American Reading Instruction Issues and Trends Heather Rowlings

General Findings O Focus on research based methods for supporting struggling readers O Individualized reading movement O Divisions of philosophy- basal skill approach versus broad approach O Reading Readiness and Mental Age

Ties to the Past O Thorndike’s IQ and reading assessments O Word method was blamed for soldiers in WWI not being able to read instruction manuals O Social Efficiency influences O Progressive influences

Research and the Struggling Reader Davis, G. (1931). Procedures effective in improving pupils of poor reading ability in regular reading classes. The Elementary School Journal. 31, O How many poor readers are there in the 4 th grade? O What effective procedures can be used to help improve reading ability O Measured using the Gates Silent Reading Test (Forms A and C)

Research and the Struggling Reader O Findings O 51% of students failed to meet their grade level reading ability on both forms of the assessment O Students were then broken into groups based on specific reading need based on informal teacher assessments O Lack of comprehension and sight words were the two largest issues

Research and the Struggling Reader O Effective Procedures O Strategic and flexible grouping O Drills in word recognition of new words O “Vary assignments to fit the objectives taught” (Davis, 1931, p.342) O Ask students interpretive questions O Model fluency O Lessons focusing on using context clues O Introduce new books in an interesting manner

Philosophical Divisions O Broad Approaches O Inspired by the Progressive movement O Developing a variety of abilities O Curriculum guides provided little information for teachers O Child centered O Basal Approaches O Using a scope and sequence of skills to teach reading O Did not focus on one specific approach, but did focus on specific skills O Aligned with Social Efficiency theories

Reading Readiness O Arnold Gesell O Development was controlled by maturation O “If the child is not ready, wait” (Teale, 1995, p. 101) O Morphett and Washburn (1931) O If a child had the mental age of 6.6 then they were more likely to succeed in school O Reading readiness tests began appearing as a diagnostic tool O Reading instruction was prohibited in kindergarten in some cases O In 1922, 12% of all children were enrolled in kindergarten O Mainly to develop socially

Laying the Groundwork O Increased awareness and enrollment in kindergarten O Maturation theories continued into the 1950s O Basals included reading readiness activities O Parallels to the phonics-whole language debates O Influences in the equality movement

References Davis, G. (1931). Procedures effective in improving pupils of poor reading ability in regular reading classes. The Elementary School Journal. 31, Gates, A.I. (1937). The necessary age for beginning reading. The Elementary School Journal. 37, Kliebard, H.M. (2004). The Struggle for the American Curriculum: New York: Routledge Falmer. Martinez, M.G. & McGee L.M. (2000). Children’s literature in reading instruction: past present and future. Reading Research Quarterly. 35,

References Robinson, H.A., Faraone, V., Hittelman, D.R., & Unruh, E. (1990). Reading Comprehension Instruction Newark Delaware: International Reading Association. Smith, N.B. (2002). American Reading Instruction. Newark, DE: International Reading Association. Teale, W.H.. (1995). Young children and reading: trends across the twentieth century. Journal of Education. 117, )