1.2 historical and contemporary developments in reading and writing instruction
The history of reading theories and practices plays an important role in determining how reading is taught in classrooms today and curricular decisions that are currently being made. Many discoveries have been made about how people learn to read and what happens in the brain during reading. Along with these discoveries comes new ways in thinking about reading and implementing strategies to teach reading. In past years, reading has been regarded as a systematic process that was skills-based and very closely aligned with the views of behaviorism. This focused on the stimulus-response type of approach to reading and basals were a popular resource to teach in this manner. There was also an era which focused on natural learning which placed language at the center of reading and the student began to take on a more active role in learning. Reading then transitioned to a cognitive perspective that placed the focus on a student’s schema and cognitive processing of information. Sociocultural learning followed the cognitive view and placed the focus on sharing the process of reading and writing. Group work became important and reading became a social act shared by a group. We are currently experiencing an engaged approach to reading in our society. The focus is typically on motivating students to read and to interact with text. Technology is often used to complete reading or to learn reading skills and students are often given goals for their reading. Even though reading has changed over time, previous theories and practices have not been dismissed or forgotten. They are still taken into consideration today and many aspects are still seen in the more contemporary perspectives. As we continue to discover more information about the process of reading, theories and practices are adjusted to ensure that reading instruction is at it’s best. It’s important to be knowledgeable about the history of reading in order to make the best curricular decisions and understand the theories behind the practices that are currently in place.
The first artifact is an article titled A Historical Perspective on Reading Research and Practice by Patricia A. Alexander and Emily Fox (2004). This article gave me a clear picture of how reading theory and practice have changed throughout history. Each era of reading is described and the authors explain the effects that each era had on reading instruction. When I was reading this article, I found myself taking notes in the margins about what this really meant for reading instruction and was amazed by the things that began so long ago and we still use today. I jotted down things such as “basals”, “miscue analysis”, and “shared reading”. I didn’t realize that many of these things have been used for as long as they have been. Understanding the reasons behind why these things are used was helpful to me as a teacher when I was thinking about what I am implementing in my classroom and how effective it is. The second artifact is an article titled The Roots of Reading Comprehension Instruction by P. David Pearson (2009). This article also described how reading theory has changed over time. Once again, it was interesting to see how the focus changed and how in current reading instruction it seems like many things from different eras and theories are being used. I think it’s a good thing to see ideas from multiple eras being mixed in current approaches to reading because it shows that we are using what works best and piecing together the most effective form of reading instruction for our students.
The history of reading theories and practices plays an important role in determining how reading is taught in classrooms today and curricular decisions that are currently being made. Many discoveries have been made about how people learn to read and what happens in the brain during reading. Along with these discoveries comes new ways in thinking about reading and implementing strategies to teach reading. In past years, reading has been regarded as a systematic process that was skills-based and very closely aligned with the views of behaviorism. This focused on the stimulus-response type of approach to reading and basals were a popular resource to teach in this manner. There was also an era which focused on natural learning which placed language at the center of reading and the student began to take on a more active role in learning. Reading then transitioned to a cognitive perspective that placed the focus on a student’s schema and cognitive processing of information. Sociocultural learning followed the cognitive view and placed the focus on sharing the process of reading and writing. Group work became important and reading became a social act shared by a group. We are currently experiencing an engaged approach to reading in our society. The focus is typically on motivating students to read and to interact with text. Technology is often used to complete reading or to learn reading skills and students are often given goals for their reading. Even though reading has changed over time, previous theories and practices have not been dismissed or forgotten. They are still taken into consideration today and many aspects are still seen in the more contemporary perspectives. As we continue to discover more information about the process of reading, theories and practices are adjusted to ensure that reading instruction is at it’s best. It’s important to be knowledgeable about the history of reading in order to make the best curricular decisions and understand the theories behind the practices that are currently in place.
The first artifact is an article titled A Historical Perspective on Reading Research and Practice by Patricia A. Alexander and Emily Fox (2004). This article gave me a clear picture of how reading theory and practice have changed throughout history. Each era of reading is described and the authors explain the effects that each era had on reading instruction. When I was reading this article, I found myself taking notes in the margins about what this really meant for reading instruction and was amazed by the things that began so long ago and we still use today. I jotted down things such as “basals”, “miscue analysis”, and “shared reading”. I didn’t realize that many of these things have been used for as long as they have been. Understanding the reasons behind why these things are used was helpful to me as a teacher when I was thinking about what I am implementing in my classroom and how effective it is. The second artifact is an article titled The Roots of Reading Comprehension Instruction by P. David Pearson (2009). This article also described how reading theory has changed over time. Once again, it was interesting to see how the focus changed and how in current reading instruction it seems like many things from different eras and theories are being used. I think it’s a good thing to see ideas from multiple eras being mixed in current approaches to reading because it shows that we are using what works best and piecing together the most effective form of reading instruction for our students.