“Okay, this is the end of today’s class. Every Student should memorize all the labels in “KK” system. Besides, there will be a sentence pattern test. So, pay attention to that!” Perhaps you were familiar with these orders before entering the college. Your teachers might strongly focus on the importance of grammar, sentence patterns, and spelling. If you ask them why, they might answer you, “it is a good way to learn English!” However, from my point of view, their answers are questionable. They just asked students to be book worms! Now, we do not discuss the differences of languages here because every language has their own beauty. I think that the good way to learning language is enforcing “Whole Language”! Here are definition of Whole Language and the reasons why I support it.
You may wonder what Whole Language is. To tell the truth, the words “Whole Language” are hardly defined. As you can see, some people may mistakenly say that Whole Language is a language teaching method. But, that kind of statements are wrong. Yetta Goodman, who is one of major Whole Language experts, said that Whole Language is a teaching philosophy that “teaching as a whole”. Teaching as a whole means that instructors should respect learners’ quality, interests, cultural experience, and everything related to teaching and learning. At the same time, on the “whole” condition, language teaching should cover all the things of learning and learn the whole content of language.
Whole Language can be extended to the definition of literacy and orality, which is a controversial issue. From Whole Language’s viewpoint, the former is the behavior that is eager to realize every writing form, including pictures, signals, and so on. For example, you walk on the street and read the traffic signals. At that time, you make use of literacy. The focus of literacy consists in the acceptance of meaning and realization. The latter refers to the expression of meaning, inclusive of writing and speaking. That is, learners can choose one or more kinds of symbol systems to represent people, places, things, concepts, and so on. The focus of orality lies in expression. For example, when you draw pictures on a blank paper, you make use of orality.
Whole Language has clearly pointed out the quality of language. From Whole Language viewpoint, language is considered undivided, systematic, and inclusive. K. Goodman, a Whole Language expert, says that every language has its inner system. Orality is in one of the elements in language system. So is literacy. If we subtract one of the elements from this system, a language is no longer a language and can not be used. For example, we know that we should pay an attention to intonation when reading and speaking sentences. If we ignore the importance of intonation, the sentences seem to be boring and divided. By this example, we can see that language should not be divided into small elements to be analyzed. We do not have to divide language into four language skills, which are listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Then, according to this idea, the principle of Whole Language lessons is to combine not only so-called four language skills, but language experience and language learning. Whole Language courses focus on learners’ chances to make learners to decide what they want to study.
Here, I would like to introduce “representative” techniques, which includes “guided” and “post-reading”, extended from the spirit of Whole Language.
“Guided strategies” include group echoic reading, reading aloud, silent reading, chunking stories, and say something. Here I introduce these techniques one by one precisely and concisely.
First, Group echoic reading means that teachers lead students to read the texts out loud in order to lessen students’ speaking anxiety because mistakes are less found. Second, Reading aloud means that teachers ask students to read essays frequently to practice reading fast and grasping the idea automatically. Third, Silent reading means that students who can learn fast can begin silent reading and immerse themselves in the beauty of reading! Chunk stories means that teachers divide one article into big chunks, containing one or two paragraph, and students try to ask questions to know the interaction between readers and writers. Last, say something means that teachers should encourage students to express their own ideas and to associate them with their lives.
Then, let us talk about “Post-reading” strategies. One is Retelling stories, which refers to students should try to create a story or situation and to negotiate with others orally after reading. In the process of that, a new idea can be used in original knowledge system. Besides, the other is character journal, which refers to students can choose one central character to discuss characteristics and plots.
We see that the purpose of these methods is to respect learners and learning everything as a whole. The second-language learners can not only learn the content of language, but develop the ability to gaining confidence and expressing thoughts. However, some people mistakenly think that Whole Language is just a teaching method, and others state that Whole Language is only an activity using chunk reading, aloud reading, writing of process, and so on. Seeing their views, I would like to clarify their “misconception”. For one thing, I have mentioned that Whole Language is a teaching philosophy, not teaching methods. The methods I have referred to are “representative methods”. The practical methods can be modified depending on instructors and learners. For another, some activities are the elements of Whole Language, but we can not regard parts as the whole idea of it.
In recent years, some instructors, who are used to teaching in a traditional teaching way, called Phonics, strongly argue against Whole Language. There are following two reasons that they are opposed to Whole Language. For one thing, they think that Whole Language will make students more stupid because Whole Language ignored the importance of grammar, sentence patterns, and other basic foundations of languages. Those who support Phonics show some statistics that many students do not get good grades on standardized tests and experts’ researches after Whole Language is enforced. For another, they think that Whole Language will cause the degradation of reading ability. They accuse that Whole Language supporters ask their students to regard words as symbols. Also, they think that only by Phonics, language can learn languages systematically. So, those who advocate Phonics strongly state that Whole Language should be got rid of in language teaching methods.
