A Historical Perspective on Reading Research and Practice (Patricia A.
Alexander & Emily Fox)
(You will use this form as your reading guide...you should plan to fill in your section. THEN, going across the line...you 4 will form a group. You 4 will need to
complete your ppt and will do a group presentation to the class on your findings. 1 & 2 and 3 & 4 will work as a group of 2; however, 1-4 will not have to add to the
information below since you will do twice as much on the top assignment.
Conditions for Change
Sample
Conditional This section of the text focuses on
Learning the transformation of reading
(1950 1965) research during 1950-1965 due to
GROUP 1 a post-WWII United States. After
the war, there were reported high
birth rates leading to a baby boom.
These qualitative changes in our
society led to an increase of
students entering the public school
system, which meant an increase
in the number of children who were
struggling to read. Furthermore,
the world was also entering the
Age of Sputnik in which our society
was beginning to compete globally
in the areas of math and science.
This shift in education directly
affected the transformation of
reading research during this time
period. Researchers began
publishing controversial texts that
sought to define the problem with
students reading acquisition. From
this research, phonics-based
techniques, phonics drills, and
controlled vocabulary readers were
brought to the forefront. Skinners
behaviorism, matched with these
publications, attempted to
diagnosis reading problems within
our public school systems in a
post-war United States during the
1950s and into the 1960s.
Guiding Views
Sample
This section of the text focuses
on the guiding view of B.F.
Skinners Behaviorism Theory.
Skinnerian behaviorism theory
provided a scientific perspective
to the problem regarding
students reading acquisition.
This theory supported that
reading during this time period
was conceptualized as a
conditioned behavior. It stated
that learning is based on
obtained behaviors through
conditioning. Conditioning
directly results from interaction
with the environment. Skinner
(1974) stated that, The point of
education can be stated in
behavioral
terms: a teacher arranges
contingencies under which the
student acquires
behavior which will be useful to
him under other contingencies
later on. The students will
respond or behave in a particular
way based on their environment.
In addition, the philosophical
works of David Hume identified
that environmental conditions
produce particular desired
behaviors. These types of
behaviors are observable and
produced by an environmental
stimuli. This led to the task of
identifying behaviors in
Resulting Principles
Sample
This section of the text
explains how the behaviorist
emphasis on reading caused
a shift toward believing that
reading is indeed perceptual
activity. This change came
about after attention was
brought to the multitude of
sub skills required for
reading, by the Project
Literacy Program involving
interdisciplinary studies at
Cornell University. These
perceptual activities seen as
the foundations for reading
success included the
identification of visual
signals; the translation of
these signals into sounds;
and assembly of these
sounds into words, phrases,
and sentences. (Alexander Gestalts point was that the
& Fox, 2004). Thus, causing
phonics instruction to be
depicted as the pivotal
beginning instructional
framework for teaching a
child to read. During this
period phonics was also
seen as an aspect of reading
that was highly trainable.
The increasing awareness of
reading through perceptual
activities sparked the
development of reliable and
validated technologies and
Rival View of Learner &
Learning Process
Sample
This section of the text sheds
light on a couple opposing
views of conditional learning
from 1950-1965. The first
opposing view comes from
William James. He believed
that reading was something
that took careful consideration
as to how one reads and why.
The term introspection is
used to describe James
philosophy. According to him,
reading takes thought and
consideration of ones own
learning. The second theory
presented in Alexander and
Fox is the Gestalt theory. In
this theory, one believes that
you must look at the large
picture, not the little pieces that
make-up the whole picture.
main idea/big picture (ex.
reading) was the key, and that
the smaller pieces of the
puzzle (phonics, vocabulary,
etc.) were not to be the focus.
Alexander, P. A. and Fox, E.
(2004). Theoretical Models
and Processes of Reading:
(5th Edition). International
Reading Association.

Natural Learning 1 This section focuses on the time
(1966 1975) period of 1966-1975, when reading
GROUP 2 research turns its focus from
environmental factors to what is
happening inside the human mind.
During this time, people were
becoming dissatisfied with the lack
of answers provided by
behaviorism theories. Also,
advances in the fields of neurology
and artificial intelligence were
shedding light on how the brain
works. The US government funded
a study entitled First Grade Studies
in order to compare a wide number
of instructional techniques for
beginner readers. This study
brought together 27 different
researchers to investigate a variety
of elements of this instruction.
