As far as an educationally relevant model of language is concerned, it is
also important that this view of reading, as coping with the textual organization
of books and articles in order to read for meaning, is compatible with
the increasingly accepted view that we learn to read and write by using
language. In real life, discourse always has a reason for being interpreted.
With written discourse, these reasons range from passing a pleasant hour
with a detective novel to retrieving a specific bit of information in a scientific
article or telephone directory. It does not occur to us as fluent adult readers
to confuse such different functions of reading. However, there is increasing
evidence that many children have problems learning to read because they
never understand what reading is for (Stubbs, 1980, p. 98ff.). So, to
emphasize the main theme of this article, such a view of reading contributes
to a coherent overall view of language. It must be admitted that this view is
not yet well defined or very explicit, but it may be explicit and coherent
enough for practical eductional purposes.