litstorywholelanguage

In the eastern region of the kingdom lived the theory of whole language literacy, Envira. When someone walked into a classroom whose belief system lay in the theory of whole language, they would see words everywhere, taped, stapled, and glued to everything and anything in the room. Students and teachers immersed themselves in the literacy of the environment on a daily basis. Word and image association, Envira believed to be the best way of communicating literacy education to the children of the kingdom. For example,when students see a desk, they also see the word “desk” and would begin to associate that word with the image.

This was fun, decorative, and students loved it. They could observe, create, and then label their work. Along with this, there was also the freedom of writing however they wanted to, not to worry about any of the rules that ABC-Ib4E was professing. There wasn’t a huge monetary expense except for the purchasing of more picture books and young readers. Teachers loved it because their “work” was on display all the time. But soon, it became burdensome, and then DRA scores started drooping. Students weren’t at grade level in writing simple sentences or at decoding vocabulary. In later grades, students’ reading levels were lower than in past years, and the difficulties in reading were passed on in writing; students couldn’t even edit their own writing. Once the students entered the intermediate and middle levels, many discrepancies were observed.

Envira stood strong, however. “How much better can it be? The students see the words all around them, hear the words all around them, speak the words all around them, and write as they see and hear the language. It’s all so natural and adaptive. Let them invent their own language; there’s no harm. Everyone is happy.”

The eighth graders at Castleton Village thanked Envira for its theory. They agreed that this theory was used by their foreign language teachers on a frequent basis and was also a part of Vocab Rehab in language arts every week.

“Parts of whole language literacy are certainly helpful in our foreign language classes, and it’s a good part of Vocab Rehab because it helps us see the words in different ways, but we need to know and use the rules.”