Linguists and psycholinguists were
especially involved in this period of
theories. Linguistics tended to favor
Chomskys theory which centered
on a hard-wired view of language,
and hence of reading (38).
Psycholinguists added that
behaviorism left out important
aspects of communication and the
connection to reading, so that
students could become trained in
a variety of skills.
1 During this period, the theories
focused on acquiring language
as a natural, inevitable process.
As long as individuals were
raised in favorable conditions,
they would acquire language
over time (38). Theorists like
Noam Chomsky were moving
away from behaviorist views and
more toward the reasoning
behind humans mental
capabilities of acquiring
language. Chomsky differed from
other linguists at the time
because he focused on
separating the hardwiring of the
humans brain and the
subsequent performance. He
believed that humans were born
with a sort of template for
language and simply built on that
as they interacted with language
in a variety of manners. These
beliefs founded the field of
generative grammar.
Psycholinguists also began to
support this field with their
arguments that reading, which is
simply the written counterpart of
remediation for those
struggling with the
groundworks of reading.
Lastly, they came upon the
decision that their should be
individually tailored
programs to meet the needs
of the students who began to
struggle with such basic
reading skills.
Alexander, P. A. and Fox, E.
(2004). Theoretical Models
and Processes of Reading:
(5th Edition). International
Reading Association.
2 As a result of this eras
new view of language as a
natural process governed by
innate rules, the different
aspects of literacy - reading,
writing, speaking.listening -
were combined into one field
of literacy. Additionally,
students became more
active participants in their
learning who were expected
to achieve comprehension
through application of their
skills to build meaning. This
drastically contrasted the
earlier methods of repeated
drills. Lastly, in the case of
assessing,, it became more
important to understand how
and why students made
errors in order to better
understand their thinking
and recognize their attempts
to make meaning rather than
targeting specific errors and
correcting the students.
.
2 The same information that
first elicited the natural view of
reading also sparked interest
in researchers who desired to
create intelligent machines
that could emulate the
problem-solving abilities of
humans. The importance of
this view was that they did not
presume that learners
performances were strictly the
result of natural ability, but the
combination of learned
knowledge and innate mental
capacity. These researchers
were keenly interested in text-
based performances between
experts and novices, and they
found that the domain of study
and the task altered mental
processes (Chase & Simon,
1973). According to this rival
view, the process of reading
written language cannot be
unified with oral language
acquisition and processing.
 general beauty within the nature of
reading.
Information 5 6
Processing This section was about how the
(1976 1985) reading research community in the
GROUP 3 mid-1970s was ready for change. A
few conditions for these changes
are as follows: growing attention to
the structure and processes of the
human mind and increased United
States federal funding for basic
reading research. The impacts of
these conditions have helped to
create research centers dedicated
specifically to reading research.
Some researchers were not thrilled
about this research emphasis.
They argued that they were not
thrilled about these conditions for
change because they argued that it
had deleterious effects of
squeezing out reading educators
and undervaluing instructional
practice.
oral language, must follow this
natural process as well. This was
only if they were given enough
meaningful interactions with text
as young children, though. Labov
and Shuy were sociolinguists
who were interested in
investigating how language was
used depending on the social
role being portrayed. This was
especially evident in comparing
childrens language use at
school and during everyday life.
Immanuel Kant was the big
researcher that influenced
Information Processing in this
time period. This time period was
all about how learning was NOT
a natural process. We take in
things through our senses,
tangible things, which makes up
the sensible world. Then there is
the processing part. The brain is
what takes in and manipulates all
processing parts. The research
was to find out the connection
between the sensible world and
processing. Language was a
huge part of that kind of
connection. Language isnt
exactly a natural thing, instead it
was created to bridge the
sensible world with our brain
which processes things.
Learning from reading was
therefore all about the
connection as well. You take in
the text through your senses and
organize it and interpret it,
eventually making meaning and
learning from it.
7 8 This portion of the text
During this time period
Information Processing and
literacy research saw many
new theories and theorists.
