Discusses ways to integrate literature with rural themes into content-area teaching for rural elementary students, including such methods as read-aloud sessions, a classroom reading center, and sustained silent reading. Outlines 10 daily lesson plans integrating textbook and literature in an example of a fourth-grade social studies unit on the…

Four responses to a paper on phonics and whole language approaches to reading instruction in fundamentalist Christian schools examine the home schooling perspective, complexities of different definitions, design of the original research, and need for continued dialog into the bigger picture of traditional education and its staying power in…

Holistic teaching in secondary school English helps avoid subject matter isolation and fragmentation. It involves exposing students to forthcoming information, covering subject matter, and following up on information presented. It engages the whole student, creating effective communicators who think critically and comprehend written and spoken…

This paper describes the process of training teachers of students with hearing impairments to use whole-language teaching methods. The paper discusses success with whole language, resistance to whole-language methods, effects on students, effects on teaching, and advice to other trainers. (JDD)

A kindergarten teacher recounts her classroom experience introducing children to reading via the whole language approach, which is based on the belief that children learn to read and write naturally by listening, watching, speaking, and writing. Classroom photographs and samples of student work illustrate the article. (DB)

This paper discusses major principles characterizing the whole language philosophy of teaching and learning; assumptions of the mechanistic and relational paradigms; whole language practices such as the Shared Book Experience and Reading Recovery for helping students with reading difficulties; and the potential of whole language for developing…

Investigates nationwide practices in language instruction, the nature of changes, and perceptions and reactions of teachers. Finds that 85% of teachers followed a curriculum guide; teachers appeared to react diversely to the philosophy of whole language; and whole language appeared to be gaining a foothold in suburban schools of approximately 300…

Use of classic book units with gifted elementary students is described as an interdisciplinary approach to stimulating student interest. Sample activities are offered from a unit on Mark Twain's "Huckleberry Finn," with linguistic, artistic-creative, scientific, mathematical, and socio-leadership activities, classified as application,…

This article examines the conflict between literature-based or whole-language approaches to reading/literacy instruction and the direct instruction approach, as used with students having or at risk for learning disabilities. It concludes that each approach is often depicted in an idealized fashion but that, in practice, the approaches overlap and…

Reviews the typical approach (synthetic phonics) to teaching reading in Finland. Suggests that teachers in English-speaking countries can learn from problems Finnish teachers face and vice versa. Finds that, despite a highly regular writing system, Finnish teachers find that a heavy phonics emphasis does not solve their reading instruction…

Discusses the incorporation of content-based instruction in the English department of one school. As a result, verbal interaction was increased. With this success, the use of narratives was implemented in a whole-language project, with an emphasis on discourse analysis, specifically story grammar. (Author/VWL)

Presents the story of one award-winning elementary school which shows that effective reading instruction demands a fine sense of balance. The school uses both phonics and whole language in order to teach to all children's needs. It also incorporates a balance of other techniques. After 3 years, the school's standards-based reading program is…

Discusses the move from whole language to phonics instruction in Los Angeles schools in an effort to rescue plummeting reading scores. (Author/VWL)

In Turkey, the Ministry of National Education (MONE) changed the reading instruction method in elementary schools from whole language approach to phonics emphasis in 2005. Accordingly, the purpose of this study was to examine the impacts of phonics method on reading acquisition in a Turkish sample; to understand what elementary school teachers…

Drawing on interviews with 103 policy actors who are active in shaping national reading policy, a study examined the levels of interest groups' perceived influence in the national reading policy arena, and their beliefs on reading instructional approaches. Employing thematic analysis and analysis of variance, the study finds that the interest…