Perceptions and Reactions of Language Arts and Reading Teachers

The success of whole language will depend upon its acceptance or rejection by classroom teachers. Some teachers avidly support change to whole language while others are reluctant to do so. Given the shift of language arts instruction from the mastery of skills and subskills to a whole language approach, this study investigated current practices in language instruction, the nature of changes, and the perceptions and reactions of teachers. Although the basal reading program continues to be the most widely-used approach to teaching reading in our country (Flood and Lapp, 1986; Barksdale, Thomas and Jones, 1990), a whole language philosophy is infiltrating elementary schools and appears to be establishing a foothold in many schools. In many instances whole language instruction has been initiated at the grassroots level where teachers are viewing it as a natural process to teaching reading and writing.