View source for Whole language

{{Short description|Approach to teaching children to read}}
{{Reading}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2025}}

'''Whole language''' is a philosophy of reading and a discredited{{refn|Sources:<ref name="Castles">{{cite journal |last1=Castles |first1=A. |last2=Rastle |first2=K. |last3=Nation |first3=K. |title=Ending the Reading Wars: Reading Acquisition from Novice to Expert |journal=Psychological Science in the Public Interest |date=2018 |volume=19 |issue=1 |pages=5–51 |doi=10.1177/1529100618772271 |pmid=29890888 |doi-access=free }}</ref><ref name="Adams">{{cite book |last1=Adams |first1=M.J. |title=Beginning to Read: Thinking and Learning about Print |date=1996 |publisher=MIT Press |location=Cambridge, MA}}</ref><ref name="Gough">{{cite journal |last1=Gough |first1=P.B. |last2=Hillinger |first2=M.L. |title=Learning to read: An unnatural act. |journal=Bulletin of the Orton Society |date=1980 |volume=30 |pages=179–196|doi=10.1007/BF02653717 |s2cid=143275563 }}</ref><ref name="Seidenberg">{{cite journal |last1=Seidenberg |first1=Mark |title=The Science of Reading and Its Educational Implications |journal=Language Learning and Development |date=2013 |volume=9 |issue=4 |pages=331–360 |pmc=4020782 |pmid=24839408 |doi=10.1080/15475441.2013.812017 }}</ref><ref name="psychologytoday">{{cite web |last1=Ludden |first1=David |title=Whole Language or No Language? Something is rotten in the state of literacy education |url=https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/talking-apes/201507/whole-language-or-no-language |website=Psychology Today |publisher=Sussex Publishers, LLC |access-date=29 January 2019}}</ref><ref name="LDOnline">{{cite web |last1=Moats |first1=Louisa |title=Whole Language Lives On: The Illusion of Balanced Reading Instruction |url=http://www.ldonline.org/article/6394/ |website=LD Online |publisher=WETA Public Television |access-date=29 January 2019}}</ref><ref name="NIFDI">{{cite web |last1=Hempenstall |first1=Kerry |title=Whole Language! What was that all about? |url=https://www.nifdi.org/news/hempenstall-blog/441-part-1-whole-language-what-was-that-all-about |website=National Institute for Direct Instruction |access-date=29 January 2019}}</ref>}} educational method originally developed for teaching [[literacy]] in English to young children. The method became a major model for education in the United States, Canada, New Zealand, and the UK in the 1980s and 1990s,<ref name="NIFDI" /> despite there being no scientific support for the method's effectiveness.{{refn|Sources:<ref name="Castles"/><ref name="Adams"/><ref name="Gough"/><ref name="Seidenberg"/><ref name="psychologytoday"/><ref name="LDOnline"/><ref name="NIFDI"/>}} It is based on the premise that learning to read English comes naturally to humans, especially young children, in the same way that [[Language acquisition|learning to speak develops naturally]].<ref name="Goodman1">{{cite book |last1=Goodman |first1=K.S. |title=Reading: A psycholinguistic guessing game. In H. Singer & R.B. Ruddell (Eds.) Theoretical models and processes of reading. |date=1970 |publisher=International Reading Association |location=Newark, D.E.}}</ref><ref name="Smith">{{cite book |last1=Smith |first1=Frank |title=Understanding reading: A psycholinguistic analysis of reading and learning to read. |date=1971 |publisher=Holt, Rinehart & Winston |location=New York}}</ref> However, researchers such as [[Reid Lyon]] say reading is "not a natural process", and  many students, when learning to read, require direct instruction in [[Phonics#The alphabetic principle (also: The alphabetic code)|alphabetic coding]], [[phonemic awareness]], [[phonics]], spelling, and comprehension skills.<ref name="Lyon">{{cite journal |last1=Lyon |first1=Reid |title=Why Reading Is Not a Natural Process |journal=Educational Leadership |date=1998 |volume=5 |issue=6 |pages=14–18 |url=http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/mar98/vol55/num06/Why-Reading-Is-Not-a-Natural-Process.aspx |access-date=29 January 2019 |archive-date=16 January 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210116180435/http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/mar98/vol55/num06/Why-Reading-Is-Not-a-Natural-Process.aspx |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Whole-language approaches to reading instruction are typically contrasted with the more effective [[phonics]]-based methods of teaching reading and writing. Phonics-based methods emphasize instruction for decoding and spelling. Whole-language practitioners disagree with that view and instead focus on teaching meaning and making students read more.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://archive.org/details/UnderstandingReading-FrankSmith|title=Understanding Reading|author=Frank Smith|via=Internet Archive}}</ref> The scientific consensus is that whole-language-based methods of reading instruction (e.g., teaching children to use context cues to guess the meaning of a printed word)<ref name="Smith" /><ref name="LDOnline" /><ref name="Seidenberg" /> are not as effective as phonics-based approaches.{{refn|Sources:<ref name="Moore">{{cite web |last1=Moore |first1=Terrance |title=The Verdict is In: Phonics is the Way to Teach Reading |url=http://ashbrook.org/publications/oped-moore-04-verdict/ |website=Ashbrook Center |publisher=Ashland University|date=4 January 2004 |access-date=29 January 2019}}</ref><ref name="Hoover">{{cite web |last1=Palmaffy |first1=Tyce |title=See Dick Flunk |url=https://www.hoover.org/research/see-dick-flunk |website=Hoover Institute |publisher=Stanford University |access-date=29 January 2019}}</ref><ref name="Hamilton">{{cite news |last1=McDonald |first1=James |title=The ruinous legacy of whole language |url=https://www.thespec.com/opinion-story/4619392-the-ruinous-legacy-of-whole-language-/ |access-date=29 January 2019 |publisher=Hamilton Spectator |date=8 July 2014 |archive-date=30 January 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190130110215/https://www.thespec.com/opinion-story/4619392-the-ruinous-legacy-of-whole-language-/ |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name="NIFDI" /><ref name="Stanovich">{{cite journal|last1=Stanovich|first1=Keith|date=1994|title=Romance and reality|journal=The Reading Teacher|volume=47|pages=280–291}}</ref><ref name="LDOnline" /><ref name="psychologytoday" /><ref name="Seidenberg" /><ref name="Adams" />}} Rejection of whole language (and its offshoot, [[balanced literacy]]) was a key component in the [[Mississippi Miracle]] of increased academic performance across the [[Southern United States]] in the 2010s and 2020s.<ref>{{cite web|title=Mississippi's reading revolution |url=https://www.bushcenter.org/catalyst/the-fix/mississippis-reading-revolution |website=bushcenter.org |access-date=4 June 2025}}</ref>

