The whole language approach to teaching reading emerged from Noam Chomsky's ideas about language acquisition and was popularized by Ken Goodman in 1967. Whole language emphasizes that children should focus on meaning and strategy when learning to read and write rather than individual letters and sounds. It is a constructivist approach where students construct their own understanding from experiences with language. Key principles include reading and writing for real purposes, meaning-centered instruction, and emphasis on motivation and engagement with literature.

1. WHOLE
LANGUAGE

2. CHOMSKY AND GOODMAN
 The whole language approach to phonics grew out
of Noam Chomsky's ideas about language
acquisition.
 In 1967, Ken Goodman had an idea about reading,
which he considered similar to Chomsky's, and he
wrote a widely-cited article calling reading a
"psycholinguistic guessing game". He chided
educators for attempting to apply what he saw as
unnecessary orthographic order to a process that
relied on holistic examination of words.

3. WHOLE LANGUAGE
 is a method of teaching children to read by
recognizing words as whole pieces of language
 describes a literacy philosophy which emphasizes
that children should focus on meaning and strategy
instruction
 Whole language is a constructivist approach to
education; constructivist teachers emphasize that
students create (construct) their own knowledge
from what they encounter

4.  Whole language teachers believe that children learn to
read by writing, and vice versa.
 The whole language philosophy emphasizes children’s
efforts to make meaning and seek meaning in language;
therefore, correcting errors places the focus on technical
correctness, which is not where whole language teachers
believe it should be
 the whole language approach can also present problems
for students with reading difficulties

5. SEVERAL STRANDS RUN THROUGH MOST
DESCRIPTIONS OF WHOLE LANGUAGE:
 focus on making meaning in reading and expressing
meaning in writing;
 constructivist approaches to knowledge creation,
emphasizing students' interpretations of text and free
expression of ideas in writing (often through daily journal
entries);
 emphasis on high-quality and culturally-diverse
literature;
 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 alouds"
 by students independently;

6.  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 (different from synthetic or
analytic phonics); and
 emphasis on using and understanding the
meaning-making role of phonics, grammar, spelling,
capitalization and punctuation in diverse social
contexts.

7. SOME KEY CHARACTERISTICS OF WHOLE LANGUAGE
EDUCATION
 Acceptance of learners
- whole language teachers develop the classroom
environment and the curriculum for and with the students,
to meet their needs and engage them in learning about
what interests them, as well as to cover essentials from
the curriculum guidelines.
 Flexibility with structure
-whole language teacher organize the day in larger
blocks of time, so that children engage in meaningful
pursuits.

8.  Supportive Classroom community
- teachers helpchildren skills for interacting with
each other, solving interpersonal conflicts and
problems, supporting one another in learning, and
taking substantial responsability for their own
behavior and learning
 Skills taught in context
- Instead of being taught in isolation, skills are
taught through mini-lessons and conferences, in the
context of students´reading, writing, and learning. In
short, skills are taught while students are engaged
in real-life tasks.

9.  Teacher support for learning
- Whole language teachers help children write the
sounds they hear in words, thus enabling the
children to communicate through writing
o Contextualized assessment that emphasizes
individuals´growth as well as their accomplishments
- Children is involved in assesing their own work
progress, and setting future goals for learning