This paper identifies three trends in reading research that reflect the shift from an emphasis on teaching method to the examination of individual and contextual variables, an interdisciplinary approach to the study of the reading process, and the effort to develop more comprehensive models of the reading process. Three studies of cross-age and peer tutoring are described; contributions from disciplines related to reading, apparent in this research, include a theoretical base to explain the tutoring interaction, measures of social interaction and related language variables, and a basis for behaviors taught to tutors. (KS)