In teaching reading, educators strive to find the balance between a code-emphasis approach and a meaning-oriented literacy approach. However, little is known about how different approaches to literacy can benefit bilingual children's early reading acquisition. To investigate the novel hypothesis that children's age of first bilingual exposure can…

Based on a diagnosis of the problems in the traditional way of teaching English reading in China, this paper introduces the "whole language" theory and explores its application to the teaching of English reading. To begin with, it demonstrates the various problems in the teaching of English reading which severely prevent the improvement…

Examines why the whole-language approach to literacy development has failed, presenting several definitions of whole language, discussing some of the research on whole language and whether it works, and providing information about the impact of whole language in California (which suggests that California's reading-performance problems are not…

This paper reviews a small sampling of recent research-supported method studies that were consistent with the prominent current philosophical practice in English-as-a-Second-Language/English-as-a-Foreign-Language (ESL/EFL) reading education. It focuses on the following: The Advent of Whole Language in ESL/EFL Study; Teaching from a Constructivist…

Describes a unique language learning activity using the whole language approach in a tertiary level lower advanced reading and speaking course. Following a semester long theme on crime and punishment, students were introduced to an authentic, idiomatic text dealing with a famous murder case in U.S. history. (Author/VWL)

Criticisms of the whole-language approach (WL) to English-as-a-Second-language teaching are addressed, focusing on concerns about reading and grammar instruction. Criticism of grammar instruction is refuted, arguing that WL does not view grammatical knowledge as prerequisite to language use. A modification of the WL approach to reading instruction…

Following a summary of research pertaining to the Montessori and Whole Language philosophies, this paper examines similarities between the two philosophies. Both philosophies are based on holistic learning, use cross-cultural materials, and stress the teacher's role as a facilitator within the classroom environment. The relationships of the…

This book serves as a resource for teachers who want to implement a whole language curriculum. More than half of the material in this second edition is new. The first half of the book updates and revises the discussion of the reading process presented in the first edition while retaining the "think-it-through-yourself" format. The…

A curriculum designed by the Maury, Tennessee, Literacy Council to address deficiencies in English-language skills is presented. Maury County, Tennessee, is a rural area south of Nashville whose automotive industries and ethnic restaurants have immigrant populations in need of English instruction. A state 353 teacher training grant was obtained to…

This paper is in large part a critique of Howard Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences presented in his 1983 book "Frames of Mind: The Theory of Multiple Intelligences," and asserts that the multiple intelligences (MI) concept has been widely misinterpreted. The paper outlines some of the misconceptions of Gardner's theory as identified by…

A review of the literature focuses on the use of the whole language approach to second language teaching in reading instruction for students of English as a Second Language (ESL). First, research on the whole language approach is explored, particularly as it has been used to teach reading. The approach itself is explained, and growth in its use is…

An English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) educator of migrant students in a rural county in Oregon used a whole-language approach to language and reading instruction. Although reading instruction in Spanish was preferred, lack of Spanish-speaking personnel and limited ESL instructional time prohibited that approach. In whole-language ESL, the teacher…

Ways that a secondary English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) teacher can put into practice the principles of the whole-language approach were investigated as part of a larger ethnographic case study of ESL classrooms of Southeast Asian students. The case illustrates the potential of whole language and indicates the need for appropriate reading/writing…

Profiles the "Ready to Read Project," a literacy program developed in 1988 and implemented throughout several South Pacific islands including Fiji, Western Samoa, and the Marshall Islands. The program established a whole-language approach to English literacy based on principles and philosophies grounded in local and international reading…

This study investigates the effect of phonological awareness instruction on the development of word-reading ability for EFL first-graders in a Jordanian state school. Based on Chard and Dickson's (1999) phonological awareness hierarchy, a phonological awareness training program was developed by the researchers, and used in training the…