As a third-grade teacher. Geraldine E. Rodgers was appalled by the inadequate reading of the children arriving at third grade, after having “learned” to read with the standard sigh...vizualizați mai multeAs a third-grade teacher. Geraldine E. Rodgers was appalled by the inadequate reading of the children arriving at third grade, after having “learned” to read with the standard sight-word readers. To study the problem, she took a sabbatical leave in 1977 to observe first grades and to test over 900 of the resultant second graders in their own languages on oral reading accuracy. She tested in New Jersey in the United States, and in Holland, Sweden, Germany, Austria and France. For the oral accuracy test, she used, with permission, a portion of a speed test from IEA (International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement). She found that two dominant and quite different types of readers, or relative mixtures of the two types, resulted from differences in first-grade methods. She then spent the following thirty years or so researching the history of reading, in the New York Public Library, the Library of Congress, Harvard University Library, the University of Chicago Library, the British Library in London, and other libraries and sources. As a result, she has published a three-volume history and five other texts concerning the problem.vizualizați mai puține