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Reading PK-3

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Reading PK-3 > Strategies > Whole Language

Whole Language

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Overview

Students with strong early literacy skills benefit from a literacy-rich approach. Whole language stresses the importance of students understanding language by reading meaningful texts and drawing connections to their own life experiences. Complementing whole language instruction with phonics-focused lessons is important for these students to build their reading comprehension in context and overall reading success.

Use It in the Classroom

  • Research has found that students with strong early literacy skills, such as Vocabulary and Decoding, made greater gains in reading when engaged in meaning-making activities. For these students, teachers can introduce rich literature and a variety of genres to foster enthusiasm for reading. They can also help support continued growth in Decoding skills through what students are reading by having students draw phonic connections as they appear in the text.

    • Design It into Your Product

    Videos are chosen as examples of strategies in action. These choices are not endorsements of the products or evidence of use of research to develop the feature.

    See how WriteReader applies whole language to help children learn to write when they are also learning to read. Through creating and writing their own books, learners develop their reading and writing skills concurrently, which enhances the meaningfulness of these processes.

  • Products can support whole language by providing diverse texts that are interesting and stimulating to learners. When products, like A2i, provide whole language and phonics instruction, learners continue to build their Decoding skills.
    • View References

    Resources

    Below are additional examples, research, and professional development. These resources are possible representations of this strategy, not endorsements.
    Examples

    Whole Language: An Integrated Approach

    Manual for teaching reading and writing with a whole language focus

    Research

    Reading & Cognition

    Subtopic that explores cognitive models of reading on Digital Promise's Research Map

    Factors Supported by this Strategy

    Language and Literacy
    Cognition
    Social and Emotional Learning
    Student Background

    More Instructional Approaches Strategies

    Dialogic Reading

    With this interactive technique, teachers help students become storytellers by listening and questioning.

    Direct Instruction: Comprehension Strategies

    When teachers provide explicit instruction in comprehension strategies and model when to use them, students learn how to flexibly apply them to make meaning of texts.

    Direct Instruction: Phonics

    As students are learning to read, they benefit from explicit, systematic phonics instruction.

    Direct Instruction: Spelling

    Formal spelling instruction improves not only students' spelling skills but also their reading skills.

    Direct Instruction: Vocabulary

    Seeing and using new words repeatedly and in many contexts is critical for Vocabulary acquisition.

    Family Engagement

    Students are more likely to come to school when families feel like a valued part of the community.

    Guided Inquiry

    In guided inquiry, teachers help students use their own language for constructing knowledge by active listening and questioning.

    Independent Reading

    Independent reading promotes reading development by emphasizing student choice with teacher support in selecting books, as well as by making time for free reading.

    Literacy Centers

    Literacy centers with reading games, manipulatives, and activities support learner interests and promote the development of more complex reading skills and social interactions.

    Mindfulness Activities

    Through short but regular mindfulness activities, students develop their awareness and ability to focus.

    Multimodal Instruction

    Instruction in multiple formats allows students to activate different cognitive skills to understand and remember the steps they are to take in their reading work.

    Non-intensive HLE Intervention Program

    A parent evening meeting about how to support literacy at home with one follow-up meeting with each family has shown strong results for students' reading development.

    Pre-reading Questioning

    Talking with students about what they know about the topic of upcoming work helps activate their Background Knowledge or reveals gaps.

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