This was possible because
of the increase in U.S
federal funding for basic
reading research. Theorists
with backgrounds in
Psychology began
conducting research about
the process of information
processing. Findings
showed that prior knowledge
has a large influence of
students text-based learning.
During this time period there
was a lot of reading specific
studies and extensive
literature on text based
factors in relation to
comprehension. Questions
such as how is knowledge
organized in the mind? And
how does one come out
being a better reader than
another? I found this article
very interesting and
relatable. One of the most
popular theories during that
time period was the schema
focuses on the changes that
arose beginning in the mid
1970s. The people who were
more critical of the information-
processing theory approach
were the people who believed
in a naturalistic or holistic
reading approach. Before the
natural movement, there was a
shift moving from the
psychological arguments
towards the natural view of
reading due to more people
being interested in the unity of
language arts. This rival view
consisted of an increase in
concern for the reading
aesthetic over the rational.
This lead to negative thoughts
towards fact-finding.

Sociocultural 9 10
Learning This segment of the text talks
(1986 1995) about how the previous decade of
GROUP 4 the computer metaphor "that
guided the information- processing-
based research" was coming to an
end. This research saying that
learning is computer-like was
replaced by the constructivist
theory that says learning is
individualistic. In classroom and
cognitive training programs, the
application of information-
processing theory was not proven
and didn't live up to the claims.
There was no students
improvements in text-based
learning when this instruction was
used. Although the era before
studied information-processing,
they only looked at the laws of text
processing and not different
populations, materials, and
classroom conditions.
Another shift that influenced
change was looking at research
from outside the cognitive
psychology realm. These works
provided a new lens about social
and cultural anthropology and
acceptance of ethnographic and
qualitative works. This allowed
change of practicing literacy in
natural settings like classrooms,
homes, and workplaces. Research
had shifted from the product of
learning to the process of learning
through social interactions in a
certain context that resulted in a
new stage in learning development.
This segment of the text explains
that literacy research now aims
to share the ideas of several
people, rather than of just one
knowledgeable individual. When
the adoption of the cultural and
social perspectives on literacy
started to be accepted, the
stance from the prior era shifted.
The new perspective was known
to be a collaborative
sociocultural experience. This
new collaboration included the
learner as part of the learning
community. This view went on to
encourage concepts such as
cognitive apprenticeship, shared
cognition, and social
constructivism. ,
theory which is still used
today.
11 This segment of the text
talks about the changes
during the 1980s. How we
went from teachers teaching
to almost complete basal
text, and how teachers were
forced to feel like this was
almost a science in their
classroom. There was so
much more statewide
testing, because the
government believed we
were falling behind leading
each state to adapt different
reading textbook programs.
The administrators then
were at the mercy of the
textbook publishers, then the
teachers were at the mercy
of the administrators who
were at the mercy of the
textbook publishers. It was
an endless cycle and one we
are still in today. There was
a lot of reform during this
decade, in that they wanted
to make certain everyone
could read in their classroom
but it may be believed that
they went about it in an
aggressive way.
12 This segment of the text
expresses the change of view
on the learner from the
previous thinking. At this time
all views were in agreement
regarding the value of
considering social and
contextual forces in literacy.
They did have different
opinions on the relative
importance attached to these
forces. WIth this era came the
perspective that knowledge is
not transferrable between
situations and that knowledge
resides within the interaction
itself instead of within the
individuals mind. This position
relates to the idea of engaging
students in discussion or
collaborative-learning
activities. This sociocultural
view led to a radical shift from
the information-processing
theory within the prior cognitive
psychology era.
Engaged Learning 3 3
(1996 Present) This section discuss how learning This section dives into where
GROUP 5 is quickly changing based on the these ideas and theories are
rapid development of technology. coming from. Described as the
With the new and quickly Era of Engaged Learning, writing
expanding presence of hypermedia from John Dewey is beginning to
and hypertext around 1996, go beyond Skinner, Chomsky,
schools began to focus on Kant, and Vygotsky, stating the
nonlinear texts, which are texts on learner is now seen as a
a database that encourage motivated knowledge seeker.
