The need to know why as well as how children and youth respond as they do to reading instruction has guided the selection of this book’s content. The second edition of this title, originally published in 1990, has retained and elaborated upon the three major themes previously presented: that reading is a linguistic process; that motivation, the affective domain, may be as important in learning to read as the cognitive domain; and that the reality of learning theory is to be found in the mechanisms of the brain where information is mediated and memory traces are stored.

The text integrates views from cognitive psychology, psycholinguistics, and neuropsychology as they relate to reading and writing. A learning-motivation model is provided to present associative learning, conceptualization, and self-directed reading in a hierarchical relationship with distinct cognitive and affective components. The distinction between beginning and proficient reading is maintained throughout the text.