In 1864, Pronouncing Orthography was released as a simplified version of traditional English orthography to help children learn to read more quickly and easily; it became widely adopted by the United States public school system and incorporated into most basal reading schemes of the time. It aimed to improve literacy education by eliminating the irregularities of conventional English orthography and adhering to the alphabetic principle, wherein every letter represented a specific sound. This allowed children to read words by combining elementary sounds using phonics.
William Torrey Harris promoted Pronouncing Orthography after its invention by Dr Edwin Leigh who was inspired by another orthography called Phonotypy. This method resulted in children learning to read approximately 12 months faster than with traditional English orthography.
Children who used this method became self-reliant, diligent, and happy learners. When they transitioned back to traditional English orthography, they were better at spelling and became logical and analytical thinkers instead of relying on learning by rote. Teachers who used the method preferred it over conventional teaching.
Etymology
Although Pronouncing Orthography was the formal name of the new orthography, publishers and educationists recognised that many people did not know what an orthography was; consequently, it was known by many different names, including: – Leigh Print, Leigh's Phonetic Type, Leigh's Phonetic Method, Leigh's Pronouncing Edition of... after Dr Edwin Leigh, who devised the new orthography. It was also sometimes known as Phonetic Orthography.
Purpose
Pronouncing Orthography was used to teach literacy; children were taught to read and write in a phonemic orthography and then transitioned to conventional English orthography. The concept originated when a predecessor, orthography, English Phonotypic Alphabet aka Phonotypy, was trialled to teach literacy and promote orthographic reform. Surprisingly, the newly literate transitioned effortlessly to conventional English, so the pedagogical theory developed that the best way to teach literacy was through an interim phonemic orthography. To this purpose, many orthographies have been developed and trialled, but only three have been widely adopted by public school systems, and these are: – Phonotypy (1845), Pronouncing Orthography (1864) and the Initial Teaching Alphabet (1960).
Background
Causes of poor literacy
The idea that the phonemic irregularity of the English language was a major cause of the poor levels of literacy in the English-speaking world had been well established in the mid-19th century by works such as Alexander John Ellis's treatise Plea for Phonetic Spelling, or the Necessity of Orthographic Reform, in 1848. Dr Edwin Leigh himself published a report quantifying the levels of illiteracy in the United States, which he used to advocate for his Pronouncing Orthography.
Precedent
Dr Edwin Leigh enthusiastically adopted Phonotypy as soon as it was published, so in 1846, he taught his daughter to read using Phonotypy; then, in 1849, he taught a class of fugitive slaves in Boston, which led him to set up the Boston phonetic school in 1850 which he used as a springboard to introduce phonetic teaching into the schools of Somerville, Massachusetts. In 1859, he used Phonotypy in evening classes to teach illiterate adults in St Louis, Missouri, where he tried unsuccessfully to introduce Phonotypy into the public school system.
Successor
Leigh was convinced of the efficacy of Phonotypy as a tool to teach literacy but realised that parents, teachers and school district officials were sceptical as they could not read the writing used by their children. Leigh was aware that Phonotypy had been designed for a multiplicity of purposes, but it was never designed to be a transitory mechanism towards literacy. Leigh reasoned that a much simpler interim teaching orthography was needed to improve literacy, which closely resembled standard English orthography for acceptance. Consequently, Leigh spent 20 years designing and refining his own interim teaching orthography.
Introduction
Leigh published his design of Pronouncing Orthography in a pamphlet in 1864, which he then promoted in learned education journals and through touring lectures. Leigh trialled the orthography in a school within his own school district of St Louis in 1866 and published the successful results. Gradually, publishers of the popular basal reading schemes released versions of their reading books in Pronouncing Orthography in tandem with school districts adopting the method, who in return vouched for its success in their annual reports.
