The term the SoR is not new, and it does not refer to a particular theoretical approach to the teaching of reading, a particular model, program, method, or single component of instruction.
The term SoR was used first to refer to text reading during the 18th century, coinciding with the birth of linguistics, the scientific study of language.
The original agenda of scientific linguistics was the determination of proper pronunciations of ancient languages (Allan, 2010). Thus, during the early 19th century, the term Science of Reading was used to refer to how one should read the Koran or the Bible, particularly with regard to the pronunciation of the words (e.g., Stewart, 1809).
The term science of reading has often been reserved for discussions of decoding, often with an emphasis on non-instructional research (including studies of eye movements) and linguistic analyses of the English spelling system.
Shanahan, T. (2020). What Constitutes a Science of Reading Instruction? Reading Research Quarterly, 55(S1), S235-S247. doi:10.1002/rrq.349
