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Reading, History of

How individuals learn to read and how to best instruct individuals in reading have been two questions that have long intrigued educators and medical doctors alike. Each investigation has shed light on how reading is learned, and each has influenced how instruction in reading is provided. Although several centuries have passed since the first American settlers began teaching their young to read, evident still are the methods used then and the tug of war between teaching letters and sounds and teaching whole words. This entry looks at that history.

Colonial America

From the history of America emerges the history of reading instruction in America. This history began in seventeenth-century colonial New England. The methods used today can be traced to methods from England brought to America by early settlers. During this period in American history, the purpose of reading cannot be teased away from religion. Early books for young readers were meant to indoctrinate. The purpose for learning to read was to be able to read the Bible and keep to its teachings.

A child of the colonies was taught to read from a hornbook and by the alphabet spelling method. A hornbook was often made out of wood and in the shape of a paddle. The lesson was on a single sheet of paper or carved directly into the wood and protected by a sheet of horn—a thin scraping of an animal's horn that produced the transparent sheet that protected the lesson. The lesson consisted of lower- and uppercase alphabet letters, Arabic numbers and Roman numerals from one to ten, and the Lord's Prayer. Some hornbooks also had vowel and consonant sounds. The alphabet spelling method is a type of synthetic method of teaching reading whereby one starts with letters and then moves on to syllables, words, and sentences. During the colonial period, children were taught to read by spelling the word first and then saying the word.

After the hornbook, a child moved on to read from a primer. A primer was a small book of prayers. Primers consisted of the alphabet, vowels, consonants, syllables, alphabet verses (religious couplets illustrating each letter of the alphabet with a corresponding black-and-white picture made from woodcuts), Biblical verses, and the Lord's Prayer. During the colonial period, The New England Primer was the popular primer for reading instruction. Upon mastering the primer, a child moved on to read a book of psalms known as the Psalter; after that, the New Testament; and eventually, the entire Bible.

The New Nation

Popular during the colonial period, spellers continued in use until the early eighteenth century. Spellers focused on spelling, but they were also used to teach reading, writing, and religion. In 1783, Noah Webster published the first volume of his Grammatical Institute of the English Language. This book was a speller. It was followed in 1784 by a grammar and in 1785 by a reader. Webster's spelling book eventually became known as The American Spelling Book and more colloquially as the Blue-Back Speller because of the book's blue covers.

After the American Revolution, the purpose of spellers was to infuse nationalism, namely by creating a uniform American language, establishing national loyalty, and developing moral citizens. Because of the emphasis on educating moral citizens, religious teachings included in previous spellers were replaced with moral teachings. Patriotic speeches were also added to additional versions of spellers. Emphasis was placed on standardizing a system of pronunciation, so reading instruction of the period focused on rules and exercises in proper American pronunciation—basically, decoding.

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