readers to use other informational Dewey realizes reading is no
sites and sources. Research is longer limited to print but
also bringing to light the includes nonlinear sources,
importance of motivation. They everyday experiences, and so
now see that catering to self- on. The section also states that
efficacy, goals, interests, as well as technology is forever expanding
considering knowledge, socio so there is no telling what could
cultural background, etc. has an be next. Researchers are still
impact on whether or not a student working on techniques and
will want to learn and can learn learning environments to serve
easily. Finally, there was always a both struggling readers and
debate about whether or not the students who struggle with
purpose of reading leaned more technology. One of the biggest
toward the idea of learning to changes for this era is that
read or reading to learn. students are now seen as active
Research is now looking at reading learners both individually and
as more of an even balance of the collectively with their peers. They
two. have found that teachers should
be focusing on skills such as
reflection, choice, and
deliberation as well as strategies
for comprehension. Finally, the
concept that learning to read
extends through a student's
lifetime is more prominent, as
opposed to only being relevant
during school years as it was
before.
4 4 Reconditioning
The resulting principles of
research on present day
classrooms affect two
domains. First, reading
takes place within socio-
cultural context. It is not an
isolated cognitive activity.
Readers interests motivate
literacy and stimulate
engagement with texts.
The twenty-first century
learner has many modes of
gathering textual
information. The classroom
must provide opportunities
for students to read, write,
and validate credible e-texts
using technological literacy
skills.
In this era, simple models of
literacy instruction are
replaced by more complex
understandings driven by
research and technology.
Theory currently describes
literacy as a continuum of
individual development
spanning a lifetime.
Comprehension of
complicated texts is
supported by readers
previous knowledge and
experiences. By
strengthening early literacy
skills, students become ever
more capable of engaging
with text to construct
meaning and make
connections.
The rival view of the learner
and learning in this era is
marked by the pressures of
high stakes testing. The
individualistic view of students
on a literacy continuum does
not cooperate with the grade
level assessments that drive
district funding. To achieve
maximum pass rates, students
focus on sub-skills that do not
connect to existing schemata.
Strictly quantitative
assessments do not
adequately evaluate literacy
skills. Reconstructing
assessments to better
determine instructional efficacy
need to be created.
In addition, neuroscientists and
special education researchers
are investigating the
correlation between
physiological processes and
the development of literacy in
struggling readers.
Emergent premises: Historical Lessons

Premise noted Lesson for your own thinking and reflection

in the text
1900 to 1919 Sample
From 1880 until 1910, the focus of reading was of the appreciation of English literature and reciting words on a page.
(Students were focused on fluency and automatic word recognition and had no regard to what the words actually meant)
In 1908, Edmond Burk Hueys book The Psychology and Pedagogy of Reading began to separate the act of reading from
English instruction, as well as question oral reading.
Throughout 1910 to 1924 time period, popular research topics included reading time allotments, methods of primary
reading, phonics and most especially standardization of reading tests and what to do with them (p. 176). (These are interesting
because this was the initial period of scientific reading investigations)
In 1914, Charles Hubbard Judd determined that silent reading is better than oral reading. (We now know that we need a
healthy amount of the two in our comprehensive literacy programs.)
Between 1915-1916, the first standardized test appeared, individuals began to study reading disabilities (Hollingsworth),
and the term remedial reading emerged.
The act of reading was a main focus across the United States.
Between 1917 and 1919: Charles Judd, Francis Parker, William S. Gray, Edward Thorndike, and Ernest Horn significantly
impacted the field of reading.
Reading became a great concern when thousands of United States soldiers could not read. (This is definitely something
that raised a red flag in regards to reading development.)
In 1917, William S. Gray became the International Reading Associations first president.
William S. Gray stated that, silent reading is more practical, more efficient, and more effective than the regular regime of
oral reading (Shannon, 1989, p. 22). (I personally do not read well orally. As a result, I prefer to read silently.)
Charles Judd and Francis Parker were considered the father of progressive education. They both agreed that meaning
and comprehension are more important than simply reciting. (Further supporting that comprehension is key. Reading is not effective
unless you understand and comprehend the meaning behind the text.)
In 1919, Ernest Horn suggested five rules for spelling instruction: pretest, teach words spelled incorrectly, review, display
students progress, and maintain high interest.
