Describes professional development program in Ontario school district to improve student reading and writing skills. Program used food-pyramid concepts to help teacher learn to provide a balanced and flexible approach to literacy instruction based on student needs. (PKP)

Discusses a new orthodoxy about to hit the schools in Australia, which sounds like a piece of "nonsensical madness": guided writing. Cautions educators not to be blinded by new orthodoxies. Encourages teachers to keep their perspective when presented with new teaching ideas. (SG)

Contemporary education theory (and official South African policy) underwrites learner-centredness. I analyse learner-centredness as a possible piece of the puzzle about why it is proving so difficult to improve academic achievement. Learner-centred ideas are grounded in the belief that cognitive abilities develop spontaneously in accordance with a…

Cambourne and Turbill trace the growth, change and finally marginalisation of progressive approaches to literacy education by examining whole language philosophy in Australia from the 1960s to the present. Using a critical lens, Cambourne and Turbill describe how whole language has been positioned throughout the last nearly 50 years in terms of…

For centuries societies have understood the importance of art in relationship to other disciplines. Many great artists were also writers and poets. Many artists were well educated in classical literature from which they drew inspiration for paintings and sculptures. The document argues that the obvious meeting place for the two disciplines of art…

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)…

Reacting to whole language zealots who are not willing to hear new viewpoints or engage in a dialogue with people who differ from their paradigm of education, a graduate student-teacher-researcher who is in general agreement with whole language principles responds to a series of conversations in which she was a listener but not a participant. The…

Discussing the "Whole Language and More '93" meeting, this paper presents a series of helpful how-to's (and some valuable caveats) for those involved in conference planning. The first part of the paper presents a discussion of 10 steps the conference organizer would take again, including: promoting the conference; organizing various…

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.…

Although parallel block scheduling continues to benefit student learning, it is challenged to meet the needs of new educational programs, particularly whole language and interdisciplinary instruction. Two illustrated blocks show how teachers can effectively divide their time between whole-group and small-group instruction and integrate science and…

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…

Presents ways that the learning of text structure can occur naturally for adolescents in a whole language framework. Offers five global contexts in which conceptualization, communication, collaboration can occur to help students use language and understand how text is organized. (RS)