The purpose of this study is to investigate the efficacy of whole language instruction versus phonics instruction for improving reading fluency and spelling accuracy. The participants were the first grade students in the researcher's general education classroom of a non-Title I school. Stratified sampling was used to randomly divide…

Going beyond the available research on children's spelling development and written text (reading), this year-long longitudinal study examined the relationship between spelling and reading in order to determine whether kindergarten children's ideas about spelling develop simultaneously with reading or whether one precedes the other. Monthly, for 8…

Like Humpty Dumpty after the fall from the wall, language does not work effectively when it is not whole. For many students, the reading problems they begin to experience in the third or fourth grade are caused by the basic skills manner in which beginning reading is taught. Recognizing the limitations of basic skills instruction and the genre of…

A study examined the theoretical orientation of infant school and infant department teachers in England. The Theoretical Orientation to Reading Profile (TORP) was used to determine the teacher's orientation to reading instruction. TORP applies a Likert scale response system to a series of statements about how reading should be taught. Subjects…

Few jobs with any prospects for advancement are expected to be available to poorly skilled students, especially limited English proficient individuals with insufficient reading skills. The consensus is that continuing to allow a disproportionate number of minority or disadvantaged students to pass through the education system without meeting high…

The debate between the whole language approach and the word-centered skills approach to beginning reading instruction is likely to continue into the next decade, so it seems crucial that educators at all levels understand thoroughly the views held by the participants. Advocates of the whole language approach believe effective readers see meaning…

A study examined 78 experienced Northwest Ohio elementary school teachers' orientation toward whole language, teacher-made, and state-mandated tests. The teachers also described their grading policies and distributions and their attitudes toward basal readers and phonics skills. The majority (56%) labeled themselves as over 50% "whole…

This paper was designed to show that the two seemingly disparate concepts of andragogy (the study of how adults learn) and whole language are compatible and should be considered by planners and implementers of adult literacy programs. Guiding principles that both andragogy and whole language share are: (1) active participation of learners; (2) use…

This study compared the effects of whole language practices with the effects of a skills-oriented program on the reading achievement of a group of children from an inner-city, low socioeconomic school from the time they entered kindergarten to the end of second grade. Subjects were 22 children, all of a minority race, randomly placed in one of the…

A review of the literature focuses on the use of the whole language approach to second language teaching in reading instruction for students of English as a Second Language (ESL). First, research on the whole language approach is explored, particularly as it has been used to teach reading. The approach itself is explained, and growth in its use is…

A descriptive study used survey methodology to determine first-grade teachers' theoretical orientations toward reading and students' attitudes toward reading, as well as structured classroom observations to describe teachers' reading instructional practices. Subjects, 259 of the 428 first-grade teachers (61%) in 94 elementary schools of a large…

A study focused on families whose children were successful but not exceptional students in kindergarten. Subjects were eight parents (all mothers) whose children had been enrolled the previous year in a kindergarten program that maintained a whole language curricular orientation. The children (four girls and four boys) were highly successful in…

The Easy Steps to Reading Independence (ESTRI) Program is a reading program to be used to support whole language or basal reader programs by enabling limited ability or non-readers to begin reading, or to remediate reading disabilities, at age and grade appropriate levels immediately, without requiring the students to know sight words before…

A study tested a questioning technique for teaching critical thinking strategies in a class with student-selected reading materials. Teacher modeling, class discussion, writing, and reading were connected in the process. The pre-test and posttest included student-generated questions and character sketches. Quality of the pre- and posttest…

A study investigated the effectiveness of a program to improve the reading/vocabulary skills of an ability-grouped fifth grade class of "low achievers" (N=15) through the implementation of a literature-based whole language approach. Students were read aloud to from quality children's literature. From these books, spelling and vocabulary…