Edward Thorndike, for Columbia University, contributed most to the field of reading. He recognized the need of meaning
and comprehension from printed text. Reading is thinking.
Changing the definition of reading also changed the definition of a reading teacher.
In 1914, Martha Fulton encouraged teachers to use several methods of spelling that students would find meaningful.
William S. Gray and Edward Thorndike developed the first rough scale to measure oral reading. William S. Gray
suggested that teachers to constantly stay informed, in order to incorporate effective reading instruction within their classrooms.
(Staying informed with best practices and new research)
William S. Gray stated that, students need to be trained to study effectively as they read. (During reading strategies)
1920 to 1929 6 Felsch was making huge changes in the school during this period, a lot of which would influenced by Gates. Students
interests were starting to make appearance in class.
In 1924 there was actual change in teaching for students with reading disabilities, and more attention brought to it.
Gray asked teachers to start making more acute diagnosis of reading disabilities
Gray made a definition for what a reading disability was and how it was identified, it is as follows: low IQ [;] inadequate
language habits [;] lack of general experience [;] little or no interest in reading [;] careless, indifferent attitude [;] inadequate attention
to the content [;] difficulties in the mechanics of reading [;] ineffective rates of reading [;] an inadequate meaning vocabulary [;]
 failure to think independently about the content [;] inability to picture unfamiliar situations [;] poor home environment [;] distracting
social influences [;] inadequate parental supervision [;] inadequate or inappropriate reading materials and poor instruction. (p. 206)
Courtis and Heller put out a reading report in 1921 which is often credited for noticing that reading comprehension was
missing from students literacy.
Read did a study which showed that 1st and 2nd grade students start to fail reading test and therefore reading readiness
became an issue that needed to be assessed.
Resnick and Resnick found that because group testing for military was well-known, that group testing was starting to
become a popular trend.
Goodkuntz et al. found that reading needed to be intergrated in all areas of education. Reading in other subjects required
different attention and skills, so it needed to be taught in all content areas.
Smith found that intelligence was not the only factor that played into reading, instead ability, SES, background, and
maturity played into reading ability.
Gray really influenced how reading looked in the classroom. He said that it needed to come from students interests and
problems - called the Activity Movement.
Judd and Boswell said that in order to meet those needs of students, there needed to be a lot of materials in the
classroom. This meant there needed to be flashcards, books, stories etc.
Teachers World Book published in 1921 became the greatest resource for reading teachers. It gave a list of the most
popular words in childrens books, and the strategy that needed to be used based on the words importance.
1930 to 1939 5
1930s was the decade known for its poverty
1930 - Early grades were still using basals written by Horn, Gates, and Gray
People began listening to the radio - so much so that people thought interest in and time spent reading would decline due
to the radio
Attention to childrens interests in reading and the different habits...employed when reading for different purposes
continued until 1935
Basals and Activity Method co-existed in the classroom
Look-say approach continued through the 1930s - this is similar to the whole language and sight reading
Journals continued to advocate for the use of basals
Gates list of sight words continued to be popular for the second decade in a row
1937 - Monroe said this was the year reading disabilities could be attributed to more than one cause
1934 - Emmett Betts - no one theory can be expected to account for all types of reading disabilities
1933 - Almack and Staffelbach believed those who spell well do so because they pay attention to words and have had
adequate practice in using these words - others believed children learn to spell incidentally
Marion Monroe, head psychologist of Child Guidance Center in Pittsburgh, PA, (1932-1936) concluded general reading
ability consists of a multiplicity of factors: success or failure in reading depends on whether a students strengths in these factors
outweigh his or her weaknesses
1938 - Eva Bond showed a students comprehension may vary from school subject to school subject
1935 - W.S. Gray and Bernice Leary - were the first to find that word frequency and sentence length were determinants of
text difficulty
1937 - Dolch and Bloomsters study involving 1st graders convinced the educational community that 1st graders could not
do phonics
As a teacher in the 1930s you would have taught silent reading and you may have reported to a special supervisor of
reading
1940 to 1949 7
1950 to 1959
Gates 1953 Teaching Reading came out
Phonics was thought of as a gimmick (Betts).
