Language Arts Journal of Michigan Volume 14 Article 5 Issue 1 Whole Language - Dead or Alive?

1998 Whole Language: Origins and Practice Greg Shafer

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Recommended Citation Shafer, Greg (1998) "Whole Language: Origins and Practice," Language Arts Journal of Michigan: Vol. 14: Iss. 1, Article 5. Available at: https://doi.org/10.9707/2168-149X.1429

This Article is brought to you for free and open access by ScholarWorks@GVSU. It has been accepted for inclusion in Language Arts Journal of Michigan by an authorized editor of ScholarWorks@GVSU. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Whole Language: Origins and Practice

Greg Shafer

People have been arguing about whole lan­ development. For the first time, then. language guage and the educational philosophy it embraces was not something to be taught as much as part of since its inception in the early 1980s. For some, it growth which required guidance. represents a disquieting departure from long- cel­ Chomsky's challenge to behaviorism took tan­ ebrated notions about the political and pedagogi­ gible form in his publication of Syntactic cal direction of our schools. To them, it is nothing Structures in 1957. In this seminal work. he ques­ but a prescription for permissive, indolent, tioned the linguistic model that portrayed lan­ Summerhill-like nonsense. For others, however, it guage acquisition as mechanical and teacher-dri­ is nothing short of a panacea, a revolutionary ven. For B. F. Skinner and the disciples of behav­ response to the top-down, alienating practices of iorism, speech instruction had always been simi­ the workbook era. Advocates point to the liberat­ lar to the conditioning one used to induce a pigeon ing influences of a system that is democratic, one to pick at a colored light. For these educators, that designs lessons around students rather than learning was programmed because children prescribing skills out of context. always responded predictably to a stimulus. Like Such dichotomies, of course, are both exag­ the blank slates of John Locke's time. children gerated and regressive. Whole language and the were seen as vacuous, passive, and dependent theories, lessons, and scholarship which radiate upon instruction. from its philosophy, carry with them few man­ Warriner's English Grammar Book, as an dates for laziness or guarantees of success. What example, was organized with the most basic, sim­ whole language does promote is an invitation to plistic skills introduced first. It was the implicit re-envision the act of learning and the linguistic contention of the authors that children needed to ability children bring to the scholastic context. In be taught language - its syntax and rules ­ this essay, I would like to examine whole lan­ before they could use it. guage, its origins, proponents, theories. and prac­ Chomsky's response to Skinner and his tical application in the high school English class. behavioristic model came in the development of what came to be called transformational grammar. The Noam Chomsky Challenge In it, Chomsky argued that language is meaning­ There is little question that the seeds of the centered, complex. and forever interwoven in the whole language movement are firmly rooted in the life and energy of the learner. Linguist Julia Falk theories of linguist Noam Chomsky and his con­ describes Chomsky's contribution this way: tention that language is natural. generative, and He began to raise questions about how lan­ automatic. For educators. Chomsky's assertions, guage exists in the minds of human beings especially when combined with the work of Jean and about what it is that permits speakers of Piaget and Lev Vygotsky. represented a Copern­ a language to use that language creatively ican-like change in the way language was taught. producing and understanding sentences that Where generations of English teachers had per­ they have never before heard or seen. (71) ceived reading. writing. and speech as artificial, behavioristic responses to conditioning. the From Chomsky's scholarship came an emerg­ Chomskyian school saw them as natural, active, ing model of literacy that represented a dramatic and learner-driven - a predictable step in one's reversal in how the process of learning was