Teaching materials
Basal reading schemes
Reading was taught in the United States of America during the mid-19th century using popular basal reading schemes consisting of primers & readers. The majority of which were re-published in Leigh's Pronouncing Orthography, and are listed below:
| Author | Co-Author | Editor | Title | Year | View | Cite |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| G.S. Hillard | - | E. Leigh | Hillard's Primer. Edited in Pronouncing Orthography. | 1866 | Link | |
| G.S. Hillard | L.J. Campbell | E. Leigh | Leigh's Hillard's Second Reader, in Pronouncing Orthography | 1868 | - | |
| G.S. Hillard | L.J. Campbell | E. Leigh | Franklin Primer or First Reader – Leigh's Pronouncing Edition | 1873 | Link | |
| G.S. Hillard | L.J. Campbell | E. Leigh | Franklin Second Reader – Leigh's Pronouncing Edition | 1873 | Link | |
| - | - | E. Leigh | The Graded First Reader. Edited in Pronouncing Orthography. | 1874 | ||
| - | - | E. Leigh | The Graded Second Reader. Edited in [Leigh's] pronouncing orthography. | 1875 | ||
| J.R. Edwards | - | E. Leigh | Analytical First Reader. Edited in Pronouncing Orthography. | 1864 | - | |
| F.A. March | - | E. Leigh | March's A-B-C book | 1881 | - | |
| W.H. McGuffey | - | E. Leigh | Leigh's McGuffey's New Primary Reader in Pronouncing Orthography | 1864 | - | |
| W.H. McGuffey | - | E. Leigh | Leigh's McGuffey's New Eclectic Primer in Pronouncing Orthography. | 1868 | - | |
| L.B. Monroe | - | E. Leigh | The First Reader. Edited in Pronouncing Orthography by Edwin Leigh. | 1864 | ||
| Y. Sargent | - | E. Leigh | Sargent's Standard Primer. Edited in Pronouncing Orthography. | 1866 | - | |
| C.W. Sanders | - | E. Leigh | Leigh's Sanders' Union Pictorial Primer, in Pronouncing Orthography | 1868 | - | |
| C.W. Sanders | - | E. Leigh | Leigh's Sanders' Union Reader, Number one, for Primary Schools and Families | 1868 | - | |
| J.M. Watson | - | E. Leigh | Leigh's Watson's National School Primer in Pronouncing Orthography. | 1867 | - | |
| J.M. Watson | - | E. Leigh | Independent 1st–6th Reader. Edited in Pronouncing Orthography by Edwin Leigh. | 1867 | - |
PDFs
- 1st Graded Reader; – Part I, Part II, Part III, Part IV
- 2nd Graded Reader; – Part I, Part II, Part III, Part IV
- Monroe's Reader; – Part I, Part II, Part III, Part IV
Bible
In the mid-19th century, the bible was extensively read by children in schools; as such, Leigh translated two gospels into Pronouncing Orthography: –
- The Gospel According to Luke, reprinted in Pronouncing Orthography by Edwin Leigh; – Link
- The Gospel According to John, reprinted in Pronouncing Orthography by Edwin Leigh; – Link
Teaching methods
Leigh simply converted existing basal reading schemes to Pronouncing Orthography for expediency. The existing basal schemes were orientated towards various methods, including the phonetic and word methods or combinations of the two. Hence, he was agnostic about how teachers taught literacy as he presumed the benefits of phonetic understanding would be secured by simply using his orthography regardless of how it was taught.
Conversely, the principal advocates of Pronouncing Orthography, superintendents William Torrey Harris of St Louis and John Philbrick of Boston, were both adamant proponents of the phonetic method; they merely considered Pronouncing Orthography as a useful tool in support of phonetic teaching. Other school districts such as New York, followed Leigh's guidance and allowed Pronouncing Orthography to be taught with different methods, but even here, by 1872–73, it was concluded by assistant superintendent Calkins that the phonetic method was superior.
Advantages
Over the period of its usage, Pronouncing Orthography was assessed in education journals, and in reports of the American public school system, where the following advantages were documented: –
- Children learnt to read at least six to twelve months faster.
- Children were better spellers after transitioning to conventional English orthography
- Children were happier as they gained independence from teachers and became self-reliant
- Children spoke with clear articulation and more eloquently after using Pronouncing Orthography
- Teachers who had tried Pronouncing Orthography preferred it to conventional orthography.
- Most importantly of all, children learnt to think logically. William Torey Harris described this further: –
It is desirable that the child who is just commencing his education should have something consistent and logical, methodical and philosophical to employ his mind upon rather than something without either analogy or system for these first impressions have the power to change and fix the whole bent of the mind...[Superintendent William Torrey Harris]
The 1878 Boston headmaster survey demonstrated that as schools gained experience of using Pronouncing Orthography so they became in-favour of its use.
| Headmaster Survey of 1878 | In-Favour | Undecided | Opposed |
|---|---|---|---|
| > 5 Years Experience of Pronouncing Orthography | 15 | 0 | 0 |
| < 2 Years Experience of Pronouncing Orthography | 1 | 3 | 1 |
- In-Favour
- Undecided
- Opposed
Awards
At the Vienna Exposition of 1873, Dr Edwin Leigh was awarded the Medal of Progress as a recognition of merit for his invention of Pronouncing Orthography.
