Concerns have been expressed both in the popular press and in the professional literature regarding skills instruction and the literature-based movement. There is a growing perception that direct instruction in "basic" skills is discouraged within a literature-based philosophy. This booklet challenges this perception as a myth through…

A study of whole language teaching in urban heterogeneous classrooms was undertaken to identify teacher student classroom discourse patterns. Using the Gutierrez Index of Coding Schema researchers identified three discourse scripts in the 14 bilingual and multicultural classrooms in Southern California under investigation. These were: the…

In a classroom setting with young bilingual children and their parents, oral and written code switching allowed for effective communication among parents, children, and instructor in a way that was natural and comfortable for all involved. Proposes that code switching be viewed as part of a whole language approach in bilingual contexts. (Author/TD)