==Overview==
Whole language is an educational philosophy that is complex to describe, particularly because it is informed by multiple research fields, including but not limited to education, linguistics, psychology, sociology, and anthropology (see also [[Language Experience Approach]]). It can be viewed as being founded on the educational philosophy of [[John Amos Comenius]] in the early 17th century.<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Stahl|first1=Katherine A. Dougherty|title=Reading Research at Work: Foundations of Effective Practice|last2=McKenna|first2=Michael C.|date=2006|publisher=Guilford Press|isbn=1-59385-299-1|location=New York|pages=6}}</ref> Yetta Goodman has also cited the contributions of [[John Dewey]], [[Lev Vygotsky]], [[Louise Rosenblatt]], and Ashton Warner, among other writers, in the development of the whole language movement.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Peltzman|first=Barbara Ruth|title=Reading Instruction in America|year=2015|publisher=McFarland|isbn=978-1-4766-2013-8|location=Jefferson, NC|pages=193}}</ref> One description of whole language is "a concept that embodies both a philosophy of language development as well as the instructional approaches embedded within, and supportive of that philosophy".<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Wood|first1=Karen D.|title=Literacy Instruction for Adolescents: Research-Based Practice|last2=Blanton|first2=William E.|date=2009|publisher=Guilford Press|isbn=978-1-60623-381-8|location=New York|pages=146}}</ref>

Several strands run through descriptions of whole language. These include:
* focus on making meaning in reading and expressing meaning in writing;<ref>{{Cite book|last=Edelsky|first=Carole|title=With Literacy and Justice for All: Rethinking the Social in Language and Education, Third Edition|date=2006|publisher=Routledge|isbn=0805855076|location=Oxon|pages=171}}</ref>
* [[Constructivism (learning theory)|constructivist]] approaches to knowledge creation, emphasizing students' interpretations of texts and free expression of ideas in writing (often through daily journal entries);<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Martin|first1=David Jerner|title=Building Teachers: A Constructivist Approach to Introducing Education|last2=Loomis|first2=Kimberly S.|date=2013|publisher=Cengage Learning|isbn=978-1-133-94306-8|location=Belmont, CA|pages=380}}</ref>
* emphasis on high-quality and culturally diverse literature;<ref>{{Cite book|last=Mocombe|first=Paul C.|title=Mind, Body, and Consciousness in Society: Thinking Vygotsky via Chomsky|date=2018|publisher=Cambridge Scholars Publishing|isbn=978-1-5275-2401-9|location=Newcastle upon Tyne|pages=138}}</ref>
* integrating literacy into other areas of the curriculum, especially math, science, and social studies;
* frequent reading;
** with students in small [[guided reading]] groups
** to students with [[read aloud|read-alouds]]
** by students independently;
* reading and writing for real purposes;
* focus on motivational aspects of literacy, emphasizing the love of books and engaging reading materials;
* meaning-centered whole– to part-to-whole instruction where phonics are taught contextually in embedded phonics<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Lewis|first1=Maureen|title=Phonics: Practice, Research and Policy|last2=Ellis|first2=Sue|date=2006|publisher=Sage|isbn=978-1-4129-3085-7|location=Thousand Oaks, CA|pages=58}}</ref> (different from [[synthetic phonics]] or [[analytical phonics]]);
* emphasis on using and understanding the meaning-making role of phonics, grammar, spelling, capitalization, and punctuation in diverse social contexts.

Attempts to empirically verify the benefits of whole language have repeatedly resulted in evidence that whole language is less effective than phonics-based reading instruction. Research psychologist [[Keith Stanovich]] has asserted, "The idea that learning to read is just like learning to speak is accepted by no responsible linguist, psychologist, or cognitive scientist in the research community",<ref name="Stanovich" /> while in a systematic review of the reading research literature, Louisa Moats, a researcher on children's education, concluded that "Almost every premise advanced by whole language about how reading is learned has been contradicted by scientific investigations".<ref name="LDOnline" /> Harvard professor [[Jeanne Chall]] surveyed the research on literacy and conducted her own classroom observations and found that the "code-emphasis method" (phonics) produces substantially better readers, not only in the mechanical aspects of reading but also in terms of reading for meaning and reading for enjoyment, contrary to the claims of whole-language theorists.<ref name="Moore" />

==Underlying premises==
===Cognitive skills of reading===
'''Sub-lexical reading'''

Sub-lexical reading<ref name="Neural Representations">{{cite journal |vauthors=Borowsky R, Esopenko C, Cummine J, Sarty GE |title=Neural representations of visual words and objects: a functional MRI study on the modularity of reading and object processing |journal=Brain Topogr |volume=20 |issue=2 |pages=89–96 |year=2007 |pmid=17929158 |doi=10.1007/s10548-007-0034-1|s2cid=1640138 }}</ref><ref name="Ventral and Dorsal Streams">{{cite journal |vauthors=Borowsky R, Cummine J, Owen WJ, Friesen CK, Shih F, Sarty GE |title=FMRI of ventral and dorsal processing streams in basic reading processes: insular sensitivity to phonology |journal=Brain Topogr |volume=18 |issue=4 |pages=233–9 |year=2006 |pmid=16845597 |doi=10.1007/s10548-006-0001-2|s2cid=10815942 }}</ref><ref name="Changes Reading Strategies">{{cite journal  |vauthors=Sanabria Díaz G, Torres Mdel R, Iglesias J, etal |title=Changes in reading strategies in school-age children |journal=Span J Psychol |volume=12 |issue=2 |pages=441–53 |date=November 2009 |pmid=19899646 |doi=10.1017/S1138741600001827|s2cid=13821050 }}</ref><ref name="Chinese Ventral and Dorsal Streams">{{cite journal |vauthors=Chan ST, Tang SW, Tang KW, Lee WK, Lo SS, Kwong KK |title=Hierarchical coding of characters in the ventral and dorsal visual streams of Chinese language processing |journal=NeuroImage |volume=48 |issue=2 |pages=423–435 |date=November 2009 |pmid=19591947 |doi=10.1016/j.neuroimage.2009.06.078|hdl=10397/24142 |s2cid=23720865 |hdl-access=free }}</ref> involves teaching reading by associating characters or groups of characters with sounds or by using phonics learning and teaching methodology.{{fact|date=March 2022}}

'''Lexical reading'''

Lexical reading<ref name="Neural Representations" /><ref name="Ventral and Dorsal Streams" /><ref name="Changes Reading Strategies" /><ref name="Chinese Ventral and Dorsal Streams" /> involves acquiring words or phrases without attention to the characters or groups of characters that compose them or by using whole language learning and teaching methodology.{{fact|date=March 2022}}

===Learning theory===
According to the [[Cambridge University Press]], the idea of whole language has its basis in [[holism]], the belief that a system should be viewed as a whole, not merely as a collection of parts.<ref>{{cite book|title=Approaches and Methods in Language Teaching, Cambridge University Press|url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/abs/approaches-and-methods-in-language-teaching/whole-language/D07431197B19091297560001427C4970|chapter=Whole language|date=6 July 2010|last1=Richards|first1=Jack C.|last2= Rodgers|first2=Theodore S. |pages=108–114 |doi=10.1017/CBO9780511667305.012 |isbn=978-0-521-00843-3 }}</ref>