Design philosophy
Phonemic orthography
As with all phonemic orthographies, the principal objective of Leigh's new orthography was to enable children to correctly convert written words to speech regardless of whether the child was pre-acquainted with a particular word or not. A child can quickly and easily learn to read by knowing a consistent set of rules that convert letters to sounds. In contrast, standard English orthography's myriad rules and exceptions made this difficult.
Familiarity with standard orthography
Secondly, Leigh wanted to avoid prejudice similar to that encountered against phonotypy in St. Louis by making his new orthography familiar to standard English orthography, so the Latin alphabet and spelling conventions were fully retained. Instead, Leigh introduced phonetic regularity by making silent letters in words faint, so children were aware they should be ignored. Leigh also subtly embellished other letters so children were explicitly aware of the sound made by those vocal letters. In this way, Leigh hoped that the familiarity of the new orthography would persuade the detractors to accept the new orthography whilst children would still see through this veneer to read with phonetic clarity.
Elocution
The desire to speak eloquently and, in particular, to have correct received pronunciation was common in Britain and America during the 19th century, with the study of English orthoepy at its zenith. One feature of phonetic orthographies was that they converted written words into a single consistent form of pronunciation, which would often differ from the pronunciations used by people with different accents or regional dialects. In the 19th century, this feature of phonetic orthographies was considered a great benefit as children would learn new words in received pronunciation. To this end, Leigh utilised the pronouncing dictionaries of John Walker & Benjamin Humphrey Smart, two of the leading orthoepists of the time to ensure his orthography resulted in correct pronunciation. To emphasise this objective, Leigh called his new orthography, Pronouncing Orthography.
Writing
Controversially, Leigh separated learning to read from learning to write; he described his position in his report to the Boston school committee: –
As to script, I stated my own conviction that it has no proper connection with learning to read and my desire to know from the writing master whether the habits formed by such writing of such words on the slate by so young learners will not have a bad influence upon their future handwriting and whether they will not acquire the art better at a later period and by exercises designed specially for the acquisition of good habits and skill in penmanship....[Dr Edwin Leigh]
Leigh also had no hand-written script versions of his letters because he relied on small, subtle embellishments to letters which were identifiable in print but unrecognisable in children's hand-writing. Leigh suggested children should learn to read using his orthography and then transition to standard English orthography, where they would learn to write.
Compromises
In reality, Leigh's orthography did not lend itself to writing because of the asymmetrical application of the alphabetical principle. So every letter (grapheme) equated to a single sound (phoneme), allowing children to read with absolute certainty, but every sound (phoneme) equated to a multitude of possible letters (graphemes), meaning children would not know with certainty how to write an unfamiliar word. This was necessary to keep words written in Pronouncing Orthography resembling those in conventional English orthography.
Segmentation of sounds
Leigh considered the sequence in which Pronouncing Orthography could be taught when he segmented letter sounds into four utterance categories: –
- Category I – Letter sounds most commonly uttered (99% of instances)
- Category II – Letter sounds which occur once in every two hundred utterances (0.5% of instances)
- Category III – Letter sounds which occur once in every thousand utterances (0.1% of instances)
- Category IV – Letter sounds which occur once in every four thousand utterances (0.025% of instances)
He suggested avoiding teaching category IV sounds using Pronouncing Orthography and instead waiting until the child has transitioned to conventional orthography, whilst the other categories are taught in sequence.
Discontinuation
Pronouncing Orthography started to gradually fall into disuse in the later part of the 1870s and into the 1880s for two main reasons: –
Prejudice
Most people initially learnt to read in early childhood. Subsequently, they read naturally through automaticity in reading, so by adulthood, they were unaware of the complex and abstract nature of learning literacy. Instead, most people had a preconceived notion that learning to read should be a simplistic activity based on reading aloud basic primers with children. When faced with an alternate orthography that many found bewildering and explanations from educationalists they could not comprehend, many people became adamantly opposed, often using anti-intellectual arguments against the evidence.
