Commercial Reading Materials, a Technological Ideology, and the Deskilling of Teachers

The role of commercial materials in reading instruction is examined through analyses of expert opinion and of research on reading instruction, a series of investigations concerning teachers' and administrators' conceptions of reading and reading instruction, and a critical evaluation of the language and underlying tenets of recent writing on effective reading instruction. A case is presented that suggests that on the whole reading experts have encouraged the use of commercial reading materials as the method to incorporate scientifically valid procedures and business principles into classroom instruction. To examine the effect of these procedures and principles on reading programs, the results of 4 studies are summarized to suggest that the organization of reading instruction around commercial materials has reduced teachers' and students' roles in that instruction and to explain teachers' reaction to this reduced role. Recent writing about effective reading instruction is discussed in terms of the new skills required in this reduced role. Suggestions are made concerning how individual teachers might channel their reactions to business and scientific principles and their reduced role during reading instruction into action for constructive change.