80% of nonreaders were boys
More attention was beginning to be put on peoples potential
Traxler believed that standardized tests did not reflect students true abilities
Traxler also believed gifted students needed to be identified earlier than 11th or 12th grade
Adults began to receive help in job preparation
1950- Activity Method came to an end while the Cloze technique became a hot topic
Americas period of expanding knowledge and technological revolution
Americans realized that being able to read well was essential to success
Programmed learning appeared in this time period (using reading programs and materials)
Turning point in the way that other people viewed reading teachers- according to Smith, reading teachers began facing
criticism from people who were not in the reading subject field (Rudolf Fleshs Why Johnny Cant Read and What You Can Do
About It was responsible because he stated that the word method being used was essentially nonsense and that the only reason
children cant read is because the teachers are teaching them wrong).
1955- Flesh got people to believe that reading teachers were not even worthy of being called teachers and that children
were the best teachers for themselves. Teachers were only adults who encouraged students to memorize things.

1960 to 1969 Basal use was decreasing in classrooms

Elementary writing instruction, cloze procedure, and comprehension were hot topics
Teachers were being exposed to more research in reading, literature, and writing than earlier decades
By the 60s, the standardization of reading was complete- the process, act or result of establishing criteria for the
evaluation of something; specifically, in educational testing
In the early 60s, there was limited use of technology in the classroom. After 1967, there was a technological revolution
In 1969 the importance of silent reading was stressed and teachers were asked to teach reading in content areas (above
second grade)
This decade was described as the re-awakening of new education in reading instruction in the United States. This new
shape consisted of criterion-reference measurement, informal assessments, graphic organizers (SQ3R), and Direct Reading
Activity. More students were given a chance to become successful readers
The study of oral and reading miscues later turned into the whole language movement
In 1965, US President Lyndon Johnson created Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act
Throughout this decade, there was an increasing heavy demand of certified reading specialists

1970 to 1979 For the first time from the early 1900s psychologist were interested in reading.
Freires book Pedagogy of the Oppressed talks about the roles that schools play in reducing social inequality.
Durkins study of classroom reading instruction found that teachers touch on comprehension during instruction less than
1% of the time, and that when they do it is just mentioning it rather explicit instruction or demonstration.
Branford and Franks (1974) found that that readers perceive verbal relationships across sentences referred to as
chunking
Pearson (2002) noted that Ken Goodmans whole language movement that officially began in 1972 would come to be
known as the most significant movement in reading curricula in the last thirty years
This decade devoted a lot of research to comprehension
Jay Samuels 1979 study advocated repeated reading as a comprehension strategy for remedial readers.
Teun Van Dijk and Walter Kintschs 1977 study revealed that readers can process and comprehend text more easily if it is
 organized into macro and microstructures such as topic sentences and details that follow
Pearson (1985) said teachers in this decade still taught by the the directions teachers guide, and students were better off
teaching themselves if they wanted to learn anything
1980 to 1989 Up until the 1980s everyone had basically been taught the same way through lessons revolved around textbooks and
workbooks and that learned reading is the attempt to memorize text which someone else selects so that [one] can reproduce
factual information when questioned. This is the time period where that changes.
Basal materials came to life by the end of this decade however some argue that reading should not be taught in isolation
and they could already see the assessment of reading was being left behind
While practitioners were still using comprehension strategies they still didnt have an adequate grasp of the concept of
comprehension
In the 1980s high-stakes testing not only continued by became part of an educational reform advocating for more
statewide testing and stuffer course- taking requirements for graduating from high school
The reason for all this extra testing was from a concern that the United States was looking weak when compared to other
nations
Reading was not the only field that began to get interested in reading: linguistics, cognitive psychology, sociolinguistics,
and reader response.
Something big that was discovered during this time was Reading Recovery a program that offers daily half- hour one-
on- one tutorial sessions for students who are having trouble learning to read after one year of formal instruction.
Atwells work suggests Children are going to read what they are interested in
Nagy and Herman suggested that making vocabulary effective involves multiple exposures to the world, exposures to the
words in meaningful contexts
The United States offered an education reform movement that defined reading as a technology rather than a historical and
social practice. Then reading instruction quickly became part of a wider political and pedagogical attack on the capacity of teachers
and students to engage in critical thought.
Once the schools let the publishers choose the goals, methods, and assessments for teaching everyone became trapped.
