Reading instruction has been the subject of significant controversy for more than five decades, and Kappan has allowed advocates of many different types of reading instruction to make their cases in the magazine's pages. Teresa Preston chronicles the history of the reading wars as they played out in Kappan. Researchers and scholars have debated…

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…

This article discusses whole language and phonics approaches to teaching L1 reading. It argues to bring these two perspectives together under an integrated approach to better teach second language reading. The article offers an integrated lesson plan with adaptable activities and techniques that show how to apply the integrated approach.

Presents an interview with Donna Wiseman. Discusses current programs and activities of whole language, criticism of leaders in whole language for being above any question or criticism, the existing research base for whole language, and the future of the whole-language movement. (RS)

A study investigated whether whole language principles had "seeped" into secondary language arts teaching in Cass County, Michigan by surveying teachers' attitudes. A total of 14 of the 15 language arts teachers in the four secondary schools in the county returned completed surveys. Results indicated that the language arts teachers (1)…

Whole language is a response to the increased knowledge base about language, literacy, and learning. Whole language educators believe that teachers should have direct access to this knowledge base and be supported in their efforts to use it to inform instructional decisions. This response stands in contrast to more traditional responses in which…

A study explored the nature of whole language as compared to the basal program for the years 1990-1991 and 1991-1992. The samples of pupils involved were from the eight elementary schools, housing grades kindergarten through grade five, in East Brunswick, New Jersey. The students have been instructed for many years in the basal approach. Since…

A study investigated the attitudes toward reading of third-grade students involved in a whole language program. The sample consisted of 71 students--48 students participated in the study group, and a control group consisted of 23 students. The independent variables were participation status, gender, socioeconomic status, race, qualification for…

A study investigated whether instruction in spelling would affect acquisition of the alphabetic strategy by beginning readers. Subjects, 28 beginning first- and second-graders of average or above-average intellectual ability in whole language classrooms, participated in small group training for two 20 minute periods a week for 6.5 months.…

Investigates Nebraska elementary school teachers' attitudes about whole language. Finds that teachers with a higher tendency to use whole language were those who felt more comfortable with whole language, had training in whole language, felt whole language should replace basal programs, and felt whole language can be used in conjunction with…

Research on whole language suggests its effects on achievement vary markedly from site to site, and differences may be based not on whether a teacher uses it but how it is implemented. Learning-styles research suggests that little is gained from matching children to methods using learning styles. Instead, any approach needs to take into account…

Investigates young children's developing understanding of three essential features of book language (i.e. autonomy, conventionality, unique grammar) in two curricular genres (i.e. narrative and expository) in a literature-based, multigrade (1st-3rd) classroom. Demonstrates emergent understanding of autonomy, limited familiarity with…

A recurring theme within the prolific body of research on reader response is that of reader stance. Although several prominent theories of reader response spring from different perspectives, they share one common property: each describes reader response in terms of two opposed domains with particular responses falling somewhere on a continuum…