New Zealand's approach to literacy instruction is predominantly whole language. Explicit code-orientated literacy instruction is not favoured, however, most teachers are believed to include phonics in their literacy lessons. No study has been reported on phonics use in New Zealand schools. Survey responses on the use of phonics instruction from…

This study investigated the effects of using an interactive e-story for early literacy instruction on word recognition, story comprehension and story application. The study was conducted in two classrooms in the southern border provinces of Thailand with ethnic minority children at the kindergarten level. The samples consisted of 60 children who…

This project explores the understanding of early year's teachers regarding whole language approach and its implementation. A total of 200 questionnaires were delivered to teachers at nurseries and kindergartens in an EFL (English as a Foreign Language) context. 169 questionnaires were completed and analysed. The findings shows that an overwhelming…

Data from two different sites were used to examine how exposure to a highly academic curriculum is related to growth in beginning literacy and early reading skills from kindergarten through the end of third grade. In one site students in one school used the Direct Instruction (DI) program, "Reading Mastery (RM)", from kindergarten…

The Whole Language/Phonics debate has been raging in California since the 1980s. However, there has been no real determination about which method is best for teaching reading to our students. Yet the Whole Language method has lost the recognition and respect of the educational community because the program was not implemented by all teachers the…

This article examines recent research and developments relating to the role of phonemic awareness and phonics in early literacy education and the relevance of these findings for school counsellors and teachers. It defines and reviews the role of phonemic awareness and phonics in theoretical models of reading processes, including whole-language,…

Clarifies the term "emergent literacy" and reviews significant informal assessment techniques, record-keeping systems, and reporting measures appropriate for emergent literacy. Discusses guidelines for whole-language assessment. Suggests areas of evaluation to be considered for inclusion in a locally developed emergent literacy assessment system.…

Argues that deep coding skills must and can be introduced, taught, practiced, and reinforced within contexts meaningful to students. Shows how teachers can provide these meaningful educational contexts within which decoding strategies make sense to emerging readers. (SR)

Suggests the integration of the methods relating to theories that underlie emergent literacy (such as whole language, literature-based instruction, process-conference writing, cooperative learning, and composition-based instruction) with established spelling practices (such as the direct study of a basic core vocabulary, application of proven…

Offers responses from four readers of this journal, all reading and/or classroom teachers, to a question posed by another teacher: whether children who have had limited literacy experiences should start reading in whole-language readers and/or trade books or whether they should start in controlled-vocabulary preprimers. (SR)

Examines the relationship between ability to invent spellings and ability to finger-point read memorized text in 109 kindergartners in whole-language classrooms. Finds that letter name knowledge and phonemic awareness account for ability in finger-point reading, but that invented spelling, because it requires the left-to-right alphabetic principle…

Current research has fragmented educators' vision of both written language and development. A more integrative vision, one that preserves the integrity of written language as a symbol system, is based on five principles that characterize written language development: (1) the establishment of equivalences; (2) exploration and orchestration of the…

Investigates whether parents, teachers, and principals agree on the basic reading issue of whole language versus traditional skill literacy development. Finds that the three groups responded in essentially the same manner to items in the survey--they favored a broad, eclectic approach to emergent literacy development. (RS)

A practicum was developed to assist prekindergarten teachers present a whole language approach in their already developmentally appropriate classes. Six teachers from three classrooms serving 63 four- and five-year-old children participated in on-site training and weekly consultations. The teachers were all experienced paraprofessionals with Child…

Experienced whole language teachers have developed a number of practical strategies that can and should be used to facilitate the development of "graphophonic knowledge" in their students' literacy learning. Graphophonic knowledge is defined as the combination of the sound system (phonology), the graphic system (orthography), and how…