In their article, "A Historical Perspective on Reading Research and Practice," Patricia A. Alexander and Emily Fox trace the progression of reading research and theories, identifying how different schools of thought affected the portrayal, practice and pedagogical approach to literacy. Recognizing that the development of literacy studies is an increasingly integrated field, Alexander and Fox still organized the research on reading into five eras: Conditioned Learning (1950-1965), Natural Learning (1966-1975), Information Processing (1976-1985), Sociocultural (1986-1995), and Engaged Learning (1996-Present). Within each era, pertinent personages, philosophies, and psychological theories are identified and discussed in the context of reading research and findings. Alexander and Fox then present the "resulting principles" of the era's research on teaching literacy, including the conflicting and subversive schools of thought within the dominant domains.
The Conditioned Learning Era was influenced by socioeconomic factors when the 1950's baby boom inundated schools with more students, who were competing on a global scale. The traditional theory of reading changed: phonetics challenged the effectiveness of the "look-say method" of reading. Furthermore, Skinner's research permeated from psychology into reading theory. Behaviorism's impact on education created a skill-based curriculum, where students were "conditioned," or trained, to learn. This guiding principle defined knowledge as a commodity to be consumed by students, where the role of a teacher was to train students in acquiring ideal reading behaviors. Concurrently, alternative views on reading developed, such as William James' theory of human learning relying on individual introspective abilities and the Gestalt theory that understanding comes through comprehension of wholes.
The Era of Natural Learning shifted the focus from human behavior to human intelligence. Noted linguist Chomsky particularly influenced this era, which incorporated his theory of language as a natural process. Psycholinguistic researchers moved away from behaviorism, viewing it as a road block to our ability to communicate and devalued the aesthetic aspects of language. Chomsky's theory assumes that humans are pre-programmed to learning language, leading theorists of this era to conceptualize learning as a natural process reinforced through meaningful use of language (rather than behaviorism's read and repeat, skill-focused theories and practice). Psycholinguists further developed Chomsky's oral language theories into literacy theories, where people are predisposed to reading. This era was formative in grouping together the language arts of reading, writing, listening and speaking into what we call "literacy." The resulting shifts within this era led to understanding learners as active participants in their literacy, where constructing meaning increases comprehension.
However, these theories also instigated a rival view of literacy through cognitive science and artificial intelligence research, where a parallel was drawn between the ways computers were programmed with how students understood language based on visual marks and predicting outcomes. This became the Era of Information Processing, where cognitive psychology mixed with reading research to create new theories on how students process information. Immanuel Kant's philosophy framed the research by distinguishing sense (perception of the world) from intelligence (understanding of the world through reasoning). The information process defined reading as the mind's processing of symbols into information, and emphasized the importance of prior knowledge or "schema" that provide building blocks that are integral in the creation of new knowledge. During this era, the naturalistic perspective was a rival force in literacy research, focusing on the aesthetic value of text versus the information processing emphasis of rationale value.
The Sociocultural Learning Era introduced a constructivist theory of literacy due to the less than ideal outcomes of cognitive and computer based practices. The former theories did not account for the different skills acquired in differing environments; accordingly, the sociocultural learning era aimed to include ethnographic and quantitative modes of inquiry. The constructivist form of learning relies on social interaction between students and teachers, creating mutual understanding with respect to the environments we inhabit: homes, schools, jobs and other social settings. In practice, literary teaching methods moved towards collaborative experiences and exercises, where the learners were active participants in learning communities, bringing informal knowledge into their formal schooling and recognizing its ability to aid along with the occasional tendency to hinder student learning. This era placed teachers as part of scaffolds, guiding students from social interchanges and explanations towards autonomous learning.
Currently in literacy studies, the "Era of Engaged Learning" is influenced by the changes in textual formats and structures. With the creation of nonlinear texts, the focus shifts to the learners: their interests, goals, beliefs, self-motivation, and participation. The motivation theory holds that students are engaged and motivated life-long readers and knowledge seekers, using both traditional and emerging types of media. In this, there is a strategic processing of readers in their reflection, choice and use of texts. There is an increasing shift towards interdisciplinary practices of literacy and using technology to teach reading and writing, forcing us to rethink and conceptualize our definition of literacy.
With all these theories contradicting and borrowing and building off each other, Alexander and Fox point out that there is no easily defined general practice or theory of literacy. Instead, the focus moves away from what theory works best for all, to what theory works best for an individual.
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