In this practitioners' guide, a recognized reading expert explains how educators, parents, and concerned citizens can spot ineffective reading programs that may hide under the "scientifically-based" banner. Although the term "whole language" is not commonly used today, programs based on its premises remain popular. These…

The biggest concern with whole language instruction lies in ignoring some of the obvious problems in implementation or denying that there could be any problems at all. Problems mentioned by Maryland reading supervisors involve: teacher competence; phonics/spelling/skills instruction; responses of whole language advocates when asked what direction…

This article presents three related evaluation studies looking at the effectiveness on achievement and motivation of Reading Together, a cross-age peer-tutoring reading program. The effects on tutees, tutors, teachers, and parents were monitored. The advantages of Reading Together began to accrue during the second and third phases of the program.…

A study examined differences between a prescriptive individualized approach to literacy instruction in adult basic education (ABE) settings. Six ABE classrooms participated in the study with four continuing traditional literacy instruction and two providing whole language-oriented literacy instruction. Average attendance per session was 12 adults.…

A study assessed and compared the effectiveness of two distinct approaches of bilingual education used within a single school district in El Paso (Texas). The program designs, one a traditional transitional bilingual and the other a bilingual immersion, were implemented under similar conditions of resources, school year length, class size, and…

This paper describes the use of electronic dialogue journals in a college course designed to teach 14 students a student-centered, whole-language reading methodology for use with children with hearing impairments. Students used electronic mail to discuss issues with the course instructor at the same time they were writing interactive journals with…

This paper describes cooperative learning strategies, their research base, and the rationale for their use as an instructional process for low English proficiency students (LEPS). The paper examines seven components of effective implementation of cooperative learning with language-minority students, and reports on preliminary work on a 5-year…

This review describes the types of adult literacy practices in current use and identifies those found to be particularly effective. The report is organized around the program areas of: (1) methods and materials; (2) testing and evaluation; (3) outreach and recruitment; (4) learner retention; and (5) program management. The review demonstrates the…

Examined teachers' beliefs on what constitutes developmentally appropriate literacy instruction. Three teachers were interviewed, observed during planning and instruction time, and asked to reflect on their beliefs and practicing. Through practice, they came to believe that appropriate literacy instruction involves a variety of instructional…

A family literacy demonstration project was conducted to offer family literacy classes in three public schools in Philadelphia. Instruction was offered for 2.5 hours per day 4 days per week for parents of kindergartners and first graders from January to June and for parents and children together in July. The project was designed to help adults…