Materials; *Reading Research; *Reading Skills; Reading Speed; Standard Spoken Usage; Syntax; Vocabulary

This taper presents a survey of scientific research, professional literature, and doctoral dissertations on reading comprehension done from $948 to 1972. The following reading factors believed to affect reading comprehension were identified: fate, vocabulary, sentence structure, questioning, and purpose setting. The research pertaining to the selected factors was analyzed to develop generalizations and conclusions which were then used to formulate a partial construct of reading comprehension. Reading comprehension was found to be a complex process composed of interrelated elements which mature in accordance with the reader's proficiency in utilizing selected factors which are related to the demands of the reading task. Reading comprehension was found to be a process which was affected by the experience and ideas which the reader brings to the printed page; the relationship between the oral language patterns an