Four issues are addressed in this paper, which is concerned with the early stages of learning to read in French. The first two relate to the abilities that are specific to reading (written word decoding with a phonological procedure and written word identification with a lexical procedure) : how are these procedures set and what are the variables that predict their development ? The next two issues focus on the interrelations between reading comprehension, phonological decoding and oral comprehension, and the impact of socio-environmental variables on the development of these abilities.