Identifies elementary classroom teachers' awareness of whole language and basal reading terms. Finds that teachers were more aware of basal reading terms. Finds that university/college course was the highest reported source of awareness with each of 30 survey terms. (RS)

Analyzes 18 articles selected as representative explanations of the whole-language position. Finds three themes that frame the thought and activities of the movement: general definitions, learning and teaching, and reading and reading instruction. Analyzes the articles using deconstruction to find their implicit assumptions, revealing underlying…

Responds to an article in the same journal on the rhetoric of whole language. Challenges issues of representation, motives involved, and the small unrepresentative sample involved. Discusses the rhetoric of camouflage. (SR)

Responds to an article in the same journal on the rhetoric of whole language. Shows how the authors of that article fail to do what they set out to do from their own perspective. Discusses choice of sources, treating the language seriously, and language without substance. Shows how those authors judge whole language not by its own principles but…

Responds to three articles (in the same journal) which responded to an article by these authors on the rhetoric of whole language. Discusses the nature of professional discourse. (SR)

Responds to an article in the same journal on the rhetoric of whole language. Provides alternative readings in the defining and deconstructing of whole language, and argues that its sense will come from the points of difference rather than from the precision of final definitions. (SR)

The theory and practice of whole language teaching should be integral and simultaneous components of preservice teacher education. A number of instructional strategies and class activities can be used to provide preservice teachers with experiences similar to experiences they will provide to elementary school children. Examples of class activities…

One of a series of educational packages designed for implementation either in a workshop atmosphere or through individual study, this Hot Topic guide presents a variety of materials to assist educators in designing and implementing classroom projects and activities centering on the topic of integrating the language arts. The Hot Topic guide…

Originally developed as part of a project for the Department of Defense Schools (DoDDS) system, this learning package on integrating the language arts is designed for teachers who wish to upgrade or expand their teaching skills on their own. The package includes an overview of the project; a comprehensive search of the ERIC database; a lecture…

The 15 essays in this book reveal the complexity of teaching writing, with some contributors calling into question the gap between classroom theory and classroom practice as seen through students' and tutors' perspectives. The book analyzes the cornerstone of theory and proposes a reexamination of some taken-for-granted composition practices.…

A longitudinal study, involving five beginning teachers, revolved around questions about how teachers' own emerging theories of literacy instruction are shaped by their interactions with other theories and perspectives and through their own work with students who are learning to read, write, and understand text in schools. Trained in the whole…

Describes a whole-language, interdisciplinary summer program for school and college teachers. From hands-on exploration and reading and writing about self-selected topics, participants learned to understand theory and practice of whole-language instruction and to explore implications for their own teaching. (SM)

Examines the perception and beliefs of Chinese English-as-a-Foreign-Language (EFL) teachers toward the debate between on the whole language and direct approach in the teaching of EFL in China. Findings shed light on English instruction in China and provide a better understanding of the educational background of the large number of Chinese students…

A study examined preservice teachers' self-ratings of interest/investment in the different contexts of an integrated whole language approach, both theoretically and pragmatically. Subjects, 60 graduate students enrolled in reading courses in a small eastern university, completed a self-rating chart dealing with the theory and classroom…

Shows that, despite the pendulum swings from the 1930s to the present, reading-achievement levels have remained constant, and one-third of children do not learn to read well. Argues that reading is a multidimensional activity, and that a massive effort is needed to implement multidimensional curricula that empower all children by providing them…