusses the state of the art in reading research, but also seeks to inform a broader range of audiences, including those interested in the teaching and the assessment of reading. It presents an introduction and overview of REading as problem SOLVing (RESOLV). The book reviews theories and research about important reader resources. It provides a more in-depth discussion of readers' models of contexts and tasks, and RESOLV processing decisions that arise during reading. The book also presents five key hypotheses that are derived from RESOLV's definition of reading as a more contextualized activity than it has been traditionally defined. It focuses on the development of reading curricula and instructional procedures. The book also provides evidence for the structure and the reality of Context Models and Task Models using protocols from studies with undergraduates.