Abstract:

The aim of this theoretical study is to situate how reading comprehension instruction has been handled and transformed based on different educational theories, approaches and models within a historical framework. In the study, reading comprehension instruction is examined in three periods which are the pre-1975 period in which the behaviorist theory was dominant; the period between 1975 and 1990 in which the cognitive approach, information processing theory and socio-cultural approach were effective; and finally the post-1990 period in which literature theory, reader-response theory and cultural theory were prominent. It is considered that such a historical perspective will contribute to expand the vision of reading on the subject, to see that the roots of current practices and research are a heritage dating back to the past, and to approach the analysis of current problems in reading comprehension instruction from different dimensions. As a result of the study, it was seen that reading comprehension instruction followed a process evolving towards the physiological, psychological and sociological one, respectively, in the historical process. The main recommendation of the study is that researchers should conduct research not by separating and simplifying the theories and models of reading comprehension instruction, but by integrating them and knowing that each theory and model contribute to comprehension instruction from their own perspectives.

Keywords: