Brian Cambourne, University of Wollongong, April 2021
Brian Cambourne provides a summary of the history of the debates about reading instruction dating from as far back as 1779 and outlines the debates that have occurred, and reoccurred through the 1950’s, 1960’s, 1970’s and continue to resurface every decade since. Cambourne’s history begs the following question: 'Why is reading education pedagogically confused? The answer to this question lies in history as well as different understandings about what reading is. This short paper published by the Foundation for Learning and Literacy provides a very useful perspective with Cambourne concluding that‘ Such theoretical arguments are not helpful for the teaching profession or the teaching of reading. To date, not enough attention has been paid to educators’ experiences and their evidence in helping children learn to read in classroom contexts.’