Reading Lessons: The Debate over Literacy

by Gerald Coles

A provocative analysis of a hotly disputed, often politicized topic.How children are taught to read and how well they learn are perennially difficult issues in the United States. In this hard-hitting study, Gerald Coles argues that the very terms of today's arguments about learning are flawed. He urges Americans to worry about the best ways to teach reading-not a single "best way"-and about how politics, economics, and power in our unequal society affect our children's ability to read.

224 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 1998

Reviews

[Elizabeth]

A comprehensive (though sometimes, perhaps, needlessly technical) account of how the ways we have gone about pursuing literacy in America presume (1) a particular definition of literacy and (2) preclude certain types of reading.

[Sara]

Debate between whole language and phonomic instruction, so not as helpful as I thought it would be.