In this paper an attempt will be made to highlight key theoretical and practical considerations which need to be taken into account in formulating a strategy for reading curriculum and instruction in the West Indian context. It will be argued that such a strategy needs to be sensitive to at least three categories of criteria: the linguistic, the psychological and the pedagogical. Drawing on current psycholinguistic models of the reading process rather than a process of the strengthening of the stimulus-response bonds between graphic stimuli and the appropriate oral responses. It will further be argued that a ‘strategy for reading curriculum and instruction’ must necessarily be part of an overall language strategy.