These new initiatives in language arts focus on the learner and on the processes that the learner uses to comprehend the written word or to write a composition. In fact, some theorists go so far as to say that children will learn to read and write on their own if their education at home and at school promotes communication, not skill development. Throughout this century, reading instruction methodology has referred to a reading process. Building background, reading for a purpose, and reviewing reading have been a part of teacher training and of basal reader textbooks since the 1920s. But these earlier efforts at defining the reading process seemed to be teacher-directed, whereas the current theories emphasize learners' efforts.
Learners have to take responsibility for their own comprehension.
They are the ones who must ask themselves what prior knowledge they have that fits the approaching topic. They are the ones who have to set purpose and ask themselves if they are making sense of the passage. They are the ones who need to adjust their strategies to make the passage meaningful. And they are the ones who need to apply the ideas in their own world and give them some personal value. Instead of controlling the meaning of communication, the teacher asks students what meaning they have discovered.