The teachers became trapped by the administrators who were overall trapped by doing what the textbook companies wanted.
Shannon noted that Teachers became spectators in their own profession and began to believe that basl materials can
teach reading and that the materials are based on scientific fact
1990 to 1999 *Alexander was a large contributor during this time period
1990- Paris and Winograd, similar to Pressley, Goodchild, and Alexander, found that knowledge could be modified through
direct intervention, training, and explicit instruction including summarization, mapping, predicting, etc. (Readence, Tierney, and
Dishner).
1991- Interest for understanding mental processes to explain human language as an interaction between symbol system
and mind (Ericsson and Smith), relating to the idea of having a schema (Sadoski, Paivio, and Goetz).
1991,1994,1997,1998 Hypermedia and hypertexts affecting students learning while providing new ways to find information
and sources (Gillingham and Young 1994; Hinson, Randall, Commeyras 1997; Bolter 1991; Jetton and Alexander 1998)
1992- Knowledge processes in different domains (subjects) became in interest along with motivation
1990, 1992, 1995-1997 Motivation plays large role in student learning (Alexander, Ames, and Wigfield were major for this
idea)
1993- Research situated action and situativity (Greeno and Moore) continued off the idea of knowledge was obtained
within situations such as collaborative learning and engaging discussions.
1993-1997 A possible negative effect of preexisting knowledge causing barriers and misconceptions in students' future
learning.
 1993-1998 Influence of tech/media on learning and teaching (Alexander and Gillingham: biggest advocates through
various years)
1994- Breaking down processes and skills needed for reading into basic parts to be practiced and reinforced in a
systematic way; phonics instruction (Pearson and Stephens).
1994-1998 Influence of the different domains on communication, perception, learning, and inscription associated with
knowledge (Alexander 1998; Nolen and Wineburg 1994; Stahl, Glynn, and Carr 1996).
1995- New view of getting lost within a text instead of specifically learning from that text (Rosenblatt). Idea that literacy
required multiple knowledges (Greene and Ackerman). Introducing difference between learning to read and reading to learn stages
(Chall).
1996- Idea of group orientations (Murphy and Woods) leading to the view of sociocultural, collaborative experiences
needed for learning (Alexander; Reynolds) resulting in the idea that the engaged reader has dimensions of both collective and
individualistic (Bennet and Rice; Van Meter and Guthrie)
1991 and 1997 Idea of scaffolding from 1934 Vygotsky to increase student knowledge with teacher acting as facilitator
increasing student strategic abilities and interest (Deci and Ryan 1991; Alexander 1997)
1997 Motivation was a key interest along with hyper text and hyper media
1998- Language acquisition is a natural process from birth (Chomsky). Idea that the learning process may be more
important than the outcome of learning (Sfard). Looking at struggling readers and how to assist with their learning in literacy was
looked at as well.
1999- Reinforcing the idea that engaged readers include collective and individualistic dimensions of learning and
information processing (Alexander and Murphy)
2000 2006 All Read and contribute a bullet point or two. Be sure to add your name at the end of your comments so I can give you
credit.
2000- Increase in students with reading problems and need to find a solution (Allington and McGill-Franzen) -BW
2000-2002 Reaffirming that students need to be engaged and active while reading (Guthrie and Wigfield 2000; Pintrich
and Schunk 2001; Pressley 2002) -BW
2005 - Researchers were still unsure whether comprehension meant being able to retell text or if its more along the lines
of the readers previous knowledge that they have about the topic (p. 87) - AB

First Grade Studies: (Bond & Dystra, 1967). Authors prophesied a moratorium on race-horse studies by finding it all depends but pretty much any alternative
(basal plus phonics, phonics-first, linguistic, special orthography, or language experience) was, on balance, superior to the whipping post of the First Grade
Studies, the conventional look- say basals popular in the early 1960s); Findings also highlighted important issues to consider when conducting and reading
research: (a) include multiple measures; (b) appropriate control groups are difficult to define; (c) appropriate statistical analysis (e.g., correlations or
means/ANOVAs) should fit research questions; (d) novelty (Hawthorne effect) can affect/compromise findings; (e) treatment fidelity is a common problem in large-
scale research.