To develop a historical perspective on the sources of the controversy over the appropriate place of oral reading in formal reading instruction, this paper presents a brief history of oral reading instruction as used in American schools from 1880 to the present. The paper describes in detail both classroom and clinical practices that rely on oral reading as an instructional component, identifies major shifts in practice and the factors influencing those shifts, and discusses research dealing with the effects of oral reading instruction. Based on the historical review, the paper suggests that (1) certain forms of guided oral reading practice can contribute significantly to growth in student reading ability; (2) effective practice in oral reading includes such elements as the use of text that is rich in language, the modeling of appropriate oral reading by the teacher, the opportunity for student rehearsal, the opportunity for students to perform in both individual and audience contexts, and high standards for student performance before moving to a new text; and (3) the dominant use of "round robin" oral reading is due in part to the teacher's desire to evaluate students' word identification skills and in part to the need to create a reading task for which students easily can be held accountable. (FL)