What is the Whole Language Philosophy?

Answer 1

Whole Language was philosophy that was used in the 80's and early 90's that said if you surround a student with great literature, they will learn and pick up the language structures inherently.

Unfortunately, the Whole Language approach does not stress phonics, spelling or direct grammar instruction.

My second year of university in 96-97, we were instructed in how to provide the Whole Language approach, but by 98-99, the pendulum had swung back the other way.

People finally realized that you need an equal balance of good literature and direct instruction to teach language... which is what I try to finish in my classroom.

Answer 2

RUN screaming!!!!! It doesn't work! I am a high school ELA teacher and I am dealing with a generation of children raised on the whole language technique. Very few students benefited from it, and most are many grade levels below where they're supposed to be.

The whole language philosophy adheres to the opposite of teaching phonics. It teaches children to get a feel for the whole word, the whole sentence rather than individual letters and sounds. It's NOT working!

Answer 3

I concur with the gent who said it is a "load of crap". My hubby learned to read using the whole language method. He eventually actually DID learn to "read", but he still cannot spell or sound out an unfamiliar word. He reads quickly, but he misses a lot of the content, from what I can tell. Any time he has a presentation or report for work, I must edit it heavily. From what I can gather, our son (before we adopted him) learned to read by the same method...He didn't read a whole book w/o pictures until he was 15. Sooooo, my opinion of whole language is extremely low.

Btw, learning a second language by immersion has squat to do with "whole language" theory. Immersion attempts to simulate the environment in which you learn your first language. You hear the language & learn to pronounce many words before you really start learning to read it or spell in it. That is NOT the same as saying, "Oh, well, they'll pick it up eventually,"...which is basically the depth of "whole language"

Answer 4

A load of crap. It's the opposite of teaching children to spell phonetically. Basically it says that if children are exposed to good literature , they will become good spellers , critical thinkers, and grammarians. If you have spent any time on this forum, you can believe many of these participants were exposed to whole language in the schools.

Answer 5

Well, in the field of foreign language learning, Whole Language theory is having the students learn the material by exposing them to stories, poems, etc. with appropriate visuals rather than (initially) doing grammar. It really does work! I'm working on a book involving Whole Language learning and the foreign language learner!