===Ken Goodman's linguistic theory===
Gregory Shafer, a professor of English at Mott Community College, has claimed that "the seeds" of the whole language movement were "firmly rooted" in the theories of linguist [[Noam Chomsky]].<ref>{{cite journal |url=https://scholarworks.gvsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1429&context=lajm |title=Whole Language: Origins and Practice|first=Gregory|last=Shafer|journal=Language Arts Journal of Michigan|volume=14|number=1|year=1998 |doi=10.9707/2168-149X.1429 }}</ref> In 1967, [[Ken Goodman]] had an idea about reading that he considered similar to Chomsky's, and he wrote a widely cited article called "Reading: A psycholinguistic guessing game".<ref>{{Cite journal |title=A psycholinguistic guessing game|journal=Journal of the Reading Specialist|volume=6|issue=4|pages=126–135|doi=10.1080/19388076709556976|year = 1967|last1 = Goodman|first1 = Kenneth S.}}</ref> Goodman set out to determine whether the views of Chomsky could serve as psychological models of the reading process.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://msu.edu/~dwong/StudentWorkArchive/CEP900F00-RIP/Tower-Literacy.htm |title=CEP 900: Research Interests|first=Cathy|last=Tower|date=11 December 2000}}</ref> He chided educators for attempting to apply what he saw as unnecessary [[orthography|orthographic]] order to a process that relied on holistic examination of words.<ref>{{cite book|title=Reading: A psycholinguistic guessing game – Literacy Research and Instruction }} {{fcn|date=March 2022}}</ref> Whether Goodman was indeed inspired by Chomsky, neither Chomsky himself nor his followers have ever accepted Goodman's views.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/004261.html |title=The globalization of educational fads and fallacies|first=Mark|last=Liberman|date=2 March 2007}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Pesetsky |first=David |date=8 April 2000 |title=The Battle for Language: from Syntax to Phonics |url=http://web.mit.edu/~linguistics/people/faculty/pesetsky/USC_talk.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151224011917/http://web.mit.edu/linguistics/people/faculty/pesetsky/USC_talk.pdf |archive-date=24 December 2015}}</ref>

Goodman thought that there are four "cueing systems" for reading, four things that readers have to guess what word comes next:
# graphophonemic: the shapes of the letters and the sounds that they evoke (see [[phonetics]]).
# semantic: what word one would expect to occur based on the meaning of the sentence so far (see [[semantics]]).
# syntactic: what part of speech or word would make sense based on the grammar of the language (see [[syntax]]).
# pragmatic: what is the function of the text

The "graph" part of the word "graphophonemic" means the shape or symbol of the graphic input, i.e., the text. According to Goodman, these systems work together to help readers guess the right word. He emphasized that pronouncing individual words will involve the use of all three systems (letter clues, meaning clues from context, and syntactical structure of the sentence).{{citation needed|date=March 2022}}

'''The graphophonemic cues''' are related to the sounds we hear (the phonological system including individual letters and letter combinations), the letters of the alphabet, and the conventions of spelling, punctuation, and print. Students who are emerging readers use these cues considerably. However, in the English language, there is a very imprecise relationship between written symbols and sound symbols.<ref name="Goodman">{{cite book|last=Goodman|first=Yetta|title=Reading Miscue Inventory|year=2005|publisher=Robert C. Owen Publishers, Inc.|location=Katonah, NY}}</ref> Sometimes the relationships and their patterns do not work, as in the example of ''great'' and ''head''. Proficient readers and writers draw on their prior experiences with text and the other cueing systems, as well as the phonological system, as their reading and writing develops. Ken Goodman writes that, "The cue systems are used simultaneously and interdependently. What constitutes useful graphic information depends on how much syntactic and semantic information is available. Within high contextual constraints an initial consonant may be all that is needed to identify an element and make possible the prediction of an ensuing sequence or the confirmation of prior predictions."<ref name="Kenneth Goodman" /> He continues with, "Reading requires not so much skills as strategies that make it possible to select the most productive cues." He believes that reading involves the interrelationship of all the language systems. Readers sample and make judgments about which cues from each system will provide the most useful information in making predictions that will get them to meaning. Goodman<ref name="Kenneth Goodman">{{cite book|last=Goodman|first=Kenneth|title=Language and Literacy|year=1982|publisher=Routledge & Kegan|location=Boston|isbn=978-0-7100-0875-6|url=https://archive.org/details/languageliteracy0000good}}</ref> provides a partial list of the various systems readers use as they interact with text. Within the graphophonemic system there are:
* Letter–sound relationships
* Shape (or word configuration)
* Know 'little words' in bigger words
* Whole know words
* Recurrent spelling patterns

'''The semantic cuing system''' is the one in which meaning is constructed. "So focused is reading on making sense that the visual input, the perceptions we form, and the syntactic patterns we assign are all directed by our meaning construction."<ref name="K.Goodman">{{cite book|last=Goodman|first=K.|title=On Reading|year=1996|publisher=Heinemann|location=New Hampshire|isbn=978-0-435-07200-1}}</ref> The key component of the semantic system is context. A reader must be able to attach meaning to words and have some prior knowledge to use as a context for understanding the word. They must be able to relate the newly learned word to prior knowledge through personal associations with text and the structure of text.

The semantic system is developed from the beginning through early interactions with adults. At first, this usually involves labeling (e.g., "This is a dog"). Then labeling becomes more detailed (e.g., "It is a Labrador dog. Its coat is black.") The child learns that there is a set of "dog attributes" and that within the category "dog", there are subsets of "dog" (e.g., long-hair, short-hair). The development of this system and the development of the important concepts that relate to the system are largely accomplished as children begin to explore language independently. As children speak about what they've done and play out their experiences, they are making personal associations between their experiences and language. This is critical to success in later literacy practices, such as reading comprehension and writing. The meaning people bring to the reading is available to them through every cuing system, but it's particularly influential as we move from our sense of the syntactic patterns to the semantic structures.<ref name="Kenneth Goodman" />

'''The syntactic system''', according to Goodman and Watson,<ref name="Goodman" /> includes the interrelation of words and sentences within connected text. In the English language, syntactic relations include word order, tense, number, and gender. The syntactic system is also concerned with word parts that change the meaning of a word, called morphemes. For example, adding the suffix "less" or adding "s" to the end of a word changes its meaning or tense. As speakers of English, people know where to place subjects, which pronoun to use, and where adjectives occur. Individual word meaning is determined by the place of the word in the sentence and the particular semantic or syntactic role it occupies.<ref>{{cite book|last=Itzkoff|first=Seymour|title=How We Learn to Read|year=1986|publisher=Paideia Publishers|location=Ashfield, MA|isbn=978-0-913993-04-0|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/howwelearntoread0000unse}}</ref>
For example:

''T''he mayor was present when he received a beautiful present from the present members of the board''.''

The syntactic system is usually in place when children begin school. Immersed in language, children begin to recognize that phrases and sentences are usually ordered in certain ways. This notion of ordering is the development of syntax. Like all the cuing systems, syntax provides the possibility of correct prediction when trying to make sense or meaning of written language. Goodman notes the cues found in the flow of language are:<ref name="Kenneth Goodman" />
* Patterns of words (or function order)
* Inflection and inflectional agreement
* Function words such as noun markers (the, a, that)
* Intonation (which is poorly represented in writing by punctuation)

'''The pragmatic system''' is also involved in the construction of meaning while reading. This brings into play the socio-cultural knowledge of the reader. It provides information about the purposes and needs the reader has while reading. Yetta Goodman and Dorothy Watson state that, "Language has different meaning depending on the reason for use, the circumstances in which the language is used, and the ideas writers and readers have about the contextual relations with the language users. Language cannot exist outside a sociocultural context, which includes the prior knowledge of the language user. For example, shopping lists, menus, reports and plays are arranged uniquely and are dependent on the message, the intent, the audience, and the context."<ref name="Goodman" />

By the time children begin school, they may have developed an inferred understanding of some of the pragmatics of a particular situation. For example, turn-taking in conversation, reading poetry, or a shopping list. "While different materials may share common semantic, syntactic, and graphophonic features, each genre has its own organization and each requires certain experiences by the reader."<ref name="Goodman" />

Goodman performed a study where children first read words individually and then read the same words in connected text. He found that the children did better when they read the words in connected text. Later replications of the experiment failed to find effects, however, when children did not read the same words in connected text immediately after reading them individually, as they had in Goodman's experiment.<ref>{{cite book |author=Pressley, Michael |title=Reading instruction that works: the case for balanced teaching |publisher=Guilford Press |location=New York |year=2006 |isbn=978-1-59385-228-3 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Gl6TWPOE2o0C&q=Reading+instruction+that+works:+The+case+for+balanced+teaching&pg=PA1 |title=Reading instruction that works: the case for balanced teaching | author=Michael Pressley |year=2006 |publisher=Guilford Publications |isbn=978-1-59385-228-3 }}</ref>

Goodman's theory has been criticized by other researchers who favor a phonics-based approach, and present research to support their viewpoint. Critics argue that good readers use decoding as their primary approach to reading, and use context to confirm that what they have read makes sense.