18 Language Arts Journal of Michigan approached. No longer seen as empty receptacles Goodman. "that as children transact with their waiting to be filled with information. the student world. they are capable of doing more than they was now perceived as a creator of knowledge. a appear to be and that they can get much more out generator of information which radiated quite flu­ of an activity or experience if there is an adult or idly from her curious. ever-evolving vision of the more experienced playmate to mediate the experi­ world. "People," argued Chomsky, "come born ence for them" (228). with the ability to develop language. That is, In understanding this philosophy. we must babies learn to speak and listen through a natural focus on words like mediation and nurturer. for process of imitation and maturation" (1975). they capture the essence of the dramatic transi­ tion that was occurring in linguistic scholarship. The Infiuence of Jean Piaget Instead of being acted upon. instead of being Adding wood to the linguistic fire was the taught and conditioned. students were seen as work of Jean Piaget, who, in his own way. con­ active participants in an academic setting that tributed to and refined the theory set forth by acknowledged the amazing ability they brought to Chomsky. Especially interesting was his assertion each context. that children learn language for personal and aes­ Much of this enthusiasm. of course. was also thetic reasons and through a gradual, construc­ precipitated by observations of infants as they tive approach to society. From the Piagetian labo­ acquired language and often began to read and ratory came concepts like accommodation. assim­ write before ever being SUbjected to formal ilation. and schemata. It was Piaget's belief that instruction. Why. scientists asked. do we espouse language was a process of active exploration and a behavioristic approach to language pedagogy discovery - a constant building of meaning. when it seems clear that preschool children learn According to this theory, then, children main­ speech effortlessly and with an efficiency that tained a model or schemata of the world based on belies any need for formal instruction? Indeed. their perceptions and experiences. With each with all of the hand-wringing about why Johnny event. this schemata assimilated and accommo­ can't read. write. or recite the dates of the Civil dated new information and went through gradual War, it is curious to see no examples of children adjustments. Strickland chronicles the Piagetian failing to acquire the language skill that is rarely perception this way: part of a scholastic setting - speech. Emerging from the scholarship of Chomsky, As learners encounter new information, they Piaget. and Vygotsky came a whole language para­ integrate it with what they already know. digm which celebrated the student's inherent abil­ They then apply this new knowledge to novel ity and desire to generate sophisticated. socially­ situations (assimilation) and restructure driven language. Frank Smith. a prominent leader their schemata to include the new knowl­ of the whole language model. best captures its edge (accommodation). (GaIda, Cullinan, tenets when he argues. "my own recommendation Strickland 10) for how reading and writing should be taught is perhaps radical; they should not be taught at all" Vygotsky's Contributions (211). An equally significant contribution to the What Smith advocates, of course. is that skills whole language school was made by Lev Vygotsky. instruction and programmed mastery learning ­ the Russian psychologist and educator who most behavioristic schemes that do not allow for indi­ adamantly advocated a language approach which vidual language experiences - be replaced with celebrated the inherent knowledge of the learner. reading and writing assignments that are mean­ In particular, Vygotsky wrote about the power of ingful for each dynamic individual. Students come social interaction, play. and the importance of cre­ to English classes with an intrinsic desire to make ating learning contexts that foster discovery. "The sense of their world and to do so through commu­ best method for teaching reading and writing is nication. Whole language teachers acknowledge one in which children do not learn to read and this linguistic skill and motivation and design write but in which both of these skills are found in their classes so that learning in school is conso­ play situations" (118). nant with the inventive spirit and personal goals of Thus, continues Vygotsky. educators are most each student. Connie Weaver. who has written a effective in the role of nurturer. Because learning very helpful handbook on whole language says, is an outgrowth of playful, curious ventures into "Meaning and learning should be based on a social interaction, one does not have to reinforce model that emphasizes development which is it artificially or subject it to elaborate schemes. facilitated but not directly controlled by the "Vygotsky helps us to understand," writes Yetta teacher"(9).

Spring 1998 19 The Opposition to Whole Language adjectives, nouns, verbs, and other parts of Over the years, various writers, politicians, speech, is often replaced with meaningful lan­ and media sources have taken aim at whole lan­ guage activities like the composing of creative sto­ guage, vilifying its motives and misrepresenting ries and the discussion of favorite poems. Key to its goals. While many of the attacks have come these activities is the engagement of students in from a lamentable ignorance on the part of T.V. constructing language rather than simply labeling reporters and talk show hosts, evidence exists parts of a whole. It seems clear that people learn that a portion of it has been carefully orchestrated best when they are progressing from whole to part by conservatives who clearly seem threatened by so that they understand the importance of cor­ the implications of a whole language curriculum. rectness and the viability of certain non-standard Indeed, the list of writers who have opposed whole dialects in certain settings. When participants are language initiatives reads like a who's who of con­ immersed in the real world of language use. they servative pundits. William Bennett, Phyllis appreciate its rules and standards by using them Schlafly, Cal Thomas, and Chester Finn have all with real people. Thus, the need to teach students written articles deriding whole language, despite about the rule-governed dialect spoken by African­ its overwhelming acceptance among academic Americans and the way power influences the organizations and respected scholars. "prestige" of certain ways with words. In a whole Many theories have been offered as to why language class. students transcend simplistic whole language has become so partisan and acri­ monoliths about language purity and become monious - and why conservatives in particular more savvy language users in the process. seem threatened by its humanistic objectives. What seems glaringly clear, in the end, is that Literature in the Whole Language Class whole language - with its caveat for student lib­ E.D. Hirsch's 1987 publication Cultural eration and control - scares people who want to Literacy made educators acutely aware of how maintain a hierarchical, top-down approach to important a monolithic cultural literacy is to cer­ learning. The threat of whole language, at least tain people. It also exposed the work as a behav­ from my perspective, lies in its bold challenge to ioristic belief that all people need to be inculcated traditional icons and time-honored practices. with the truths of a classical education because Some teachers feel intimidated by the notion that such information is shared and exulted by our their way is not the only way - that their favorite society as a whole. While we may wonder why any­ authors shouldn't be their students' favorite one has to be prescribed a body of information authors. that is already supposed to be part of their "com­ When students cease to be receptacles of mon culture," we can be equally confused as to information and begin generating their own ideas, why a certain body of information is privileged they occasionally formulate theories that are dis­ over the many colorful cultures of individual concerting to those who want to maintain "author­ students. ity" in the classroom. Thus, the recent controver­ Whole language advocates argue that a truly sy over teaching a literary canon and classes in effective language class begins with students and western civilization helps illustrate the result of progresses from their interests about reading. whole language - where students question rather Rather than subjecting learners to a book list that than absorb - and where learning comes to be was lionized by past scholars and teachers, whole a very personal. reflective activity. "To study," language asks the literature instructor to let argues Paulo Freire, "is not to consume ideas, but pupils shape the reading and the eventual evalua­ to create and recreate them"( 4). tion of what should be considered "classical." What follows, then, are specific ways that Again. because whole language begins with pupils whole language is practiced in classrooms across and trusts their choices, it often replaces canoni­ the nation. While much has been written about cal literature with young adult literature, or, even the radical nature of whole language, it is, in fact, better, with stories written in student publications a very sound and sensible alternative to more con­ by students. To impose a reading list upon stu­ ventional practices. dents - to prejudge what should be venerated ­ is to negate the involvement with language that all Grammar and Language active, successful children experience. Almost a century of research has illustrated the impotence of grammar instruction as a way to The Controversy over Phonics improve writing or enhance students' knowledge Few issues inflame the passions of educators of the parts of speech. In a whole language class­ more than the controversy surrounding phonics. room, grammar, which includes the identifying of The question of whether teachers use phonics or

