As part of a continuing series, this book contains 21 papers, the titles of which reflect the authors' attention to the theme of the conference (the nature of reading behavior and the central role of meaning in the broad definition of reading). Titles include the following topics: (1) reading as one part of language; (2) how home life affects literacy development; (3) comments from an illustrator on the ways an artist contributes to a picture book; (4) three reading strategies (directed reading activity, directed decoding activity, directed reading thinking activity); (5) synthesizing the works of M. Montessori and J. Dewey for more effective reading instruction; (6) new viewpoints on children's readiness for school; (7) the origins of reading in infancy and early childhood; (8) psycholinguistic implications for the teaching of writing; (9) adult cognitive development from a Piagetian perspective; (10) common misconceptions about the use of drugs for the reading/learning disabled child; (11) unusual auditory difficulties related to reading; (12) helping the special child read through creative storywriting; (13) microethnographic research in bilingual classrooms; (14) the applicability of the literacy strategy of Paulo Friere; and (15) adult education and literacy in Nigeria. (RL)