===Application of Goodman's theory===
Goodman's argument was compelling to educators as a way of thinking about beginning reading and literacy more broadly. This led to the idea that reading and writing were concepts that should be considered as wholes, learned by experience and exposure more than analysis and didactic instruction. This largely accounts for the focus on time spent reading, especially independent reading. Many classrooms (whole-language or otherwise) include silent reading time, sometimes called DEAR ("[[Drop Everything And Read]]") time or SSR ([[sustained silent reading]]). Some versions of this independent reading time include a structured role for the teacher, especially Reader's Workshop. Despite the popularity of the extension of Chomsky's linguistic ideas to literacy, it is based on a misunderstanding of those theories as, unlike language, literacy is not a human universal but a human invention (much as children learn to walk without being taught, but not how to drive a car or fly a helicopter). All experimental research shows that reading, unlike language in the [[Language faculty|Chomskyan view]], is not a pre-programmed human skill; it must be learned. [[Sally Shaywitz]],<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.ncbi.nim.nih.gov/sites/myncbi/collections/public/1-9V7emPzNapfhcT8HoP7Re/ |title=Shaywitz, Sally E research paper collection PubMed result 76 selected items }}{{dead link|date=July 2025|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref> a neurologist at [[Yale University]], is credited with much of the research on the neurological structures of reading.{{citation needed|date=March 2022}}

===Contrasts with phonics===
Because of this holistic emphasis, whole language is contrasted with skill-based areas of instruction, especially phonics and synthetic phonics. Phonics instruction is a commonly used technique for teaching students to read. It tends to emphasize attention to the individual components of words, for example, the sounds ([[phonemes]]) /k/, /æ/, and /t/ are represented by the letters ([[graphemes]]) ''c'', ''a'', and ''t''. Because whole language proponents do not focus exclusively on the individual parts, tending to focus on the relationship of parts to and within the larger context, they do not favor some types of phonics instruction. Whole language advocates state that they do teach and believe in phonics, especially a type of phonics known as [[Phonics#Embedded phonics with mini-lessons|embedded phonics]]. In embedded phonics, letters are taught during other lessons focused on meaning and the phonics component is considered a "mini lesson". Instruction in embedded phonics typically emphasizes the [[consonants]] and the [[short vowels]], as well as letter combinations called [[Syllable rime|rimes]] or [[Phonogram (linguistics)|phonograms]]. The use of this embedded phonics model is called a "whole-part-whole" approach because, consistent with holistic thinking, students read the text for meaning first (whole), then examine features of the phonics system (part), and finally use their new knowledge while reading the text again (whole).

This mixed approach is a development from the practice employed in the 1970s and 1980s, when virtually no phonics was included in the curriculum at all. Theorists such as Ken Goodman and [[Frank Smith (psycholinguist)|Frank Smith]] at that time advocated a "guessing game" approach, entirely based on context and whole-word analysis. It is worth noting that neuroscientist [[Mark Seidenberg]], one of the many critics of whole language and Balance Literacy, writes that Ken Goodman's "guessing game theory" had no supporting evidence and "was grievously wrong".<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://seidenbergreading.net|title= Reading at the Speed of Light: How we Read, why so many can't, and what can be done about it, 2017, pages 268 & 271, Mark Seidenberg}}</ref> In addition, in his 2009 book, ''Reading in the brain'', cognitive neuroscientist [[Stanislas Dehaene]] said, "cognitive psychology directly refutes any notion of teaching via a 'global' or 'whole language' method." He goes on to talk about "the myth of whole-word reading", saying it has been refuted by recent experiments. "We do not recognize a printed word through a holistic grasping of its contours, because our brain breaks it down into letters and graphemes."<ref name="Stanislas Dehaene 222–228">{{cite book|author=Stanislas Dehaene|title=Reading in the brain|pages=222–228|publisher=Penquin Books|year=2010|isbn=978-0143118053}}</ref>

Most whole language advocates now see that children go through stages of spelling development as they develop, use, and gain control over written language. Early literacy research conducted by Piagetian researcher [[Emilia Ferreiro]], published in her book ''Literacy Before Schooling'', has been replicated by University of Alabama professor Maryann Manning. Based on this research, "invented spelling" is another "whole-part-whole" approach: children learn to read by writing in a meaningful context, e.g., by writing letters to others. To write a word, they have to decompose its spoken form into sounds and then translate them into letters, e.g., ''k'', ''a'', ''t'' for the phonemes /k/, /æ/, and /t/. Empirical studies<ref>Brügelmann, Hans (1999). "From invention to convention. Children's different routes to literacy. How to teach reading and writing by construction vs. instruction." In: Nunes, T. (ed.) (1999). ''Learning to read: An integrated view from research and practice.'' Dordrecht et al.: Kluwer (315–342); Richgels, D.J. (2001). "Invented spelling, phonemic awareness, and reading and writing instruction." In: Neuman, S. B./ Dickinson, D. (eds.) (2001). ''Handbook on Research in Early Literacy for the 21st Century.'' New York: Guilford Press.</ref> show that later spelling development is fostered rather than hindered by these invented spellings—as long as children from the beginning are confronted with "book spellings", too.<ref>Brügelmann, Hans/ Brinkmann, Erika. ''Combining openness and structure in the initial literacy curriculum. A language experience approach for beginning teachers'', 2013 Download: https://www.academia.edu/4274824/Combining_structure_and_openness_in_the_initial_literacy_curriculum</ref>

===Rise of whole language and reaction===
After its introduction by Goodman, whole language rose in popularity dramatically. It became a major educational paradigm of the late 1980s and the 1990s. Despite its popularity during this period, educators who believed that skill instruction was important for students' learning, and some researchers in education, were skeptical of whole-language claims. What followed were the "Reading Wars" of the 1980s and 1990s between advocates of phonics and those of whole-language methodology, which in turn led to several attempts to catalog research on the efficacy of phonics and whole language.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://scholar.harvard.edu/files/jameskim/files/bookch2.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/https://scholar.harvard.edu/files/jameskim/files/bookch2.pdf |archive-date=9 October 2022 |url-status=live|title=Research and the Reading Wars|last=Kim|first=James}}</ref>

