US government mandates to implement intensive phonics instruction in elementary classrooms invoke an alleged scientific superiority of this approach over more meaning-centered models. But curiously absent from this scientific enterprise is a study of the phonics system itself. Advocates of intensive phonics have not demonstrated that the commonly…

Reports on research that investigated students' perceptions of the purpose of certain whole-language strategy lessons. Concludes that, even in whole-language lessons, authenticity may be missing. Helps educators think more deeply about what literacy lessons should be like for students and how instruction can help develop students' strategies while…

Suggests that the essence of whole language is students developing literate voices. Discusses a seven-month partnership in which the authors participated in and reflected on literature discussions with small groups of fourth graders. Explores how literate voices are developed in real classrooms. (RS)

Investigates eight first-grade whole language classrooms in terms of what phonics skills and concepts were taught, where phonics instruction occurred, and how it was conducted. Shows gains in ability to decode and encode words for all students. Finds that teachers responded to individual needs of learners, and that skills were taught within the…

A study attempted to delineate the parameters of practice that are referred to as literature-based reading instruction and explored the perspectives of the teacher, the students, and the researcher about the use of literature in three different literature-based classrooms. Six teachers (third grade or above) were identified, teachers who were…

Shares the findings of three classroom teachers and a university professor from their collaborative study of how whole language instruction affects the students that teachers worry about the most. Concludes that elements of time, choice, supported risk taking, belonging, and whole language experiences for real purposes make a difference in at-risk…

Concerns are being raised in both professional literature as well as in the popular press regarding certain aspects of the literature-based movement. A longitudinal study investigated a group of first-grade teachers who have been attempting (with varying degrees of success) to introduce literature-based teaching strategies into their classrooms.…

A study was conducted concerning the reduced and limited curricula which tests may represent. Observations were made at 18 different elementary and middle school classrooms in four school districts in central Pennsylvania during the language arts instructional period. All of the teachers were involved in promoting a holistic approach to literacy.…

This study compared reading rates of three students with reading disabilities and five nondisabled students, all fourth graders. Students were tested on their reading rates on self-selected passages (whole language approach) and on controlled, curriculum-based measurement materials. No significant differences were found between groups of students…

Investigates whether teachers behave in ways consistent with their theoretical orientation to reading during reading instruction. Finds that a majority of the teachers did not teach reading in a manner consistent with their self-reported theoretical orientation. (RS)

A study examined the differences in first-grade students' attitudes about reading/writing when teachers taught by using ability grouping or when teachers taught by using whole language instruction. Two questionnaires were distributed to four teachers, one requesting information on use of reading/writing instruction in the classroom, and the other…

In the 1988-89 school year, a teacher introduced whole language learning to teach reading and writing in her classroom while documenting and then evaluating its effect on a 12-year-old special needs student named Debbie. According to formal testing, Debbie was functioning in the moderately handicapped range of ability, and her speech and language…

An ethnographic study described a successful educational environment for students from low-income families and examined what it is about those environments that makes them successful. The subject class was a combined fourth and fifth grade class at Taft Elementary School in a predominantly African American working class community two miles from…

Explores the different responses to a whole-language curriculum of two average third-grade students. Describes the teacher and the curriculum, and the contrasting literacy behaviors of the students. Discusses how this year-long observation challenged the author's beliefs about children's need for whole-language instruction. (SR)

A case study showed how a third-year teacher modified the socialized culture of literature-based literacy instruction she found in her second-grade classroom and teacher education program to reach particular children who were having difficulty learning to read and write. Aaron, the subject of the case study, was a second-grade African-American…