Decoding as a Cultural Practice and its Effects on the Reading Process of Bilingual Pupils

This paper explores the nature of reading for meaning as if affects the reading abilities of secondary-age pupils who are bilingual and Muslim. It discusses the competing theories which seek to account for the reading process, and links these to a study which examines the reading strategies employed by bilingual pupils who have experienced intensive Qur'anic literacy, and seeks to account for the pre-eminence of decoding in their reading behaviour. This leads to a discussion regarding the nature of reading itself, and, by including reference to the varied social and cultural practices of reading, proposes a broadening of the definition of meaning in the reading act.