ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book focuses on reading and learning to read as a class practice, where individuals learn particular ways of reading and being a reader from their class positions and inclinations. It explains why attending to social class and reading is important. The book also focuses on class practices in the area of reading as an identity, "a lifestyle and a set of perspectives on the social world and relationships in it". It aims to move away from technicist approaches to reading to provide a more complex view of adolescent reader and to use social class as lens through which to understand how to implement more effective and equitable reading instruction and create opportunities for greater learning for all students. The book explores different reading practices of students in their home and school contexts to identify diverse and differentiated ways that students learn to read.
