Aims to give foreign language reading teachers a way of coping with a common phenomenon in the reading class: students appear to have the linguistic proficiency to deal with a text, but are unable to do so because they are approaching it in an appropriate way. Argues that this problem relates to styles and attitudes in reading and that these may…

Explores the hypothesis that the background knowledge effect, that is, familiarity with the topic, that enhances reading comprehension in a foreign language occurs only between two thresholds. Findings indicate that a lower threshold may exist, whereas the existence of an upper threshold is an open question. (50 references) (Author/CK)

Presents a theory of reading and a justification in the form of a defense of a highly generalized approach to the different forms of reading and of a lexical approach to receptive grammar. The article also addresses the question of the usefulness of models in general and this one in particular, specifically with relation to foreign-language…