[Reading-hall-of-fame] RHF Huey Celebration

[tsticht at znet.com]

Folks: In 2006 Rob Tierney asked me to chair a group to put together a
program for 2008 to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Huey's classic book.
Following is a save-the-date announcement with the program that will be
given in Atlanta next year. Thanks to the committee members that helped
with this. Tom Sticht



Next Year! Save the Date! May 6, 2008
International Reading Association Annual Conference
Atlanta, Georgia

Reading Hall of Fame Session:

The Psychology and Pedagogy of Reading:
A Celebration of the Work of E. B. Huey

Tom Sticht
International Consultant in Adult Education

In 2008 we will come upon the 100th anniversary of E. B. Huey’s 1908 classic
book, "The Psychology and Pedagogy of Reading."  This great tour de force
bridged from research in reading, through the history of reading, into the
teaching of reading. In a succinct summary of reading methods, Huey said,
"The methods of learning to read that are in common use to-day may be
classed as alphabetic, phonic, phonetic, word, sentence, and combination
methods."  (p. 265 of the 1968 MIT Press reprint).

A century after Huey catalogued the methods of teaching reading, his account
is remarkably apt for the present day. In general, his alphabetic, phonic,
and phonetic methods were grouped by Jeanne Chall under the general
headings of "Code Emphasis" while his word and sentence methods fit well
with Jeanne’s "Meaning Emphasis" grouping. To bring the cataloguing
up-to-date, the "Code Emphasis" methods are today generally referred to as
"Alphabetics" while the "Meaning Emphasis" methods are referred to as
"Whole Language."  Huey’s "combination" methods are referred to as the
"Balanced" approach.

Unfortunately, data from the National Center for Education Statistics
released in 2005 indicate that, despite heroic efforts, with costs easily
in the range  of $1 trillion, the National Assessment of Educational
Progress (NAEP), the nation’s indicator of the health of the reading
instruction patient, has flat-lined. From 1971 up to 2004, average reading
scores for 9, 13 and 17 year olds are so flat that if you were a patient in
an intensive care unit and had your health monitoring indicators go as flat
as the 30-year NAEP data you would be declared dead! This is true for
children at the 10th, 25th, 50th, 75th, and 90th percentiles, too.

The NAEP data do show that as children go up through primary, elementary,
and secondary school, they do get better at reading across the percentile
spectrum. But in 2004 the bottom ten percent of 17 year olds scored below
the median for 13 year olds, and were just 6 scale score points above the
median for 9 year olds. These poorly scoring students will no doubt be
those who will later discover the real life importance of literacy and will
enter into adult basic education to try to gain skills needed to support
themselves and their families.

Advance Notice to Save the Date!

Often people's conference and meeting schedule for the Spring months of a
new year start to fill up quickly. So this is a well in advance notice to
save the date for next year. On May 6 of 2008, in Atlanta, Georgia, at the
annual meeting of the International Reading Association, in a special
2-hour session celebrating E. B. Huey's work, a panel of members of the
Reading Hall of Fame will address questions such as: Do we as literacy
educators and researchers have any better understanding about how to teach
reading than Huey did a hundred years ago? What has reading research
contributed to our ability to teach children across the grades from
pre-school to high school and illiterate or poorly literate adults?
Following is a copy of the program with titles and names of presenters. All
those with an interest in reading are invited to SAVE THE DAY for next year
and to come to Atlanta and help celebrate the life and work of one of
America's great reading researchers, scholars, and communicators. For
information about the Atlanta meeting go to www.reading.org.

THE READING HALL OF FAME
Program for the 2008 meeting of the International Reading Association in
Atlanta, Georgia

Program Title: The Psychology and Pedagogy of Reading;
E. B. Huey  One Hundred Years Later

1. Introduction to E. B. Huey's 1908 Work and the Program of the Day
Rob Tierney, University of British Columbia, Chair of Panel

This is a celebration of  the 100th anniversary of E. B. Huey’s 1908 classic
book, "The Psychology and Pedagogy of Reading."  This seminal work covered
research in reading, the history of reading, and the teaching of reading.
Our panel today looks at facets of these topics to reveal relationships of
Huey's insights to contemporary understandings of the psychology and
pedagogy of reading.

2.  Huey's Perspectives Related to Whole Language Research and Pedagogy
Yetta Goodman, University of Arizona

This presentation examines: (1) aspects of Huey's work that does or does not
support whole language research and pedagogy and (2) an exploration of the
research to practice continuum. In the field of reading research and
instruction we have been leaping from research to practice without taking
into consideration theory and knowledge about learning, teaching and
language.

3. Huey's Work on Automaticity, Fluency, and Comprehension in Reading
Jay Samuels, University of Minnesota

In 1908 Huey summarized much of what we know about reading fluency and
automaticity. But his insights were more focused on the work of the eye in
reading [eye movements], and on word recognition and fluency, and he really
did not have much insight into comprehension. Regarding fluency, Huey could
not anticipate how instruments such as the DIBELS tests would today come to
dominate early assessment of reading by making false claims that these
instruments test fluency. This presentation will describe the weaknesses of
the tests and explain how teachers can measure student reading fluency using
a method that satisfies contemporary requirements.

4. Huey's Thoughts on Oral Language in Relation to  Reading
Tom Sticht, International Consultant in Adult Education

In discussing the nature of reading, Huey stated that, "The child comes to
his first reader with his habits of spoken language fairly well formed, and
these habits grow more deeply set with every year. His meanings inhere in
this spoken language and belong but secondarily to the printed symbols
." .
This presentation examines contemporary understandings of what has been
called "the oracy to literacy" transfer effect with children and adult
learners.

5. Huey's Work and Its Impact on Scientific Research on Reading
Patrick Shannon, Pennsylvania State University

This presentation examines the impact of Huey's work on research on  the
psychology and the pedagogy of reading.   Huey hoped that  psychologists
would claim the theoretical and practical center of the  reading education
field in order to make better sense of how children  ought to be induced
with the habits of reading. His work is considered in the context of a
discussion about the similarities and  difference among four quotes
regarding the role of science in the teaching of reading by William James
(1901), Huey (1908), John Dewey (1928), and Susan Newman  (2003).
Re-examination of Huey's work can help the field better understand current
decisions about reading research and teaching.

6. Discussant
Alan Farstrup, Executive Director, International Reading Association

A session on E. B. Huey from the Hall of Fame can form a very useful context
for examining some of the follies and sins of the present testing and
oversimplification mania that seems to be infecting so much of our policy
and instructional dialog.  Huey was dedicated to "science" but in a very
different way.  He relied on experimentation and the development of solid
evidence in support of his theories, just as so many do today but with
great difficulty given the sometimes narrow, selective and rigid
application of scientific principles and techniques.

Thomas G. Sticht
International Consultant in Adult Education
2062 Valley View Blvd.
El Cajon, CA 92019-2059
Tel/fax: (619) 444-9133
Email: tsticht at aznet.net