New Zealand education researcher [[Marie Clay]] created the [[Reading Recovery]] program in 1976.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.apmreports.org/episode/2022/10/20/sold-a-story-e2-the-idea|title=Transcript of ''Sold a Story E2: The Idea''|last1=Hanford|first1=Emily|date=20 October 2022|website=American Public Media}}</ref> After lengthy observations of early readers, Clay defined reading as a message-getting, problem-solving activity, and writing as a message-sending, problem-solving activity. Clay suggested that both activities involved linking invisible patterns of oral language with visible symbols.<ref>{{cite book |last= Clay|first=Marie |date= 1977|title=Reading: The Patterning of Complex Behaviour.|url= https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED166654 |location=Exeter, New Hampshire |publisher=Heinemann Educational Books }}</ref>

The [[United States Congress|US Congress]] commissioned reading expert [[Marilyn Jager Adams]] to write a definitive book on the topic. She determined that phonics was important but suggested that some elements of the whole language approach were helpful.<ref>{{cite book |author=Adams, Marilyn McCord |title=Beginning to read: thinking and learning about print |publisher=MIT Press |location=Cambridge, Mass |year=1994 |isbn=978-0-262-51076-9 |url=https://archive.org/details/beginningtoread00mari }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/beginningtoread00mari |url-access=registration |quote=Beginning to Read: Thinking and Learning about Print. |title=Beginning to read: thinking and learning about print |publisher=MIT Press |author=Marilyn Jager Adams|year=1994 |isbn=978-0-262-51076-9 }}</ref> Two large-scale efforts, in 1998 by the [[United States National Research Council]]'s Commission on Preventing Reading Difficulties in Young Children<ref>{{cite book |author1=Griffin, Peg |author2=Snow, Catherine E. |author3=Burns, M. Susan |title=Preventing reading difficulties in young children |publisher=National Academy Press |location=Washington, D.C. |year=1998 |isbn=978-0-309-06418-7 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ggE9sixBdHEC&q=Preventing+reading+difficulties+in+young+children. |title=Preventing reading difficulties in young children |author=Catherine E. Snow |author2=Marie Susan Burns |author3=Peg Griffin  |year=1998 |publisher=National Academies Press |isbn=978-0-309-06418-7 }}</ref> and in 2000 by the [[National Reading Panel|United States National Reading Panel]],<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nichd.nih.gov/publications/pubs/nrp/smallbook|title=National Reading Panel (NRP) – Publications and Materials – Summary Report|year=2000|work=National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. (2000). Report of the National Reading Panel. Teaching children to read: An evidence-based assessment of the scientific research literature on reading and its implications for reading instruction (NIH Publication No. 00-4769). Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nichd.nih.gov/publications/pubs/nrp/report|title=National Reading Panel (NRP) – Publications and Materials – Reports of the Subgroups|year=2000|work=National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. (2000). Report of the National Reading Panel. Teaching children to read: an evidence-based assessment of the scientific research literature on reading and its implications for reading instruction: Reports of the subgroups (NIH Publication No. 00-4754). Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office}}</ref> catalogued the most important elements of a reading program. While proponents of whole language find the latter to be controversial, both panels found that phonics instruction of varying kinds, especially analytic and synthetic phonics, contributed positively to students' ability to read words on tests of reading words in isolation. Both panels also found that embedded phonics and no phonics contributed to lower rates of achievement for most populations of students when measured on tests of reading words in isolation. The panel recommended an approach it described as "scientifically based reading research" (SBRR), which cited five elements essential to effective reading instruction: explicit [[Systematic Phonics]] instruction, phonological awareness, reading comprehension, vocabulary, and fluency.

Stephen Krashen criticized the evidence presented in the National Reading Panel's Report in 2004<ref>{{cite web |last1=Krashen |first1=Stephen |title=The Phonics Debate: 2004 |url=http://www.sdkrashen.com/content/articles/phonics_debate_2004.pdf |publisher=Language Magazine}}</ref> as well as clarifying the role of reading in acquiring phonics<ref>{{cite web |last1=Krashen |first1=Stephen |title=The Unbearable Coolness of Phonemic Awareness |url=https://www.sdkrashen.com/content/articles/2003_unbearable_coolness_of_pa.pdf}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Krashen |first1=Stephen |title=Is Phonemic Awareness Training Necessary in Second Language Literacy Development? Is it Even Useful? |url=https://www.sdkrashen.com/content/articles/2011_krashen_hastings_phonemicawareness_ijflt_11-11.pdf}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Zammit |first1=Katina |title=Whole language approach: Reading is more than sounding out words and decoding |url=https://phys.org/news/2019-11-language-approach-words-decoding.html}}</ref> and the use of explicit phonics instruction at the beginner level in whole language.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Krashen |first1=Stephen |title=Beginning reading: The (huge) role of stories and the (limited) role of phonics |url=http://sdkrashen.com/content/articles/2019_stories_and_phonics_.pdf}}</ref>

In December 2005, the Australian government endorsed the teaching of synthetic phonics and discredited the whole language approach ("on its own"). Its Department of Education, Science and Training published a [[Teaching Reading, National Inquiry into the Teaching of Literacy|National Inquiry into the Teaching of Literacy]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.dest.gov.au/nitl/documents/report_recommendations.pdf |title=Archived copy |website=www.dest.gov.au |access-date=12 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110812024503/http://www.dest.gov.au/nitl/documents/report_recommendations.pdf |archive-date=12 August 2011 |url-status=dead}}</ref> The report states: "The evidence is clear, whether from research, good practice observed in schools, advice from submissions to the Inquiry, consultations, or from Committee members' own individual experiences, that direct systematic instruction in phonics during the early years of schooling is an essential foundation for teaching children to read."<ref>Page 11.</ref> See {{slink|Synthetic phonics#Acceptance in Australia}}.

In 2006, the U.K. Department for Education and Skills undertook a review of early reading that came out in favor of [[Synthetic phonics]]. Subsequently, in March 2011, the U.K. Department of Education released a white paper entitled "The Importance of Teaching", which supported systematic synthetic phonics as the best method for teaching reading.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.education.gov.uk/schools/teachingandlearning/schoolswhitepaper/b0068570/the-importance-of-teaching/executive-summary/curriculum |title=Curriculum, assessment and qualifications (2012) |work=UK Department of Education |date=10 June 2025 }}</ref>

On 23 April 2022, the Center for Research in Education and Social Policy at the [[University of Delaware]] presented the results of a study of Marie Clay's Reading Recovery long-term effects, finding that the "long-term impact estimates were significant and negative".<ref name="udel report">{{cite report|url=https://www.cresp.udel.edu/research-project/efficacy-follow-study-long-term-effects-reading-recovery-i3-scale/|title=An Efficacy Follow-Up Study of the Long-Term Effects of Reading Recovery Under the i3 Scale-Up|publisher=Center for Research in Education and Social Policy at the University of Delaware|date=23 April 2022}}</ref>

===State of the debate===
Despite these results, many whole language advocates continue to argue that their approach, including embedded phonics, has been shown to improve student achievement. Whole language advocates sometimes criticize advocates of skill instruction as [[reductionism|reductionist]] and describe the use of phonics as "word calling", because it does not involve the use of meaning. The United States National Reading Panel is criticized especially harshly by some in the whole-language community for failing to include qualitative research designs that show benefits for embedded phonics (the panel only considered [[Field experiments|experiments]] and [[Experimental techniques#Test markets|quasi-experiments]]). On the other hand, some parents and teachers have objected to the de-emphasis of phonics in whole-language based curricula (such as Reading Recovery) and have advocated for the removal of whole language from schools.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.nrrf.org/learning/reading-recovery-bites-the-dust-in-columbus-ohio/ | title=Reading Recovery Bites the Dust in Columbus, Ohio – Learn to Read, NRRF}}</ref>

