My School District Has Adopted The “Whole Language” Approach To Reading Development. What Are Its Views On Phonics Teaching?
Whole Language advocates insist that reading instruction must not be broken down and taught as a sequence of subskills, ranging from the least to the most difficult for children to learn. They assert that all reading skills of every kind must be learned coinstantaneously. Therefore, whatever phonics information individual children may need to know they easily will infer on their own as they read “real books.” Since children supposedly best learn to read simply “by reading,” no direct and systematic teaching of phonics is necessary. It is important to note that there is no experimental research evidence to support this view of phonics instruction.
