Research on second language learning has found similarities between the reading strategies of first and second language readers. These findings are being applied by second language instructors and researchers in reading classrooms through a variety of strategy-use activities. Most foreign language reading specialists view reading as interactive because the reader interacts with the text to create meaning. Both content schemata (background knowledge about the cultural orientation or content of a passage) and formal schemata (reader expectations about how pieces of textual information will relate to each other) influence the reader's comprehension of a passage. The instructor's role is to recognize that all reading strategies will not be equally effective with all students, and to help the reader identify such effective reader strategies as skimming, scanning, guessing word meanings, summarizing, and taking risks. To encourage students to use effective strategies when reading in a second language, the teacher can develop simple exercises at each of the four stages of reading: (1) prereading; (2) while reading; (3) postreading; and (4) follow-up. (VL)