One Hundred Years of Reading Research: Successes and Missteps of Edmund Burke Huey and Other Pioneers

Abstract

For more than 100 years, research on the psychology of reading has proliferated. In this article, the authors wish to help modern reading researchers understand the origins of the discipline and benefit from its history. This article draws heavily on Edmund Burke Huey's 1908 landmark volume The Psychology and Pedagogy of Reading, the first scientific treatise in the field of literacy. Starting with Huey, some of the early pioneers’ enduring contributions to the field are highlighted but especially their scientific mistakes that ultimately led the field in promising new directions. An overview of the modern controversy between phonics and whole language instruction is underscored regarding how it arose from early errors.