Discontinuance at Boston
In 1879, the new Superintendent, Samuel Elliott, withdrew Leigh's Pronouncing Orthography, documenting his prejudicial reasons: –
If the child's home is one which has its books, the use of them will not prepare him for the primer which we put into his hands. It is unlike the nursery stories which he has been looking at, if not reading; it has a strange look, particularly on the inside, where characters he has never seen stare at him out of nearly every line... but the strangeness of any book at all is almost stupefying...[Superintendent Samuel Eliot]
Discontinuance at New York
In New York, there was external pressure from outside the school system from people who did not understand the concept of Pronouncing Orthography and considered it complex, expensive and an unnecessary ornamental branch of education. The New York Board of Education bowed to this pressure despite their previous acknowledgement of the superiority of Pronouncing Orthography.
Pedagogical challenge
The prevailing pedagogical theory that teaching literacy was best achieved through using an intermediate phonemic orthography was challenged by an educationalist named George L. Farnham, who had sponsored the use of Phonotypy to teach literacy in Syracuse, New York. Upon its initial success, he became a staunch advocate but subsequently noticed the main deficiency in the method; this was that children learned to read too quickly and failed to comprehend meaning. To address this perceived problem, Farnham invented the Sentence Method, which he published in 1881, and widely promoted in the learned educational journals of the time. In modern times, the method has been completely discredited.
Teaching usage
Leigh's Pronunciation Orthography became widely adopted in America in the late 1860s. The American public school system was publicly funded so was obliged to keep records, consequently, some public school boards published a detailed account of the usage of Pronouncing Orthography, in particular: St Louis, Missouri, Boston, New York and Washington.
St Louis, Missouri
Dr Edwin Leigh was closely associated with the St Louis public school system, having served as a teacher for seven years. In 1866, Leigh trialled his Pronouncing Orthography in Clay School, where Miss Helen Smith, a recently qualified teacher, carried out a controlled experiment in which she taught two classes, one in pronouncing orthography and the other in standard orthography, allowing a like-for-like comparison. The result was spectacular with children taught in Pronouncing Orthography pulling 3 quarters ahead of those taught in conventional orthography.
William Torrey Harris had been the principal at Clay School during the trial and was later promoted to superintendent of St Louis public schools. Having seen the results of the new method first-hand, he reported upon the marked improvement in children's articulation and spelling and the fact they learnt to read quickly using this method. Based on this success, the St. Louis Board of Education sanctioned the city-wide adoption of the new phonetic system from the 1867–1868 academic year. Harris, summarised the effect of this decision: –
The introduction of Leigh's Phonetic System into all of the primary departments was followed by better results than could have been anticipated ... the sequel showed that pupils taught by the new system were far in advance of those taught the same length of time by the old plan....[Superintendent William Torrey Harris]
Throughout his tenure as the Superintendent, Harris advocated for the superiority of Leigh's Pronouncing Orthography and the general advantage of phonetic teaching methods. In 1873, Harris reported that the new method had spread to the main cities of America: – New York, Washington and Boston, as well as other cities in the West. Subsequently, in response to ongoing enquiries from around the country, Harris published a full report on the method in 1877. Harris's successor, Edward Long, continued to use Leigh's method but was not a vocal advocate; in 1884, he stopped reporting on the methods and materials used to teach children literacy, so it is not known when Pronouncing Orthography stopped being used but was definitively used for at least 16 years in St Louis.
Boston, Massachusetts
Dr Edwin Leigh also had close associations with the Boston school system. In the 1867–68 academic year, the Boston Board of Education introduced Leigh's phonic system of teaching the first steps to reading. Some of Boston's teachers had already become acquainted with the method through their teacher training, so they immediately adopted the system and started to report excellent results from this first use.
John Philbrick was the Superintendent of Boston's public schools. He recognised both the importance and the difficulty of initially learning to read. Philbrick strongly advocated phonetics as the best method to teach literacy to children and considered Leigh's print an ingenious contrivance for facilitating the teaching of this method. In 1870, Philbrick described the extraordinary results from using the new method: –
Such results in teaching the first steps in reading I had never before witnessed in any school whatever, and they certainly afford strong evidence in favor of the new pronouncing type. I am happy to be able to put in this evidence in favor of the pronouncing type which Dr. Leigh has taken so much pains to perfect and make known....[Superintendent John Philbrick]
Philbrick continued to advocate for Leigh's Pronouncing Orthography until he relinquished his position as Superintendent to Samuel Elliott in the academic year 1877–78. In his final Superintendent's report (1877–78), Philbrick published an influential closing report, summarising the outcomes from using Pronouncing Orthography.
