WHOLE LANGUAGE LEARNING

WHOLE LANGUAGE LEARNING: SUMMARY AND CRITIQUE OF FOUR ARTICLES

In this article, Walmsley and Adams (1993) conducted a series of interviews with 71 elementary and middle school teachers with a whole language orientation. Most of the teachers were working in schools in upstate New York, but they did represent diverse age groups with differing years of experience. The purpose of the interviews was to discover teachers' concerns about the difficulties involved in using the whole language approach. These concerns involved the facts that whole language instruction was demanding of their time and efforts, that it often alienated them from colleagues using different approaches, that the approach was incompatible with traditional assessment methods, and that their administrators were, at best, luke-warm in their support.

Walmsley and Adams' (1993) discussion of teachers views and concerns was peppered with actual quotations. I most liked this element of the article because it provided a very realistic feeling to the discussion and operated to strengthen the points being made.

At least some of the concerns expressed by teachers have been discussed by other educators. For example, the need for support from administrators and colleagues was addressed by Routman (1991) as well as Walmsley and Walp (1990). Further, the extent to which the approach places demands on teachers' time and effort was discussed by Sarason (1991) who noted that because

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n of this topic presented by Walmsley and Adams (1993). I would most like to share Burk and Melton-Pages (1991) delineation of the basic philosophy and instructional methods of the whole language approach with other teachers. The reason I wish to share these elements of the article is because they are so well-stated. The articulation of these components makes what is really a very complex topic much easier to understand both in the abstract and in terms of the concrete implementation of the philosophy. I think the discussion would help whole language teachers to effectively implement the approach. ARTICLE 3 Summary In this article, Monson and Pahl (1991) contrast the basic philosophy and instructional methods of whole language and phonics. Phonics is associated with the industrial age and its factory/assembly-line approach while the whole language approach is said to focus on transactional elements in teacher-student interactions and learning. The implications of these differing views for the role of the teacher are delineated, and the differing roles associated with the two approaches are directly tied into the ongoing controversy and debate over the two perspectives. Critique The essential point of Monson and

Category: Psychology - W