A study investigated whether students in whole language based and basal reader approaches would have different concepts of reading when asked to define reading. Subjects, 69 suburban New Jersey first and third graders and 16 New Zealand first graders, were asked 3 questions: "What is reading?"; "What do you do when you read?"; and "If someone did not know how to read, what would you tell her she needs to learn?" The responses of the first graders were tape-recorded, while the third graders wrote their answers. For each question, responses were placed in one of four categories: vague, educational, decoding, or meaning-centered. Results indicated that whole language students gave less vague responses than did those students in basal reader groups. Results further indicated that although many students saw reading as a catalyst for learning and gave "educational" responses, basal reader students were more apt to view reading as solely a school activity, while whole language students saw reading as an integral part of their lives. Results also showed that although instructional setting accounted for a few differences, young children think of reading mainly as decoding, and do not see it as a meaning-getting, communicative process. (Five tables of data are included, and 49 references are attached.) (Author/PRA)