This study seeks to construct a pedagogical model of learning to read in Chinese as a foreign language. Reading is defined as a goal-oriented social behavior in a given culture of viewing and interpreting written texts. A pedagogical model will contribute to more effective and efficient teaching and learning of this particular behavior in the context of learning Chinese language as a foreign language.
In the current literature, reading has been treated more as a psychological behavior rather than a social one. This paper treats these as two aspects of the reading behavior and examines them in order to find out the elements of a successful reading act. A knowledge-based pedagogical model is then constructed on the basis of the previous discussions. Five types of knowledge are found to be necessary for a successful reading act to occur. They are: the orthography knowledge, the reading strategies knowledge, the linguistic knowledge, the cultural knowledge and the specific domain knowledge. A mature and successful reading act is the result of the interactions among these five types of knowledge. Therefore, the task of the pedagogical activities is to build up in the learners' minds a knowledge base which is composed of these five components. Three stages of training are suggested. They are: the stage of quasi-reading, the stage of learning to read, and the stage of reading to learn. Concrete suggestions are made as to what kind of activities can be done in these three stages.