A review of several classroom observation and survey studies of comprehension instruction, content area reading for homework, and aspects of reading assignments raises the question of whether enough is being done in Irish schools to develop critical reading competency. It appears from these studies that many students are being left to their own devices when it comes to dealing with aspects of the assigned texts, other than vocabulary instruction, and even that aspect of direct assistance may be suspect. The studies show that students are frequently required to read texts with only the direction to read certain pages in order to answer questions the next day. Reasons for the assigned reading and suggestions on how students should go about their reading are not often explained. (RBW)