A hundred years ago, Edmund Burke Huey published his classic work, The Psychology and Pedagogy of Reading (1908) (reprinted by the MIT Press in 1968). In his book Huey passed on professional wisdom about reading and the teaching of reading of his day.

Now, a century later, an extensive study of early childhood literacy development has been published by the National Institute for Literacy

(NIFL) in Washington, DC. entitled "Report of the National Early Literacy

Panel: Developing Early Literacy: A Scientific Synthesis of Early Literacy Development and Implications for Intervention" (2008) (for copies of this report download at www.nifl.gov). In the extensive review of research on children's development of literacy in early childhood the report is remarkably reminiscent of Huey's ideas of 1908. To illustrate this similarity, following are some extracts of paragraphs from some of Huey's book chapters along with the results from the Delivering Early Literacy

(DEL) report.

Huey: Chapter VI The Inner Speech of Reading And the Mental and Physical Characteristics of Speech. "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. To read is, in effect, to translate writing into speech." (Huey, 1908/1968, pp. 122-123).

Here Huey makes the point that in learning to read the child learns to decode written language into his or her prior oral language. This means, of course, that children with higher levels of oral language will become the better readers when they learn to decode the written language back into their spoken language.

DEL study: Following a study in which the DEL looked at how well various measures of literacy (e.g., alphabet knowledge, etc. and measures of oral language, including oral vocabulary and listening comprehension) predicted reading achievement when children entered school, the authors concluded that along with other variables, "…more complex aspects of oral language, such as grammar, definitional vocabulary, and listening comprehension, had more substantial predictive relations with later conventional literacy skills" p. 79. In these analyses, listening comprehension of preschool children tended to correlate mildly with their reading comprehension in kindergarten, first grade, or second grade.

Importantly, however, the authors seemed to misunderstand the relationship to be expected between listening and reading comprehensionas children enter school and progress up the grades. In a discussion of factors that can influence the size of correlations, the authors say, " Another factor that can affect the size of the correlation is the length of time from the assessment of the predictor to the measurement of the dependent variable.

Correlations would presumably be lower, on average, with longer intervals of time in between assessments" p58.

But this is incorrect when it comes to understanding how reading maps back onto listening comprehension as children go through the K-12 system. What is expected is that in the early grades the correlation of reading with listening comprehension will be low in the early grades because there is not much variation in children's ability to comprehend the written language. As their skill increases with additional practice in the school grades, the correlations of listening and reading should increase as those with high listening skills before school become the better readers, while those with low preschool listening skills once again gain access back to their relatively low listening skills. This has in fact been substantiated by considerable research (google: Sticht Auding and Reading: A Developmental Model and download a free book on this relationship).

Despite the DEL studies misunderstanding of the relationships among listening and reading comprehension, the study nonetheless confirms Huey's early statement about the relationship of oral and written language. It also bears on another bit of Huey's professional wisdom.

Huey: Chapter XVI Learning to Read at Home. "The secret of it all lies in the parent's reading aloud to and with the child. The ear and not the eye is the nearest gateway to the child-soul, if not indeed to the man-soul.

Oral work is certain to displace much of the present written work in the school of the future, and least in the earlier years; and at home there is scarcely a more commendable and useful practice than that of reading much of good things aloud to the children" (p. 332 & 334).

DEL: After examining research on parents and teachers reading with children, the authors of Developing Early Literacy conclude: "Despite any analytical limitations, these studies indicate that shared-reading interventions provide early childhood educators and parents with a useful method for successfully stimulating the development of young children's oral language skills" (p. 163). "Overall, the evidence supports the positive impact of shared-reading interventions that are more intensive in frequency and interactive in style on the oral language and print knowledge skills of young children" pp. 163-164" "It seems reasonable to proceed with the idea that shared reading would help all or most subgroups of children, given the inclusion in these studies of mixed samples of children from different socioeconomic backgrounds, different ethnicities, and different living circumstances" p.164.

Again, a hundred years later, the wisdom of educators of the 19th and early 20th centuries is confirmed in the 21st century! And there is more confirmation of this wisdom.

Huey: Chapter XV The Views of Representative Educators Concerning Early Reading. "Where children have good homes, reading will thus be learned independently of school. Where parents have not the time or intelligence to assist in this way the school of the future will have as one of its important duties the instruction of parents in the means of assisting the child's natural learning in the home." (pp. 311-312)

DEL: The DEL researchers evaluated research in which "the instruction of parents in the means of assisting the child's natural learning in the home"

took place, as suggested by Huey. They reported, "Some educators consider parent education an integral component of early childhood programs; however, reports of their effectiveness have varied widely. Many of the studies reviewed in this chapter were initiated with the assumption that successful PI [parental involvement] programs help parents understand the importance of their role as first teachers and equip them with both the skills and the strategies to foster their children's language and literacy development" (p. 173). Following their research review, the DEL authors concluded, "Overall, the results…indicate that home and parent intervention programs included in these studies had a statistically significant and positive impact both on young children's oral language skills and general cognitive abilities" ( p. 174).

Now, over a hundred years since Huey made his observations about oral language and early childhood literacy education in the home, the Developing Early Literacy report has provided an extensive review of hundreds of research studies that place a scientific veneer on the solid professional wisdom of literacy educators. What is needed now is the will to provide the extensive adult education that will permit parents to develop their children's oral language skills which provide the foundation for skilled reading comprehension.

Published December 10, 2009