More than Words

This chapter explores reading as an act of communication and, within this context, considers the influences on reading comprehension research. It discusses a multitude of approaches to reading research and highlights the adaptability of communication as a lens for viewing reading and its twin – writing. In asking the question ‘why communication?’, this chapter answers by discussing four aspects of reading as (1) a reader-writer interaction, (2) both a human-technology interaction, (3) embodied and (4) a process that uses readers’ finite cognitive resources. It examines the most recent research in these areas and highlights the value that communication theory and practice add to these perspectives. It then examines several models of reading and reading comprehension before demonstrating how a communication-based framework for reading research provides a method of order for the myriad potentially mediating variables that influence the characteristics of the reading process – and one of its intended outcomes, reading comprehension. Finally, it discusses implications for reading research, instruction and assessment.