20 Language Arts Journal of Michigan a whole language approach has become fodder for why anyone writes-and reduce composition to a talk shows, news specials. and journalistic dis­ teacher-driven. five-paragraph formula. Choices cussions. Of course, as with grammar, the phonics are, of course, very important. So too. is the need method is predicated upon a philosophy that for process, allowing writers to immerse them­ attributes virtually no linguistic ability to the read­ selves in the unwieldy, recursive, organiC stages of er. Over the last two decades. a trove of reading generating prose or poetry. Such independent, stu­ specialists. including Yetta and Ken Goodman, dent-centered assignments often foster more com­ Frank Smith, and Connie Weaver have written plex thought since students are given responsibil­ cogently about the inherent limitations of a phon­ ity for invention. ic approach. At the center of each argument lies the contention that language, whether written, Works Cited read. or spoken, is most easily and fluidly learned Chomsky, Noam. ReflectiOns on Language. New when it is holistically meaningful, when it is York: Pantheon Books, 1975. embedded in human experience. Or. to put it more - Syntactic Structures. The Hague: Mouton, concretely, Johnny understands words better 1957. than isolated bits of words, especially when the Falk. Julia. "To be Human: A History of the Study bits make little sense without context. Whole lan­ of Language." Language: Introductory Read­ guage provides a context for the words by estab­ ings. Eds. Virginia Clark, Paul Eschholz, and lishing lessons that have complete stories, Alfred Rosa. New York: St. Martin's Press. 1994. lessons that ask students to read rather than to Foster, Harold. Crossing Over: Whole Language process meaningless fragments in a workbook. In Jor Secondary School Teachers. New York: short, whole language espouses language over Harcourt Brace. 1994. language preparation. Freire, Paulo. The Politics oj Education: Culture, Power and Liberation. Massachusetts: Bergin Composition Instruction and Garvey Publishers, 1985. Whole language proponents stress the impor­ GaIda, Lee, Bernice Cullinan, and Dorothy tance of meaningful. student-centered writing Strickland. Language. Literacy. and the Child. assignments. Studies have shown that only a New York: Harcourt Brace. 1993. small percentage of the papers assigned to stu­ Goodman. Yetta, and Kenneth Goodman. dents are creative or expressive in the sense that "Vygotsky in a Whole Language Perspective." they empower students to write about personal Vygotsky and Education. Ed. Luis Moll. New experience or individual emotions. In considering York: Cambridge University Press, 1995. the significance of allowing for more latitude in Hirsch, E.D. Cultural Literacy. Boston: Houghton the teaching of composition, whole language advo­ Mifflin. 1987. cates would return to the intrinsic desire that all Piaget, Jean. The Language and Thought oj the students have to express themselves and make Child. New York: The New American Library, language meaningful. Because young. preschool 1955. infants who acquire speech demonstrate an Smith. Frank. Insult to Intelligence: The Bureau­ incredible aptitude to learn and grow as language cratic Invasion oj Our Classrooms. Ports­ users, there is no reason to believe that such mouth. New Hampshire: Heinemann, 1986. fecundity cannot be fostered throughout one's lin­ Vygotsky, Lev. Mind in Society. New York: guistic life. Harold Foster, in his book Crossing Cambridge University Press. 1978. Over: Whole Language Jor Secondary School Weaver, Connie. Understanding Whole Language. Teachers, argues that "language teaching should Portsmouth, New Hampshire: Heinemann, be modeled after natural, meaning-centered lan­ 1990. guage development" (10). This translates into aSSignments that foster journal writing and per­ About the Author sonal responses. It militates against fragmented Gregory Shafer, who taught high school lessons that undermine expression - the reason English for ten years, is an instructor of composi­ tion at Mott Community College. Flint.

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