Why Jacques, Johann and Jan CAN Read

This book reports the author's oral reading accuracy research on over 900 second graders in five languages in the United States and Europe in 1977-1978 The data showed that teaching beginning reading by sight-word "meaning" or by phonic "sound" had developed diametrically opposite types of readers, with relative mixtures falling in between. The data also proved that teaching beginning reading by sight-word "meaning" instead of by phonic "sound" had not only produced inaccurate oral reading but had damaged so-called reading comprehension. Therefore, so-called reading comprehension, instead of being the supposed Crown Jewel of the sight-word "meaning" method, turned out to be its Achilles Heel.