New York, New York
Leigh's Pronouncing Orthography was trialled in some New York schools in the academic year 1869–1870. The following year the trial was hailed a success, and all New York schools were permitted to adopt the scheme with their choosing. The Superintendent and his assistants continued to report on the success of Leigh's method in the subsequent years.
Washington, District of Columbia
In 1871, The board of trustees of Washington public schools initiated a new course of study where Leigh's Pronouncing Orthography through Hillard's Primer & Second Readers were mandated along with Leigh's Sound Charts.
Citations
- New York Board of Education 1870, pp. 150–151.
- Leigh 1875, p. Cover.
- St Louis Board of Education 1869, pp. 95–99.
- Hill, Thomas (1856-07-03). "Phonotypy as a Reading Reform". The Four Ways of Teaching to Read: An Address Delivered Before the Ohio Teachers' Association, July 3rd, 1856. Cincinnati: Longley Brothers. pp. 14–15.
- Withers 1874, pp. 59–76, Section (4) English Spelled as Pronounced, a Means of Attaining the Present Reading and Spelling more easily. Experiments in Teaching.
- Bothe 1967, pp. 1–6, Part I – Introduction"...These two initial reading media (Phonotypy & Pronouncing Orthography) were the most widely known systems in the United States during the last century. There were others in existence, but the above mentioned were the media chosen for the major experimental trials discussed here. Other transitional alphabets did not have as much support, which is evident in that they were not used for large-scale experiments with initial reading media."
- Pitman 1969.
- Alexander John Ellis 1848, pp. 1–195.
- Barnard 1870, p. 144.
- St Louis Board of Education 1869, pp. 95–98.
- Leigh 1864, p. 4, Edwin Leigh's Own Experiences.
- Leigh 1864, p. 3, Reasons Phonotypy has failed to succeed.
- Leigh 1864, pp. 2–3, Reasons Phonotypy failed to succeed and remediations.
- Leigh 1864.
- Venezky 1990, pp. 4–5, Reference Bibliography.
- Hillard 1866, p. 1.
- Hillard & Campbell 1868.
- Campbell 1873i.
- Campbell & 1873ii.
- Leigh 1874.
- Leigh 1875.
- Edwards 1864.
- March 1881.
- McGuffey 1864.
- McGuffey 1868.
- Monroe 1864.
- Venezky 1990, p. 4.
- Sargent 1866...cited in pp. 4–5 "American Primers, Guide to the Microfiche Collection" by Richard Venezky
- Sanders 1868a.
- Sanders 1868b...cited in pp. 45 "American Primers, Guide to the Microfiche Collection" by Richard Venezky
- Watson 1867i...cited in pp. 4–5 "American Primers, Guide to the Microfiche Collection" by Richard Venezky
- Venezky 1990, pp. 4–5.
- Watson & 1867ii...cited in pp. 4–5 "American Primers, Guide to the Microfiche Collection" by Richard Venezky
- St Luke 1877.
- St John 1873.
- Hillard 1866, pp. 1–7, Teachers Notes"...To the Teacher: – (1) The A B C Method of teaching is discredited and discouraged. (2) The use of the Word Method with Pronouncing Orthography is described. (3) The importance of Object Teaching to teach meaning is stressed. (4) A note explains that The Phonics is known as The Phonetic Method. (5) A detailed description of the use of the Phonetic Method with Pronouncing Orthography is explained."
- Leigh 1864, p. 6b"..V. To retain the best features of the different modes of teaching to read and spell, now in use and most approved. This on the above plan, can be fully done, and yet all the advantages of the phonetic method secured to the teacher and learner."
- New York Board of Education 1873, pp. 293–294...But the most successful plan of using this print appears to be that of presenting the word first as a sign of a spoken word then to teach the characters or letters used to represent the sounds of the spoken word to the sight then the spelling by letters. For instance the word "fan" may be spoken by the teacher and repeated by the pupils as the name of a familiar object then the word printed on the blackboard using Dr Leigh's form of "a" for the short sound then the sounds heard when the word is spoken are made separately. Next the form of the characters or letters that represent these sounds are taught afterward the word is sounded "f a n" then spelled by letter "f-a-n – fan".
- Weightman 1878.
- Stearns 1868.
- Lonfellow & Cragin 1876.
