In this historical analysis, we examine the context of debates over the role of phonics in literacy and current debates about the science of reading, with a focus on the work and impact of the late literacy scholar Jeanne Chall. We open by briefly tracing the roots of the enduring debates from the 19th and 20th centuries, focusing on beginning…

The purpose of this article is to look anew at the concepts of reading, reading development, and reading research as they exist beyond the boundaries of the "science of reading" controversy. The context for this reconceptualization is reading in the digital age and the challenges that today's readers confront daily. Those challenges…

Improving reading instruction is one of the hottest topics in K-12 education today. It is also one of the most complex, encompassing pedagogy, policy, and politics -- all rooted in a long history of arguments about the best way to teach kids to read. This analysis is a primer on the "Science of Reading" and efforts to implement it across…

Noting that existing research reveals considerable diversity among researchers' philosophical stances toward literature-based reading instruction versus traditional basal reading instruction, a study determined what effects literature-based instruction had on the reading achievement of fourth graders. Subjects, fourth-grade students of the John P.…

Explores whether first-grade students' concepts about reading differed as a function of their teachers' theoretical orientations to reading instruction. Finds that whole language students verbalized more reading strategies than other students, valued and used phonics as much as other teachers and students, and viewed reading books as the central…

This paper reviews the literature and research on literature-based reading programs (as an alternative to basal reading instruction) that have proven successful and identifies key elements of such programs. The first part of the paper contains an introduction, a statement of the problem, the significance of the problem, a description of the…

Early childhood educators are concerned with the most effective method of integrating whole language and phonics to maximize emergent literacy skills. In kindergarten, it is especially important to provide the students with a variety of institutional approaches to accommodate different learning styles. A study examined the effectiveness of Super…

Examines the first-grade materials in five new basal programs submitted for the 1993 Texas state adoption, comparing them with program materials currently in use in the state. Finds substantial changes in the more recent series. Interprets findings in terms of historical trends as well as recent developments in the literature-based and…

A study investigated teachers' and staff developers' perceptions and assessment of the Whole Language Network (which assists teachers in using the whole language approach), the support provided to participants, changes in teaching and assessment practices, and the effects of such changes on student attitudes and achievement. A total of 164…

Despite six decades of leading researchers' research findings upholding progressive, whole-language reading approaches, consensus is lacking. Pundits tend to discredit educational research. News media promulgate tougher standards while overlooking progressive classroom successes. Parents may fear children's exploration of a wide variety of books…

A study examined two first-grade classrooms implementing the whole language approach and two utilizing the basal reading approach to determine the differences, if any, between the treatments. The hypothesis was that the whole language reading approach when combined with a phonics program would not result in higher test scores on a standardized…

"Decodable text" devotees say phonics is scientifically superior to the whole-language approach, which supposedly lacks research validation. However, 60 years of research supports holistic, literature-based approaches to literacy. Whole-language instruction is further validated by research on independent reading, cooperative learning, Reading…

Critiques current understandings of children's motivation for literacy learning, and argues for a reconceptualization of motivation that centers on the learner as agent in the social construction of meaning. Uses vignettes and examples from studies conducted in whole-language classrooms to investigate children's perspectives of their own literacy…

A study investigated the effectiveness of an adapted Writing to Read (WTR) program that focused on the writing process and included the "Stories and More" software for literature-based emphasis. Over 1000 writing portfolio samples were collected from kindergarten through second grade students in 29 classrooms in 6 California school…

A study reviewed the effects of the whole language movement. Two forms of analysis were used: meta-analysis, and a simple "vote-counting" procedure. Quantitative studies that compared a whole language and a traditional (or basal reading) approach, published between 1988 and 1993, were selected for analysis. A total of 45 studies were…