Independent reading can serve as a practical context for linking vocabulary and comprehension and is a feasible strategy that complements other instructional approaches while it expands word knowledge in a naturalistic setting. Teachers should serve as reading models while students engage in silent reading, but teachers should also be cautious about overdoing modeling since it could displace independent reading. At times, the teacher may vary the modeling of silent reading by demonstrating to students ways in which context plays a role in grasping the meaning of words. What is needed is a balance of encouraging a wide and varied reading as much as possible and of using modeling at appropriate times in clear, demonstrative, and motivational ways. (Fifteen references, a model, and a brief outline of the paper are attached.) (RS)