- St Louis Board of Education 1877, p. 227, Superintendent's Report...(Pronouncing Orthography resulted in)...I. Gain in time a saving of one year out of the two years usually occupied in learning to call off easy words at sight.
- Harris 1878, p. 101...It has been demonstrated by actual experiment that children will learn to spell the English language far more correctly, and in one half the time by first learning to read in the phonetic way (using Pronouncing Orthography), which can be done in a few days. Dr. Stone of Boston proved this several times.
- Kriege 1876, p. 149...the pupil is enabled to find out the pronunciation of words himself, and is not dependent on the teacher after he has mastered the sign except for a little aid and encouragement. This gives a sense of self-reliance and gratification in discovery.
- Leigh 1869, p. 6b...But the best of all was the demonstration that the imperfections in articulation ... can be completely eradicated by that thorough drill upon elementary sounds which is rendered necessary in teaching the phonetic primer.
- Leigh 1878, p. 195, The Boston Masters and Leigh Type.
- St Louis Board of Education 1869, p. 98b, Superintendent's Report...With these considerations, the fact will not seem strange that pupils who are taught to read phonetically make better arithmetic and grammar scholars and are more wide awake and attentive and have finer discrimination – in short are more distinguished in those traits of mind that flow from analytic training.
- St Louis Board of Education 1877, pp. 225–227...It is desirable that the child who is just commencing his education should have something consistent and logical, methodical and philosophical to employ his mind upon rather than something without either analogy or system for these first impressions have sometimes the power to change and fix the whole bent of the mind.
- Numismatics 1873.
- Boston Board of Education 1877, p. 57, Superintendent's Report...At the Vienna Exhibition the merit of his (Leigh's) invention was recognised by the award of the Medal of Progress, – the highest grade of medal bestowed.
- Stearns 1868, pp. 458–461, Dr Leigh's Phonetic Printing...The advantages claimed for the use of this type (Leigh's Pronouncing Orthography) in teaching to read are thus claimed: – 1st, the same letter has always the same sound; there is no confusion from contradictory teaching (as there is "do", "go", "on" etc.) which aids the memory and awakens an intelligent interest in the pupil. 2nd, The child can use the letters, they guide him with certainty to the right sound. He can help himself and be independent; this he loves and it does him good. 3rd, the constant presence in every word in the lesson of letters guiding to the right sounds, forms and fixes the habit of giving each sound correctly and distinctly.
- Leigh 1864, p. 6i, Main features of plan...II. To retain and print the established orthography in full.
- Leigh 1864, p. 6ii, Main features of plan...III To distinguish silent letters by a peculiar (or lighter faced) type of the same form as the rest, and just different (or light), enough to be distinct, while the form of the word, or word picture is retained uninjured.
- Leigh 1864, p. 6iii, Main features of plan...IV To distinguish the different sounds by modifications of the common letters, keeping ever the view the harmony of our English print; and to preserve, as much as possible, the present general appearance of each letter, word and page.
- Leigh 1864, p. 1, The main features of the plan...VI. To express, the deliberate, syllabic pronunciations and not the careless, and variously modified utterances of normal speech.
- Leigh 1864, p. 6, Main Features of Plan...VII. To follow our two great American orthoepists as far as they guide us; and (where they fail,) to consult Smart and Walker, especially in the case of unaccented syllables.
- Boston Board of Education 1877, p. 64, Edwin Leigh's Report...As to script, I stated my own conviction that it has no proper connection with learning to read and my desire to know from the writing master whether the habits formed by such writing of such words on the slate by so young learners will not have a bad influence upon their future handwriting and whether they will not acquire the art better at a later period and by exercises designed specially for the acquisition of good habits and skill in penmanship
- Soldan 1878, p. 1.
- Soldan 1878, p. 179.
- Leigh 1864, pp. 7–8, Segmentation of Letter Sounds.
- Boston Board of Education 1879, pp. 181–182 (overall report), 11–12 (Superintendent's Report).
- Boston Board of Education 1879, p. 12...Here we fall into the error of putting the parts before the whole... but only to submit to the tyranny of their sounds.
- New York Board of Education 1876, pp. 123–124.
- Farnham, George L. (1887). The sentence method of teaching reading, writing, and spelling : A manual for teachers. University of California Libraries. Syracuse, N. Y. : C. W. Bardeen.
- Farnham 1880i.
- Farnham & 1880ii.
- Ape, Reading (2023-01-23). "A (not very short) history of reading..." mysite. Retrieved 2024-02-24.
