Designed to present a historical account of instructional approaches to the teaching of comprehension as well as insights into effective approaches for the present and the future, this collection of papers is divided into three parts, concerned respectively with: (1) instructional research in reading comprehension, (2) the reader and the text, and (3) the reader and the teacher. Each paper discusses critical issues in comprehension instruction and recommends strategies for effective teaching. The four papers in part one discuss what research reveals about teaching practices, propose a framework for conducting research, suggest the impact of the social context on instruction, and trace the history of teaching and testing reading comprehension. The six papers in part two discuss text-related issues in reading comprehension instruction, including the ways teachers intervene to improve student comprehension, the use of text organization to enhance students' understanding, and text structures found in popular television shows. The seven articles in part three examine interactions between teachers and their students and make recommendations for teaching reading comprehension and vocabulary skills. (MM)