In 1996, the California Department of Education led the way in returning to the teaching of phonics.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1996/05/22/us/california-leads-revival-of-teaching-by-phonics.html|title= NY Times 1996, California Leads Revival Of Teaching by Phonics|newspaper= The New York Times|date= 22 May 1996|last1= Times|first1= The New York}}</ref> By 2014, the department had clear guidelines for teaching children in phonemic awareness, phonics, and segmenting and blending.<ref name="auto1">{{cite web|url=https://www.cde.ca.gov/ci/rl/cf/documents/elaeldfwchapter3.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/https://www.cde.ca.gov/ci/rl/cf/documents/elaeldfwchapter3.pdf |archive-date=9 October 2022 |url-status=live|title= English–Language Arts, Transitional Kindergarten to Grade 1, California Public Schools}}</ref><ref name="auto2">{{cite web|url=https://www.cde.ca.gov/ci/rl/cf/documents/elaeldfwchapter4.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/https://www.cde.ca.gov/ci/rl/cf/documents/elaeldfwchapter4.pdf |archive-date=9 October 2022 |url-status=live|title= English–Language Arts, Pedagogy Grades Two and Three, California Public Schools}}</ref> The New York Public School System followed, and by 2015 had abandoned whole language, Embedded Phonics, and Balanced Literacy in favor of [[Synthetic phonics|systematic phonics]].<ref name="auto">{{Cite web|url=https://www.engageny.org/resource/new-york-state-next-generation-english-language-arts-learning-standards|title=2015 New York State Next Generation English Language Arts Learning Standards}}</ref>

Neuroscientists have also weighed into the debate, some of them demonstrating that the whole-word method is much slower and uses the wrong brain area for reading.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=25GI3-kiLdo |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/25GI3-kiLdo| archive-date=11 December 2021 |url-status=live|title=YouTube 'How the Brain Learns to Read' – Professor Stanilas Dehaene's short lecture (33 minutes) Oct 25, 2013|website=[[YouTube]]|date=25 October 2013 }}{{cbignore}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/03/books/review/Gopnik-t.html|title=Reading in the brain, Dr. Stanilas Dehaene, 2009 |newspaper=The New York Times |date=31 December 2009 |last1=Gopnik |first1=Alison |author-link=Alison Gopnik }}</ref> One neuroscientist, Mark Seidenberg, says "Goodman's guessing game theory was grievously wrong" and "the impact was enormous and continues to be felt". When it come to evidence supporting the whole-language theory, he emphatically states "There wasn't any". He is also especially critical of Smith's book, ''Reading Without Nonsense'', which suggests the following recommendation to help a struggling reader: "The first alternative and preference is to skip over the puzzling word. The second alternative is to guess what the unknown word might be. And the final and least preferred alternative is to sound the word out. Phonics, in other words, comes last." Seidenberg goes on to say that, although reading science has rejected the theories behind whole language, in education they are "theoretical zombies".<ref>Reading at the Speed of Light: How we Read, why so many can't, and what can be done about it, 2017, pp. 267–271, Mark Seidenberg {{ISBN|978-1-5416-1715-5}}</ref><ref name="seidenbergreading.net|title">{{Cite web | url=https://seidenbergreading.net|title= Reading Matters: Connecting science and education}}</ref> Cognitive neuroscientist Stanislas Dehaene has said, "cognitive psychology directly refutes any notion of teaching via a 'global' or 'whole language' method." He goes on to talk about "the myth of whole-word reading" (also: [[sight words]]), saying it has been refuted by recent experiments. "We do not recognize a printed word through a holistic grasping of its contours, because our brain breaks it down into letters and graphemes."<ref>{{cite book|author=Stanislas Dehaene|title=Reading in the brain|publisher=Penguin Books|year=2010|isbn=978-0143118053}}</ref>

====One district's experience: Bethlehem PA====
In 2015, Jack Silva, the chief academic officer for Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, discovered that a lot of students in his district were struggling with reading. In 2015, only 56 percent of third-graders were scoring proficient on the state reading test. Silva conducted a survey of reading instruction methods that were being used. The predominant approach, he learned, involved the use of methods based upon a whole-language philosophy. In response, the Bethlehem district invested approximately $3 million on training, materials, and support to help its early elementary teachers and principals learn the science of how reading works and how children should be taught, focusing on phonics instruction. At the end of the 2018 school year, after the phonics-based re-training, 84 percent of kindergartners met or exceeded the benchmark score.<ref name="NPR">{{cite news |last1=Hanford |first1=Emily |title=Why Millions Of Kids Can't Read, And What Better Teaching Can Do About It |url=https://www.npr.org/2019/01/02/677722959/why-millions-of-kids-cant-read-and-what-better-teaching-can-do-about-it |newspaper=NPR.org |publisher=NPR |access-date=29 January 2019}}</ref>

====Adoption of some whole-language concepts====
While rancor continues, much of whole language's emphasis on quality literature, cultural diversity, and reading [[Guided reading|in groups]] and [[read aloud|to students]] is widely supported by the educational community due to its benefits of increased comprehension.<ref>{{cite web |title=Benefits of Reading Aloud |url=http://www.readingrockets.org/article/reading-aloud-build-comprehension |publisher=ReadingRockets.org |access-date=6 July 2018|date=24 April 2013 }}</ref> The importance of motivation, long a central focus of whole-language approaches, has gained more attention in the broader educational community in the last few years. Prominent critic of whole language Louisa Cook Moats has argued, however, that the focus on quality literature, diversity, reading groups, and motivation are not the sole property of whole language.<ref>Moats, L. C. (2000). ''Whole language lives on: The illusion of "Balanced Reading" instruction.''  Washington, DC: Thomas B. Fordham Foundation.</ref>  She and others contend that these components of instruction are supported by educators of diverse educational perspectives. As one report states, "Reading materials must be carefully chosen so as to be at the right reading level. Phonics instruction cannot stand alone".<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.bccpac.bc.ca/upload/2016/05/reading_breaking_through_barriers.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/https://www.bccpac.bc.ca/upload/2016/05/reading_breaking_through_barriers.pdf |archive-date=9 October 2022 |url-status=live|title=Reading: Breaking Through the Barriers- Copyright ©2009 Catherine Abraham and Joyce Gram}}</ref> Moats contends that the principles essential to whole language, and those that render it ineffective and unfit for reading education are: a) children learn to read from exposure to print, b) hostility to drilling in phonics and other forms of direct instruction, and c) the tendency to endorse the use of context-clues and guesswork to decipher a word rather than phonemic decoding.

