Whole Language

1. Whole Language Lynn W Zimmerman, PhD

2. Traditional Reading Instruction • Sequentially based • Reading, a separate subject • Workbooks, handouts, teacher guides, etc. • Putting children through their paces become the measure of effective teaching. • Confines and narrows thinking to expecting a set of right answers

3. Breaking Traditions • John Dewey – importance of constructing curricula centered around learners’ needs • Louise Rosenblatt –complex and active relationship between reader and text – the text does not transmit the same meaning to each reader • Jean Piaget, Lev Vygotsky, Michael Halliday – learning language and solving problems are social and active; learners comprehend how language works by using it

4. Reading as an Active Process • Become proficient readers and writers by using language in meaningful, authentic contexts  • Reading is active and to be shared. • Modeling reading encourages literacy. • Reading aloud creates a shared experience between the book, the reader, and the listener.

5. Schema Theory • Our brain builds frameworks – schemata – from all of our experiences and knowledge. • Use schema to interpret the world around us • Our schemata fill in implied meanings • What the reader brings : • personality traits • memories of past events • present needs and preoccupation • moods • physical condition

6. Successful Readers • Integrate their experiences, knowledge, and emotions with the story and reinterpret the text in highly personal terms. • Use what they already know to make predictions about the text, which may change as they are reading. • Ask questions to assess what they already know and to set guidelines for what they need to learn in order to enlarge their knowledge.

7. Conditions for Successful Language Acquisition • immersion • demonstration • expectation • responsibility • use • approximation • response • literature • multiple texts • drama and elements of play • reflection

8. Pre-Reading Strategies • Predicting the story • Reading the pictures • Brainstorming • Asking questions • Skimming • Concept questions • Making Inferences/ Connections/Drawing Conclusions • Approximations and Guesses

9. The Reading Experience • Each reader connects to stories in different ways • Each reading of a story by the same reader can open it up to different interpretations based on changes in their lives. • Children’s attitudes toward reading are shaped by their teacher • Teachers must assist students in discovering their reactions, not use the classroom as a forum for dictating meaning.

10. Reading Activities • Book orientation • Questions • Read On, Then Reread • Pause, Think, and Retell • Multiple Readings and Retellings • Think-alouds • Mental Imaging • K-W-L • Bookmarks • Collaborative murals

11. Assessing Children’s Reading • Non-Prompted Student Comments • Teacher Observations • Book and Print Awareness • Oral Retelling Features • Comprehension of Entire Text • Reading Aloud: Students Selects Passage • Students’ Reading Strategies • Self-Evaluation • Conferencing to promote self-monitoring

12. References • Robb, L. (1994). Whole language, whole learners: Creating a literature-centered classroom. New York: Harper Collins.