Considers two different views of beginning reading, one emphasizing the alphabetic nature of written language and the other focusing on contextual, as opposed to graphic, information. Examines different perspectives by evaluating oral reading errors in 15 first graders. Results support the influence of instructional approach on children's…

Empirically validated the Efficacy-Based Change Model as a theoretical model of change. Teachers completed the Stages of Concern Questionnaire, the Educational Innovations Inventory, and a confidence-rating scale. Results supported the model's general constructs--stages of concern related to change, self-beliefs, and attributional processes. The…

Proposes a new understanding of what reading is, using that understanding to propose a new sense of balanced reading instruction. Discusses shifts in reading instruction over the years, examines three goals of reading (automatic word recognition, comprehension, and motivation), and describes the balance needed between direct instruction of skills…

Interviews Regie Routman, well-known advocate of whole-language instruction, about her new book, "Literacy at the Crossroads," in which she presents a clear response to critics of whole language and of education in general. Urges teachers to participate in professional development and communicate their professional knowledge about good teaching…

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…

Describes the experience of a college teacher teaching, for the first time, an introduction to literature course with a whole-language approach. Describes how she abandoned her position as imparter-of-knowledge and as authority, and joined the students as one of many readers and writers. Discusses how class activities were structured and notes…

A survey of 267 instructional programs for children with hearing impairments found that schools continue to use basal readers and the language experience program extensively with students with hearing impairments; however, almost four of every five programs report that they use a whole-language orientation to reading instruction. (Author/CR)

Demonstrates ways in which three students in a multi-age, literature-based grade 3/4 classroom constructed and reconstructed their subjectivities based on demands of the social setting. Notes that each student's participation was influenced by gender, social class, ethnicity, and the task. Suggests that interpretations of students' interactions…

Focuses on one procedure in whole-language reading instruction--individualized reading. Pinpoints a need for an adequate supply of appropriate library books to read and opportunities for pupils in a committee to have a group conference with the teacher. Cites selected issues that need resolving when heavy emphasis is placed upon phonics…

Presents an interview with award-winning children's author and teacher educator Bernice E. Cullinan. Discusses the children's-literature publishing industry, children's poetry, her role in the "literature-based" reading movement, and the issue of phonics and skills in children's literature. (RS)

Discusses debates in society on needs in education, particularly reading achievement of students and the needs of teachers. Considers the issues of whole language versus phonics instruction and sequencing student learning in reading instruction. Concludes that these and other issues, such as technology use in reading instruction, need to be…

Explains how a teacher came to develop her own version of the whole language approach through her experimentation with remedial students in the 1970s. Makes a case for student research and inquiry into issues that matter to them personally, in lieu of traditional research of classic writers. (TB)

Principals can successfully implement whole language reading programs if they educate staff and parents; engage in effective, inclusive long-range planning; encourage sharing among teachers; incorporate flexibility and experimentation in program development; and create an appropriate program evaluation system. Staff involvement is the key to…

Explores whether first-grade students' concepts about reading differed as a function of their teachers' theoretical orientations to reading instruction. Finds that whole language students verbalized more reading strategies than other students, valued and used phonics as much as other teachers and students, and viewed reading books as the central…

Focuses on the teaching behavior of a small sample of rural self-described whole-language kindergarten teachers to determine consistency level between their perceptions of whole-language teaching and whether whole-language concepts were applied to their classroom instruction. Indicates many teachers were unable or unwilling to incorporate many of…