====Balanced literacy====
Since 1996, "[[Balanced Literacy|balanced literacy]]" has been suggested as an integrative approach, portrayed by its advocates as taking the best elements of both whole language and code-emphasizing phonics, something promoted by Adams in 1990. In 1996, the California Department of Education described the balanced approach as "one which combines the language and literature-rich activities associated with whole language with explicit teaching of the skills needed to decode words—for all children."<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.ericdigests.org/2000-3/reading.htm|title=Balanced Reading Instruction. ERIC Digest|website=www.ericdigests.org|access-date=14 May 2018|archive-date=3 November 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181103092023/https://www.ericdigests.org/2000-3/reading.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1996/05/22/us/california-leads-revival-of-teaching-by-phonics.html|title= NY Times 1996, California Leads Revival of Teaching by Phonics|newspaper= The New York Times|date= 22 May 1996}}</ref> In 1997, the department called for grade-one teaching of concepts about print, phonemic awareness, decoding, and word recognition, as well as vocabulary and concept development.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.cde.ca.gov/be/st/ss/documents/elacontentstnds.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/https://www.cde.ca.gov/be/st/ss/documents/elacontentstnds.pdf |archive-date=9 October 2022 |url-status=live|title=English–Language Arts Content Standards for California Public Schools}}</ref> In 2014, the department stated, "Ensuring that children know how to decode regularly spelled one-syllable words by mid-first grade is crucial". It went on to say that "Learners need to be phonemically aware (especially able to segment and blend phonemes)".<ref name="auto1"/> In grades two and three, children receive explicit instruction in advanced phonic-analysis and reading multi-syllabic and more complex words.<ref name="auto2"/>

The [[New York City Department of Education|New York Public School]] system adopted balanced literacy as its literacy curriculum in 2003.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2003/08/03/education/new-york-s-new-approach.html|title=nytimes.com/2003/08/03|newspaper=The New York Times|date=3 August 2003|last1=Traub|first1=James}}</ref> However, in 2015, it began a process of revising its English Language Arts Learning Standards, calling for teaching involving "reading or literacy experiences" as well as [[phonemic awareness]] from pre-kindergarten to grade 1, and phonics and word recognition from grade 1 to grade 4.<ref name="auto"/>

Other states, such as Ohio, Colorado, Minnesota, Mississippi, and Arkansas are continuing to emphasize the need for instruction in evidenced-based phonics.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://education.ohio.gov/Topics/Operating-Standards/Table-of-Contents/Instruction/Phonics|title=Rules for Phonics, Ohio}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://education.ohio.gov/getattachment/Topics/Early-Learning/Third-Grade-Reading-Guarantee/Third-Grade-Reading-Guarantee-District-Resources/Approved-List-of-Research-Based-Reading-Instructio/Reading_Competencies.pdf.aspx |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://education.ohio.gov/getattachment/Topics/Early-Learning/Third-Grade-Reading-Guarantee/Third-Grade-Reading-Guarantee-District-Resources/Approved-List-of-Research-Based-Reading-Instructio/Reading_Competencies.pdf.aspx |archive-date=9 October 2022 |url-status=live|title=Reading Competencies, Ohio}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://education.ohio.gov/Topics/Learning-in-Ohio/Literacy/Third-Grade-Reading-Guarantee/Third-Grade-Reading-Guarantee-Teacher-Resources|title=Third Grade Reading Guarantee Teacher Resources &#124; Ohio Department of Education}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.cde.state.co.us/coloradoliteracy/elementaryteacher-literacystandards|title=Elementary Teacher Literacy Standards, Colorado Department of Education, 2016}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/120B.12|title=Sec. 120B.12 MN Statutes|website=www.revisor.mn.gov}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://education.mn.gov/MDE/dse/stds/|title=Academic Standards (K-12)|website=education.mn.gov}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.arkansased.gov/divisions/learning-services/r.i.s.e.-arkansas|title=Reading Initiative for Student Excellence, arkansased.gov/divisions/learning-services, 2018|access-date=2 May 2020|archive-date=30 July 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190730065851/http://www.arkansased.gov/divisions/learning-services/r.i.s.e.-arkansas|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.arkansased.gov/public/userfiles/Learning_Services/RISE/RISE_Arkansas/RISE_Arkansas_2018_Report_REV2.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://www.arkansased.gov/public/userfiles/Learning_Services/RISE/RISE_Arkansas/RISE_Arkansas_2018_Report_REV2.pdf |archive-date=9 October 2022 |url-status=live|title=A New Chapter for Arkansas Students, 2018 Report}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://dese.ade.arkansas.gov/public/userfiles/Learning_Services/RISE/SCIENCE_OF_READING.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://dese.ade.arkansas.gov/public/userfiles/Learning_Services/RISE/SCIENCE_OF_READING.pdf |archive-date=9 October 2022 |url-status=dead|title=The Science of Reading, RISE, Arkansas}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.arkansased.gov/divisions/learning-services/r.i.s.e.-arkansas/its-all-about-meaning|title=It's all About Meaning, arkansased.gov/divisions/learning-services, 2018|access-date=2 May 2020|archive-date=30 July 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190730065926/http://www.arkansased.gov/divisions/learning-services/r.i.s.e.-arkansas/its-all-about-meaning|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.mdek12.org/ESE/literacy/resources-for-teachers|title=Resources for Teachers &#124; The Mississippi Department of Education|website=www.mdek12.org}}</ref>

Critics of balanced literacy have suggested that the term is a disingenuous recasting of whole language with obfuscating new terminology.<ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.ldonline.org/article/6394/|title=Whole Language Lives On: The Illusion of Balanced Reading Instruction – LD Online }}</ref> Neuroscientist Mark Seidenberg, a proponent of the science of reading and the teaching of phonics, writes that, "Balanced literacy allowed educators to declare an end to the increasingly troublesome 'wars' without resolving the underlying issues", and that "Balanced literacy provided little guidance for teachers who thought that phonics was a cause of poor reading and did not know how to teach it".<ref>Reading at the Speed of Light: How we Read, why so many can't, and what can be done about it, 2017, pp. 248 & 266, Mark Seidenberg {{ISBN|978-1-5416-1715-5}}</ref><ref name="seidenbergreading.net|title"/>

[[No Child Left Behind]] has brought a resurgence of interest in phonics. Its "Reading First" program addresses the reading deficiency in elementary students and requires that students must be explicitly and systematically taught five skills: phonemic awareness, phonics, vocabulary, comprehension, and fluency.<ref>{{cite web| url=https://education.findlaw.com/curriculum-standards-school-funding/the-no-child-left-behind-act-s-reading-requirement.html|title=No Child Left Behind: Reading Requirement}}</ref> During the 2000s, whole language receded to marginal status, and continues to fade.{{citation needed|date=March 2022}}

==Proponents and critics==
Prominent proponents of whole language include Ken Goodman, Frank Smith, Carolyn Burke, Jerome Harste,<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/lesson_images/lesson1140/VM0103What.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/lesson_images/lesson1140/VM0103What.pdf |archive-date=9 October 2022 |url-status=live|title=What Do We Mean by Literacy Now? ReadWriteThink.org}}</ref> Yetta Goodman,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.thosegoodmans.net/|title=Ken and Yetta Goodman &#124; Ken and Yetta Goodman's Homepage|website=www.thosegoodmans.net|access-date=17 June 2022|archive-date=26 May 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220526201711/https://www.thosegoodmans.net/|url-status=dead}}</ref> Dorothy Watson,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Watson Literacy Center |url=https://www.park.edu/academics/watson-literacy-center/}}</ref> and [[Stephen Krashen]].<ref>{{cite web |last1=Krashen |first1=Stephen |title=Defending Whole Language |url=http://www.sdkrashen.com/content/articles/defending_whole_language.pdf |website=sdkrashen.com}}</ref>

