I.  INTRODUCTION

Reading is generally considered
to be one of the foundational aspects of language learning.  
Reading because you want to, also known as
pleasure reading, is ¡°one of the most powerful tools we have
in language education¡± (Krashen, 1993, pp. x, 1).    This applies to both
first and second language learning. Recently the effect of the home
environment on children¡¯s reading achievement has become a matter
of widespread concern.    Perhaps as a result of new distracting activities like
Internet chatting and cyber games being added to an older distraction like
television (Nagy, 1997), children nowadays appear to be less interested in reading
books and may have little or no motivation to do so (Moser & Morrison, 1998).  
While numerous factors have been shown to foster reading motivation in children (Ediger, 2001),  I will focus on those relating to the home environment, especially
the effect of parental modeling on their children¡¯s motivation to read.  
By way of introduction to this topic,   I shall briefly summarize recent treatments
of language acquisition and of the ways in which reading facilitates that process.