AUTOMATION AND READING: A PERSPECTIVE

In this article, the author seeks to describe and evaluate the effectiveness of automated instruction by stressing the need for education to take a neu ' look at technology. Following a definition of instructional technology, the author dis-cusses the problem of reading and automation as one of perspective. Additional research evidence is presented and definition and utilization problems are discussed as support for consideration of automation as part of our educational program. Automation is certainly not new, but only now seems to be making noticeable inroads into the field of reading and education in general. In the past all machines were relegated to the "supplemental-material" ranks and regarded only as reinforcement tools. Today many producers of automated materials claim to have "teaching " programs. The range of those programs advertised as "instructional " has caused the International Reading Association (IRA) to set up a committee charged primarily with defining automated instruction. Thus far the committee seems to have limited most of its definition process to the ruling out of any materials which are not fully inde-pendent, student-operable instruction. If there is any requirement for teacher-aid, this committee seems ready to exclude material from the ranks of "automated " instruction, and by inference suggests non-purchase. IRA is not the only organization looking at automation or instruc