Why Johnny Can't Read

	Title page for Why Johnny Can't Read—And What You Can Do About It (1955)
Author	Rudolf Flesch
Subject	Literacy, American education
Publisher	Harper and Brothers
Publication date	1955
Pages	222
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Why Johnny Can't Read—And What You Can Do About It is a 1955 book-length exposé of American reading education by Rudolf Flesch. It was an immediate bestseller for 37 weeks and became an educational cause célèbre.^[1] In the book, the author concluded that the "(look-say)" method (memorization of whole words by sight) was ineffective because it lacked proper phonics training. Additionally, Flesch was critical of the simple stories and limited text and vocabulary of the Dick and Jane style readers that taught students to read by memorization of words.^[2] Flesch also believed that the look-say method did not properly prepare students to read more complex materials in later grade levels.^[3]^[4] There was thereafter multiple spin off for other languages or contexts.^[5]

References

^ Hall 1956, pp. 310–311.
^ "The Victims of Dick and Jane". September 2002.
^ "Reading with and Without Dick and Jane: The Politics of Literacy in c20 America".
^ "Why Johnny Still Can't Read -- and What to do About It". Forbes. Archived from the original on May 22, 2018.
^ De Francis, John (1963) [1963]. "Why Johnny can't read Chinese". Journal of the Chinese Language Teachers Association. 1 (1). Yale University Press (published 1965): 1–20.

Bibliography

Hall, Robert A. (1956). "Review of Why Johnny Can't Read—And What You Can Do about It". Language. 32 (2): 310–313. doi:10.2307/411011. ISSN 0097-8507. JSTOR 411011.

"Education: Why Johnny Can't Read". Time. March 14, 1955. ISSN 0040-781X.
Friedman, Ian C. (2004). Education Reform. New York, NY: Facts On File. p. 23. ISBN 978-0-8160-4962-2. OCLC 248886041.
Golub, Adam (2015). "Solving the School Crisis in Popular Culture: Why Johnny Cant Read Turns 60". Ethos Review. 2 (1).
Robinson, Helen M. (1955). "Review of Why Johnny Can't Read-And What You Can Do about It". The Elementary School Journal. 56 (2): 9192. doi:10.1086/459420. ISSN 0013-5984. JSTOR 999438.

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[FOOTNOTEHall1956310–311-1] Hall 1956, pp. 310–311.

[2] "The Victims of Dick and Jane". September 2002.

[3] "Reading with and Without Dick and Jane: The Politics of Literacy in c20 America".

[4] "Why Johnny Still Can't Read -- and What to do About It". Forbes. Archived from the original on May 22, 2018.

[5] De Francis, John (1963) [1963]. "Why Johnny can't read Chinese". Journal of the Chinese Language Teachers Association. 1 (1). Yale University Press (published 1965): 1–20.

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Title page for Why Johnny Can't Read—And What You Can Do About It (1955)
Author	Rudolf Flesch
Subject	Literacy, American education
Publisher	Harper and Brothers
Publication date	1955
Pages	222