ANDREA MOONEY

The Whole Language Movement

1980s-1990s

A Movement of Various Descriptions

Philosophy Belief system Attitude Set of instructional strategies (Tunmer & Nicholson,

2011, p. 407)

Approaching a More Precise Definition

A constructivist approach to learning based on the belief that “forming concepts about language—oral or written—is easier when learners are presented with whole, natural language” (Weaver, Gillmeister-Krause, & Vento-Zogby, 1996). “not unnatural language patterns like ‘Nan can fan Dan” “not the vastly simplified language of some primers in

basal reading programs” “not the bits and pieces of language found in many

workbook exercises and skills programs” (Weaver, Gillmeister-Krause, & Vento-Zogby, 1996).

“Learning to read is natural” (Goodman & Goodman, 1979)

Children can learn to read in the same natural way that they learned to speak Immerse them in a print-rich environment

Children learn to read and write best when the reading and writing are for authentic purposes Reading whole texts; writing their own stories Not immersed in readiness activities

The Debate

Phonics Primary Need: Explicit Instruction in Letter-Sound

Information Phonics First

Whole Language Readers’ Prior Knowledge + Text Knowledge to

Construct Meaning Text-Based Cues Letter-Sound Information to Confirm or Self-Correct

Time Period

1980s-1990s Mid-to-late 1970s 2001

Defining Features

We know about a belief in presenting the “whole, natural language”…but what else is there?

Constance Weaver (1996): Seven Key Attributes Expectations for success as students engage in "real"

reading, writing, and learning Skills taught in context Teacher support for learning: scaffolding   Contextualized assessment emphasizing growth Acceptance of learners  Flexibility within structure Supportive classroom community (Weaver, C., Gillmeister-Krause, L., & Vento-Zogby, G., 1996)

#1: “Real” Reading, Writing and Learning

Instead of “readiness” activities…Whole texts from the beginning

#2: Skills Taught in Context

No skills taught in isolation; skills taught in the context of reading and writing Example: Phonics taught through discussion and activities related to a text read

multiple times with the teacher

Teacher reads story several times Children read story independently with teacher scaffolding learning with a

cueing system: 1. semantic cues: cues about meaning or what makes sense in the sentence or story 2. graphophonic cues: cues about the letters and their sounds 3. syntactic cues: cues about the grammar of the sentence (Walker, 2008, p. 42-3)

To help students confirm their predictions about unfamiliar words, the teacher would ask one of the following questions: Did what you read make sense? (semantic cue) What word would make sense and start with the sound of the beginning letter?

(graphophonic cue) Did the sentence sound like spoken English? (syntactic cue)

How words work within a sentence, not in isolation

Defining Features #3-7

Teacher support for learning: scaffolding As in phonics example

Contextualized assessment emphasizing growth Portfolio; Data on effort, learning process; Individual

goal settingAcceptance of learners 

Interests and needsFlexibility within structure

Larger blocks of time for meaningful pursuitsSupportive classroom community 

Skills for interacting, resolving conflicts

Ties to the Past

John Dewey (1938, 1943) Participating in learning by solving real problems of concern

in the present (Whole Language: Learning to read by reading and writing)

Lev Vygotsky (1986) Zone of proximal development and more knowledgeable

others (Whole Language: Teacher scaffolds reading)M. A. K. Halliday (1975)

Systemic linguisticsLouise Rosenblatt (1938/1976)

Transactional nature of reading

See Goodman (1989)

Objections to Whole Language

Gough (1996): Two Primary Flawed Assumption

Assumption 1: learning to read develops in the same natural manner as learning to speak (Tunmer & Nicholson, 2011, p.407)

Assumption 2: “skilled reading is a process in which minimal word-level information is used to confirm predictions about the upcoming words of text based on multiple sources of information” (Tunmer & Nicholson, 2011, p. 410).

First Assumption Identified by Gough (1996)

learning to read develops in the same natural manner as learning to speak (Tunmer & Nicholson, 2011, p.407) The belief of whole language: immersion in print-rich

environment reading Instructional Implications

First-language acquisition Focus: meaning construction NOT teaching children the abstract

structural units of letters and sounds(Tunmer & Nicholson, 2011) Downplaying of explicit instruction in word-level skills and strategies

Letter-sound patterns: “caught, not taught” (Tunmer & Nicholson, 2011, p. 407)

Smith and Elley (1994): “children learn to read themselves; direct teaching plays only a minor role” (quoted in Tunmer & Nicholson, 2011, p. 407)

Many Objected to Assumption 1

Support for Objection?New Zealand: 15-20% of New Zealand six-year-old

whole-language students in Reading Recovery…despite print-rich environment and whole language approach

Along the same linesMany US reading specialists objected: “stronger support

system, especially for word learning, was needed for poor readers than what was provided by whole-language instructional principles” (McCormick & Braithwaite, 2008, p. 178)

Bottom Line Counterargument: Learning to read is not like acquiring one’s native language.

Second Assumption Identified by Gough (1996)

“skilled reading is a process in which minimal word-level information is used to confirm predictions about the upcoming words of text based on multiple sources of information” (Tunmer & Nicholson, 2011, p. 410). The belief of whole language: Readers use multiple text-

based (NOT necessarily word-based) cues to identify unfamiliar words

Not phonics first; Instead: picture cues, semantic sources of information, syntactic

sources of information, preceding passage context, prior knowledge activated by the developing meaning of the text

use letter-sound information to confirm or self-correct predictions

Many Objected to Assumption 2

Support for Objection?Research on graphophonic cuesPressley (2006) noted that “the scientific

evidence is simply overwhelming that letter-sound cues are more important in recognizing words…than either semantic or syntactic cues’ (p. 21)” (quoted in Tunmer & Nicholson, 2011, p. 411)

And much of this research helped the pendulum swing away from whole language…

Pendulum Swings away from Whole Language

NCLB’s Reading First (2001)Grants for “scientifically based” reading

instruction awarded in grades K-3 Only programs claiming scientific base

defined by experimental studies qualified More money went to programs using explicit phonics

instruction So much so… “often to the exclusion of reading

literature and reading information” in beginning reading instruction (Walker, 2008, p. 47)

Timeline Overview

Changes in phonics instruction preceding whole language

2001 Reading FirstImportant Publications

References

Baumann, J. F., & Hoffman, J. V. (1998). Where are teachers' voices in the phonics/whole language debate? Results from a survey of U.S. elementary classroom teachers. Reading Teacher, 51(8), 636.

Goodman, Y. (1989). Roots of the whole-language movement. The Elementary School Journal, 90(2), 113-127.

McCormick, S. & Braithwaite, J. (2008). Fifty years of remedial and clinical reading in the United States: A historical overview. In M. J. Fresch (Ed.), An Essential history of current reading practices (157-185). Newark, DE: International Reading Association

Stahl, S. A., & Miller, P.D. (1989). Whole language and language experience approaches for beginning reading: A quantitative research synthesis. Review of Educational Research, 59, 87-116.

Tunmer, W. E. & Nicholson, T. (2011). The development of word recognition skill. In M. L. Kamil, P. D. Pearson, E. B. Moje, & P. P. Afflerback (Eds.), Handbook of Reading Research Volume IV, (405-431).

Walker, B. J. (2008). History of phonics instruction. In M. J. Fresch (Ed.), An Essential history of current reading practices (33-51). Newark, DE: International Reading Association.

Weaver, C., Gillmeister-Krause, L., & Vento-Zogby, G. (1996) Creating support for effective literary education. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.