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Essay on Timeline of Reading Instruction

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Running head: A TIMELINE OF READING

A Timeline of Reading Instruction
Grand Canyon University
RDG 509
November 9, 2009
Abstract
Reading instruction has undergone many changes since the first colonists settled in America. Hornbooks and battledores morphed into primers and basal readers. Religion played an important part throughout the first half of the history of reading instruction in America. Books grew into stories that were enjoyable instead of remedial. The alphabet played a significant role, as did pictures, when teaching reading. The debates of whole language and phonics has spanned the centuries, leaving no distinct decision. The researcher examined the trends from the 1600s to the present and identified the type of reading …show more content…

Battledores Also had lists of short words and sometimes included a prayer, but normally they had a short story or fable instead. With a greater surface area, battledores could also contain illustrations. These were generally pictures of everyday life that would have been familiar to children of the time (Dianeohio, 2006, ¶ 4). Following the battledores were spellers and primers. The New England Primer was "among the most popular texts of the day" (Robinson, 1997, p. 45). This primer "was considered the prototype schoolbook for nearly 100 years" (Shannon & Crawford, 1997, p. 227). The primers included both the alphabet and parts of the Bible. Both of these "employed the alphabet as an organizational feature for literacy instruction and spiritual study" (Wikipedia, 2009, ¶ 2.3). A popular book during this time was The Child's New Play-Thing, which "introduced the alphabet with a lettered story about an appetizing apple pie" (Wikipedia, 2009, ¶ 2.5). The 1800s brought about a change in reading instruction. Noah Webster published his blue-back spellers. These books "focused on the right pronunciation, on patriotic and historical selections, proverbs, moral stories, fables, as well as an expressive oral reading" (Robinson, 1997, p. 46). The first set of readers was also introduced, the McGuffey’s Readers. It has been estimated that least 120 million copies of McGuffey's Readers were sold between 1836 and 1960, placing its

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