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Basal readers are textbooks used to teach reading and associated skills to schoolchildren. Commonly called "reading books," they are usually published as anthologies that combine previously published short stories, excerpts of longer narratives, and original works. A standard basal series comes with individual identical books for students, a "teacher's edition," of the book, and a collection of workbooks, assessments, and activities.
Description Basal readers are typically highly organized. Stories are chosen to illustrate and develop specific skills, which are taught in a strict pre-determined sequence. The teacher's editions are also tightly organized, containing much more than the answer key to the questions that usually appear at the end of each reading passage. The teacher's book also contains suggestions for pre-reading and post-reading activities and assessments, as well as scripted questions to ask students at specific points in a story.
Benefits The highly pre-planned nature of basal readers is seen as one of their strengths, as this eases the load on teachers, particularly those who are inexperienced. Specific skills can be easily targeted, tested, and remediated. Those with very controlled vocabulary usage may ease difficulties for beginning or weak readers.
Criticisms Some of the benefits of basal readers are viewed as shortcomings by critics of these books. Critics charge that they focus on teaching isolated skills, rather than fostering an enjoyment and appreciation of reading for its own sake, and that more time is spent on the supplemental worksheets than on actually reading authentic texts. The quality of the literature in the reading books is another target of criticism. Works chosen mainly to allow skills practice may not be particularly meaningful, authentic, or interesting.
History Basal readers have been in use in the United States since the mid 1860's, beginning with a series called the McGuffey Reader. This was the first reader published with the idea of having one text for each grade level. Since then, teaching methodologies in school basals have shifted regularly. The Scott Foresman Company published what is perhaps the most famous basal series, whose stories starred two children named Dick and Jane. The Dick and Jane books emphasized memorizing words on sight, a method which came to be known as "look and say." This philosophy came under attack in the late 1950's, largely due to Rudolf Flesch's book Why Johnny Can't Read. This was a scathing condemnation of the "look say" method, and advocated a return to programs that stressed teaching phonics to beginning readers.
During the 1970's and early 1980's, the pendulum did swing back toward a more phonics-based approach. During the latter part of the '80's, basal usage declined as reading programs began to turn to whole language programs that relied more heavily on trade books, rather than textbooks. The 1990's and early years of the 21st century have seen a renewed interest in skills acquisition which has sparked a resurgence in basal dominance.
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