Abstract of

On the Use and Misuse of Research Evidence: Decoding Two States' Reading Initiatives

Mark Dressman

This study investigates the claims of scientific objectivity that support recent changes in policies toward early literacy instruction in the states of Texas and California. According to recent reading initiatives in both states, conclusive findings in literacy research, particularly in the area of phonemic/phonological awareness (PPA), now mandate state policies of explicit, systematic instruction in phonics and the use of phonetically regular texts in early grades. A framework suggested by Habermas's (1987) Theory of Communicative Action was used to assess the validity of this claim, through the analysis of 10 major studies of PPA, 2 seminal reviews of early literacy research, and 2 policy documents. Close analysis of these texts generally supported the objective claims for PPA research but challenged the poor performance of minority and low-socioeconomic status (SES) populations on tests of PPA on the grounds that differences in the norms of those populations' phonological systems may bias test results. Additionally, objectively referenced claims made in two major research reviews that the poor performance of nonmain-stream students on tests of PPA and reading achievement are linked to the social or genetic inferiority of the students' families and communities appeared to be grounded in untested and unacknowledged normative assumptions about the home lives and genetic backgrounds of children who struggle to learn to read. A concluding analysis of the two states' curricular policy statements found them to be highly selective in their use of research evidence and, from a Habermasian perspective, more strategic than communicative in their orientation and intent.

Abstract from Dressman, M. (1999). On the Use and Misuse of Research Evidence: Decoding Two States' Reading Initiatives. Reading Research Quarterly, 34(3), 258–285. doi: 10.1598/RRQ.34.3.2