Teaching Reading -- a History (part 1)

Teaching Reading - a History, by Robert McCole Wilson --- illustration:

Fred J. Schonell and his wife, Eleanor, were influential in developmental and special education in Britain and the Commonwealth from the 1930s to the 1950s. Between them, they authored or coauthored approximately 150 publications.

from The Happy Venture Readers
Oliver and Boyd Ltd., Edinburgh, 1950.

Fred J. Schonell and Irene Serjeant,
Introductory Book -- Fluff and Nip

from the Preface:

THIS series of Readers is the result of extensive experiment, and combines the merits of both the phonic and sentence methods of teaching reading. To allow the child to make full use of content and to develop a normal eye-span, so necessary for fluency and comprehension, the approach is made primarily from the stand-point of the sentence-method; but the importance of phonics is given due recognition. Irregular words are set in a matrix of regular words introducing common phonic units.

[...] The vocabulary burden is light, with good sequence and proper interest. Adequate repetition of new words in different contexts is provided ; thus, in the first three books the new words are 43, 61, and 95 respectively, giving an average of something less than 2 new words per page of reading matter.

[...] In this, the INTRODUCTORY BOOK, there is a minimum of text in bold, clear type with a maximum of pictures to help word recognition. The book should be used to develop non-analytic reading through liberal aid with words and phrases.