Widely known whole-language critics include [[Rudolf Flesch]], Louisa Cook Moats,<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.louisamoats.com/Education_%26_Bio.php|title=Louisa C. Moats, ED.D|access-date=26 April 2020|archive-date=16 May 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200516104955/http://www.louisamoats.com/Education_%26_Bio.php|url-status=dead}}</ref> [[G. Reid Lyon]],<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.ldonline.org/ld-topics/reading-dyslexia/why-reading-not-natural-process|title=Why Reading Is Not a Natural Process &#124; LD OnLine|website=www.ldonline.org}}</ref> James M. Kauffman,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://virginia.academia.edu/JamesKauffman|title=James Kauffman &#124; University of Virginia - Academia.edu|website=virginia.academia.edu}}</ref> Phillip Gough (co-creator of the [[Simple view of reading]]),<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://liberalarts.utexas.edu/faculty/goughpb|title=Profile for Philip B Gough at UT Austin|website=liberalarts.utexas.edu}}{{Dead link|date=July 2025 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> [[Keith Stanovich]], [[Diane McGuinness]], [[Steven Pinker]],<ref>{{Citation|last1=Pinker|first1=Steven|author-link=Steven Pinker|title=How the Mind Works|publisher=[[W. W. Norton & Company]]|place=New York|pages=342|date=1997|quote=...the dominant technique, called 'whole language,' the insight that [spoken] language is a naturally developing human instinct has been garbled into the evolutionarily improbable claim that ''reading'' is a naturally developing human instinct.|title-link=How the Mind Works}}</ref><ref>{{Citation|last1=Pinker|first1=Steven|author-link=Steven Pinker|title=The Language Instinct|publisher=[[Harper Perennial]]|place=New York|pages=PS14|edition=3rd|date=2007|quote=One raging public debate involving language went unmentioned in ''[[The Language Instinct]]'': the "reading wars," or dispute over whether children should be explicitly taught to read by decoding the sounds of words from their spelling (loosely known as "phonics") or whether they can develop it instinctively by being immersed in a text-rich environment (often called "whole language"). I tipped my hand in the paragraph in [the sixth chapter of the book] which said that language is an instinct but reading is not. Like most psycholinguists (but apparently unlike many school boards), I think it's essential for children to be taught to become aware of speech sounds and how they are coded in strings of letters.|title-link=The Language Instinct}}</ref> [[David C. Geary]],<ref>{{Citation|last=Geary|first=David C.|author-link=David C. Geary|title=Children's Mathematical Development: Research and Practical Applications|publisher=[[American Psychological Association]]|place=Washington, DC|page=264|date=1994|quote=Constructivist philosophers and researchers...fail to distinguish between biologically primary and biologically secondary cognitive skills. To illustrate, [spoken] language is a biologically primary social cognitive skill. Humans are born with specialized neurobiological systems for the processing of language-related information...Reading, on the other hand, is a biologically secondary cognitive skill. The failure to distinguish biologically primary from biologically secondary skills has led to the development of the ''whole-language'' approach to reading. Here, it is assumed that children will acquire reading skills in the same way that they acquire language skills...Even though many of the neurobiological systems that support language also support reading, these systems have not evolved to automatically acquire reading skills...The belief that reading acquisition will occur in much the same way as language acquisition is almost certainly wrong, and the associated instructional techniques, such as whole reading, are very likely to be a disservice to many children.}}</ref> Douglas Carnine,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.nifdi.org/84-bios/341-doug-carnine|title=Douglas Carnine, National Institute for Direct Instruction}}{{Dead link|date=July 2025 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.wrightslaw.com/info/teach.profession.carnine.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/https://www.wrightslaw.com/info/teach.profession.carnine.pdf |archive-date=9 October 2022 |url-status=live|title=Why Education Experts Resist Effective Practices, Douglas Carnine, 2000}}</ref> Edward Kame'enui,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://ctl.uoregon.edu/about/staff/edward-kameenui|title=Edward Kame'enui, University of Oregon|access-date=26 April 2020|archive-date=1 May 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200501185557/https://ctl.uoregon.edu/about/staff/edward-kameenui|url-status=dead}}</ref> Jerry Silbert,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.nifdi.org/84-bios/339-jerry-silbert|title=Jerry Silbert, National Institute for Direct Instruction}}{{Dead link|date=July 2025 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> Lynn Melby Gordon, [[Diane Ravitch]], [[Jeanne Chall]],<ref>Carnine, D.W., Silbert, J., Kame'enui, E.J., & Tarver, S.G. (2004). Direct instruction reading (4th Edition)</ref> [[Emily Hanford]],<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.apmreports.org/episode/2018/09/10/hard-words-why-american-kids-arent-being-taught-to-read|title=Why aren't kids being taught to read?|first=Emily|last=Hanford|website=www.apmreports.org}}</ref> [[Jordan Peterson]],<ref>{{cite tweet|number=1121933480143749120|user=jordanbpeterson|title=This is an excellent resource for parents who want to quickly and efficiently help their young children master the...|date=27 April 2019}}</ref><ref>https://www.jordanbpeterson.com/podcast/s2-e52-toxic-masculinity-a-12-rules-for-life-lecture/ {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200604160324/https://www.jordanbpeterson.com/podcast/s2-e52-toxic-masculinity-a-12-rules-for-life-lecture/ |date=4 June 2020 }} at around 37:30 "You don't use whole word learning unless you're absolutely bloody clueless"</ref> Mark Seidenberg,<ref>{{cite book |title ="The persistence of the [whole language] ideas despite the mass of evidence against them is most striking at this point. In normal science, a theory whose assumptions and predictions have been repeatedly contradicted by data will be discarded. That is what happened to the Smith and Goodman theories within reading science, but in education they are theoretical zombies that cannot be stopped by conventional weapons such as empirical disconfirmation, leaving them free to roam the educational landscape." Language at the speed of light, 2017, page 271, Mark Seidenberg}}</ref> and Stanislas Dehaene.<ref name="Stanislas Dehaene 222–228"/>

==See also==
* [[Decodable text]], phonics issue
* ''[[Dick and Jane]]'', popular reader in mid-20th century
* [[Direct instruction]], a synthetic phonics method
* [[Three cueing]]
* [[Learning to read]]
* [[Lucy Calkins]]
* [[Reading education]]
* [[Reading for special needs]]
* [[Writing process]]

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==External links==
* [https://doi.org/10.1007%2Fs10548-007-0034-1 Neural Representations of Visual Words and Objects: A Functional MRI Study on the Modularity of Reading and Object Processing]
* [http://www.ericdigests.org/1992-3/library.htm Whole language in an Elementary School Library Media Center. ERIC Digest.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050518090758/http://www.ericdigests.org/1992-3/library.htm |date=18 May 2005 }}
* [https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1529100618772271 Ending the Reading Wars: Reading Acquisition from Novice to Expert]
* [https://www.apmreports.org/episode/2018/09/10/hard-words-why-american-kids-arent-being-taught-to-read Hard Words: Why Aren't Kids Being Taught to Read?, Emily Hanford, September 10, 2018, APM Reports]

{{Literacy}}
{{Standards-based Education Reform}}

[[Category:Learning to read]]
[[Category:Reading (process)]]
[[Category:Educational psychology]]
[[Category:Pedagogy]]
[[Category:Education reform]]