Three unjustified assumptions are often made about young beginners in reading: they all are acquainted with books and reading, the children and the teacher are thinking in the same terms when each talks about reading, and children understand the technical terms of literacy. Reading authorities refer to this lack of understanding of what the reading task is all about as cognitive confusion. Many young children do not have adequate concepts of the terms in their teacher's instructional vocabulary. The degree of a child's cognitive clarity about the task of learning to read is linked to the home environment. Research studies have found that many children do come to school without a clear understanding of the functions and tasks involved in reading. To clear up cognitive confusion in young children and to help them develop an understanding of the nature and function of reading, the teacher needs to give the children many meaningful experiences with the printed word. (WR)