...The results of the (Sentence Method) experiments were chronically invalid. Children who had been taught by his method were doing no more than reciting a learned script where all the stresses and syntax had been drilled to perfection. They were being compared to children who were decoding unseen text using phonic strategies and who had not reached automaticity, along with children who had been taught the word method and were encountering some words that they had not yet memorised. In terms of the spelling and writing, Farnham's charges were merely encoding a script they had learned to spell and write to perfection. Nevertheless, the results were taken on face value and the sentence method became an established part of elementary teacher instruction in the eastern United States training colleges.
- St Louis Board of Education 1867, p. lxxii, List of teachers in the St Louis public schools and their residences August 29, 1859..."EDWIN LEIGH Assistant to the Principle of 66 Chesnut West of 11th Street"
- Leigh 1869, pp. 5–6.
- Leigh 1869, p. 6...The class that used Leigh's Primer have a surprising degree of accuracy in distinguishing slight shades of different pronunciation, and can readily analyze any word into its elementary sounds, and spell it with its correct letters.
- St louis Board of Education 1867, pp. 56–57, Report of the Assistant Superintendent (William Torrey Harris)" The introduction of this system at the Clay School the use of a primer printed in modified type proved to be productive of the most satisfactory results The class that finished it made very rapid progress in learning to spell in the common orthography after they were transferred to the ordinary type in the First Reader But the best of all was the demonstration that the imperfections of articulation and the provincialisms of pronunciation current here can be completely eradicated by that thorough drill upon elementary sounds which is rendered necessary in teaching the Phonetic Primer Besides it was shown that this can all be done in less than the time required for completing the same text book in the ordinary type!"
- St Louis Board of Education 1867, p. 57, Report of the Assistant Superintendent (William Torrey Harris)It is therefore anticipated that the action of the Board by which the phonetic system has been adopted for the ensuing year in the seventh grade throughout the city will prove of great utility Before leaving the subject.
- St Louis Board of Education 1868, p. 97.
- St Louis Board of Education 1870, pp. 165–166.
- St Louis Board of Education 1871, pp. 182–184.
- St Louis Board of Education 1872, p. 151.
- St Louis Board of Education 1873, pp. 182–184.
- St Louis Board of Education 1875, p. cxc.
- St Louis Board of Education 1876, p. 1.
- St Louis Board of Education 1878, p. 197.
- St Louis Board of Education 1879, p. 262.
- St Louis Board of Education 1874, p. 53.
- St Louis Board of Education 1877, pp. 225–228.
- St Louis Board of Education 1883, p. 347.
- Boston Board of Education 1868, p. 141About a year ago, an order was passed by the Board authorizing the District Committees to introduce into the schools of their respective districts Leigh's Phonic System of teaching the first steps of reading. The Committee of the Lincoln District immediately availed themselves of this authority, in accordance with the desire of the master and of the teachers of the lowest classes of the Primary Schools, who had acquired a practical knowledge of this method in the Training School, where it has been taught for two years. The result of the year's experiment is considered very satisfactory. The pupils have made rapid progress in calling words at sight, and in accurate and distinct pronunciation.
- Boston Board of Education 1869, p. 170.
- Boston Board of Education 1869, p. 171, Superintendent's Report" The method which they recommended is substantially the same as that now practised by most of our Primary teachers. It is what we call the phonic method. It consists in teaching the pronunciation of words by means of the sounds of the individual letters and of certain combinations of two or more letters. The phonic 'print invented by Dr Leigh, is an ingenious contrivance for facilitating the teaching of this method. Leigh's phonic charts and readers have been used in the schools of several districts with marked success. In one school I found extraordinary results produced by a skilful application of the phonic method."
- Boston Board of Education 1870, p. 147.
- Boston Board of Education 1871, pp. 7–9.
- Boston Board of Education 1872, pp. 46–47.
- Boston Board of Education 1873, p. 84.
- Boston Board of Education 1874, p. 1.
- Boston Board of Education 1875, p. 77.
- Boston Board of Education 1876, p. 251.
- Boston Board of Education 1877, pp. 55–64.
- Boston Board of Education 1877, pp. 55–64, Closing Report – Summarising the Results from using Pronouncing Orthography.
- New York Board of Education 1871, p. 217.
- New York Board of Education 1872, p. 1.
- New York Board of Education 1873, p. 1.
- Washington Board of Trustees 1871.
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