This article introduces a special section on the whole-language approach. The five articles discuss whole language's roots, whole language in the classroom, two schools that have embraced whole language, and whole-language resources. (SM)

This article describes a whole language support group that evolved from the efforts of two teachers to implement the whole language approach to reading. A list of whole language support groups for teachers and of networking newsletters is included. (IAH)

The writer reminds readers that the polemics of reform frequently portray the realm of teaching and learning in more extreme terms than is really necessary. Likening calls for educational reform to scientific revolutions sparked by Kuhn, Darwin and Copernicus, that jettison completely the assumptions and premises of the theories they replace, Bond…

Looks at a literature-based approach to reading instruction and the whole-language approach to teaching adult literacy. Describes the instructional procedure used in a workplace literacy program serving employees of the Ohio State University hospital staff. (JOW)

This response to Gersten and Dimino (EC 606 357) sees whole language as a perspective on language instruction rather than as an instructional procedure. Three other perspectives on language instruction are suggested--cognitive, sociocultural, and developmental--and are illustrated with sample cases, to demonstrate their contributions to a…

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…

This article presents an interview with two experts in whole-language instruction (Patricia Tefft Cousin and Margaret Richeck) and then offers a commentary section that provides another perspective of the whole-language method, concluding that children with learning disabilities need many types of instruction. (JDD)

Discusses the use of computers in teaching basic writing to college students. Offers computer exercises and activities which foster a whole-language curriculum. (PRA)

Describes a whole language approach to teaching reading comprehension using novels, essays, and short stories. Considers the shortcomings of lab classes and reading textbooks; curriculum goals and criteria; the use of ability groupings, testing, and placement; textbook selection; and teaching strategies emphasizing verbal interaction, writing,…

This position paper discusses how the tenets of Whole Language and Deaf Bilingual-Bicultural Education complement each other. It stresses that Whole Language emphasizes a two-way teaching/learning process and Deaf Bilingual-Bicultural Education emphasizes mutual respect in the sociocultural experiences and values of deaf and hearing people.…

The concept of whole language instruction is explained by means of examples from a kindergarten unit on the grocery store. Activities include visiting the supermarket, making stone soup, and creating a grocery store. Activities teach reading, writing, oral language, phonics, and word recognition. (DG)

Suggests that abandoning controlled vocabulary texts on the assumption that reading is a psycholinguistic guessing game was wrong. Claims that the current emphasis on strategy instruction, scaffolded reading experiences, and the use of writing to foster letter-sounds may provide good outcomes for those teachers and children who dreaded reading…

Four responses to a paper on phonics and whole language approaches to reading instruction in fundamentalist Christian schools examine the home schooling perspective, complexities of different definitions, design of the original research, and need for continued dialog into the bigger picture of traditional education and its staying power in…

A kindergarten teacher recounts her classroom experience introducing children to reading via the whole language approach, which is based on the belief that children learn to read and write naturally by listening, watching, speaking, and writing. Classroom photographs and samples of student work illustrate the article. (DB)

This article examines the conflict between literature-based or whole-language approaches to reading/literacy instruction and the direct instruction approach, as used with students having or at risk for learning disabilities. It concludes that each approach is often depicted in an idealized fashion but that, in practice, the approaches overlap and…