ABSTRACT
In early times, reading was mostly taught through different variations of phonics. However, disagreement about the process of reading and the method of teaching it existed among scholars as far back as the 18th century. One of the strongest theories competing against phonics was the whole word approach. Whole word methods had attracted firm and powerful adherents who helped flood the market with supporting resources. Illiteracy soared wherever whole word methods took hold, and even though researchers proved phonics to be superior to whole word, it wasn’t until Rudolf Flesch’s groundbreaking 1955 book Why Johnny Can’t Read was released, that the pendulum began to swing back in favour of phonics. Thousands of research documents on reading are written every year in dozens of languages. This chart is by no means an exhaustive list of every single contributor to the field.
