ABSTRACT
To review the relationship of educational psychology to research in literacy and literacy instruction is to review educational psychology itself. Almost since the start of the 20th century, reading and writing have been the primary foci of study for educational psychologists. In tum, educational psychology has dominated views on reading and writing and on their instruction in the elementary school. It is no coincidence that Nila Banton Smith (1934/1965), in her history of American reading instruction, identified 1910, the year in which the Journal of Educational Psychology was launched, as the first great breakthrough in American reading instruction:
The dramatic period beginning within the year of 1910 ushered in the first truly great break-through in American reading instruction. While there was no strong nationalistic aim for education or for reading at this time a new development suddenly shaped up which had startling effects in changing reading methods and materials. This era in the history of reading was marked by the birth of the scientific movement in education. In 1909 Thorndike made the initial presentation of his handwriting scale before a meeting ·of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and in 1910 (Thorndike, 1910) it was published. Generally speaking, the publication of the Thorndike scale has been recognized as the beginning of the contemporary movement for measuring educational products SCientifically. (p. 157).
