The Nature of Literacy: An Historical Exploration

1977/09/01 by Daniel P. Resnick, Lauren Β. Resnick · 3 citations
Psychology · Social Sciences · #Reading and Literacy Development #Education and Technology Integration

paper · doi:10.17763/haer.47.3.27263381g038222w

openalex publication_date 1977/09/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/06/11

Abstract

In this article Daniel and Lauren Resnick bring an historical perspective to the present debate over reading achievement. From an historical examination of selected European and American models of literacy, they conclude that reading instruction has been aimed at attaining either a low level of literacy for a large number of people or a high level for an elite. Thus, the contemporary expectation—high levels of literacy for the entire population—represents a relatively recent development. From this stance the Resnicks argue that, contrary to the thrust of the

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• Literacy and Reading Performance in the United States, from 1880 to the Present
• Literacy and labour: The Russian literacy campaign within the trade unions, 1923–27
• Literacy in the United States [wikipedia]