However, from my point of view, those who are against Whole Language misunderstand the idea and content of Whole Language. I would like to refute their statements. First, I have mentioned that Whole Language is a teaching philosophy, not one of the teaching methods. So, Whole Language is hardly compared with Phonics because it is not a teaching method. Second, I think that we can say that students got bad grades on standardized tests due to Whole Language. We can not simply judge students’ Intelligence Quotient (IQ). Many factors can control the statistics. For example, interviewees are possibly mentally-challenged. Or, interviewees do not pay attention to their academic study and tests. Therefore, Whole Language is not the only reason leading students’ language ability to degrade. Third, Whole Language teachers do not use the techniques that students should read symbols. They just encourage their students to read. Perhaps in the process of basic reading, Whole Language teachers may suggest that students should not be afraid of reading, so words can be “temporarily” viewed as symbols. But, that teaching strategies do not come from the spirit of Whole Language. Fourth, in Whole Language, grammar, sentence patterns, and some basic elements indeed are less emphasized. However, it does not mean that Whole Language does not pay attention to them. Whole Language focuses on learn language as a whole, not merely basic language elements. Everything related to language should be learned, such as gaining confidence while you are reading. Last, Phonic supporters state that language should be learned languages systematically. However, their teachings are comparatively trivial. If the ideas of essay are less referred to, the whole essay will be less vivid and specific. Even though students finish his “grammatical” writing, his writing will make readers bored at reading it. Therefore, basic language elements are very important, but at the same time, thesis of the essay is important as well.
In conclusion, I think Whole Language can lead learners to learn not only the content of language, but also the beauty of language. Whole Language has been enforced for many years; nevertheless, there are some disadvantages of it. For example, if the students do not have memorized enough words or they are lazy to study, that will be a problem. In the process of developing Whole Language, Whole Language instructors continue to modify the techniques, including the combination of Phonics and so on, but the basic thesis does not allowed to be changed. I hope that Whole Language can really provide a new teaching philosophy in not only language learning but also other subject learning.
Work Cited
Goodman，K（1986）。What’s whole in whole languages？Portsmouth,NH：Heinemann。
Foster, H.M.(1994).Crossing over：Whole language for secondary English teachers.USA：Harcourt Brace.
Froese, Victor(ED.)（1991）.Whole language： Practice and Theory, Boston：Allyn & Bacon.
Norris,J.A&Damico, J.S.(1990).Whole language in theory and practice. Implications for language intervention. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, 21(4)212-220.
Waston, D.J.(1989).Defining and describing whole language. The Elementary School Journal,90（2）,129-142.
Weaver,C.（1990）Understanding whole language：from principles to practice.Portsouth,NH：Heinemann.
Liang ju, Lee. (2006) Whole Language Education, Taipei: National Books
Monday, December 28, 2009
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
For Second Language Learners: Whole Language Will Make You Learn More!
“Okay, this is the end of today’s class. Every Student should memorize all the labels in “KK” system. Besides, there will be a sentence pattern test. So, pay attention to that!” These sentences were spoken by my junior high school English teacher. Perhaps you were familiar with these orders before entering the college. Your teachers might strongly focus on the importance of grammar, sentence patterns, and spelling. If you ask them why, they might answer you, “it is a good way to learn English!” However, from my point of view, their answers are questionable. They just asked students to be book worms! Now, we do not discuss the differences of languages here because every language has their own beauty. I think that the good way to learning language is enforcing “Whole Language”! Here are definition of Whole Language and the reasons why I support it.
You may wonder what Whole Language is. To tell the truth, the words “Whole Language” are hardly defined. As you can see, some people may mistakenly say that Whole Language is a language teaching method. But, that kind of statements are wrong. Yetta Goodman, who is one of major Whole Language experts, said that Whole Language is a teaching philosophy that “teaching as a whole”. Teaching as a whole means that instructors should respect learners’ quality, interests, cultural experience, and everything related to teaching and learning. At the same time, on the “whole” condition, language teaching should cover all the things of learning and learn the whole content of language.
Whole Language can be extended to the definition of literacy and orality, which is a controversial issue. From Whole Language’s viewpoint, the former is the behavior that is eager to realize every writing form, including pictures, signals, and so on. For example, you walk on the street and read the traffic signals. At that time, you make use of literacy. The focus of literacy consists in the acceptance of meaning and realization. The latter refers to the expression of meaning, inclusive of writing and speaking. That is, learners can choose one or more kinds of symbol systems to represent people, places, things, concepts, and so on. The focus of orality lies in expression. For example, when you draw pictures on a blank paper, you make use of orality.
Whole Language really has pointed out the quality of language. From the view point of Whole, first, language is a product owned by individuals and the whole society. Individuals can make language more creative and special. At the same time, society makes language more systematic when languages are developed. Second, languages are so changeable that readers and listeners continually consider and decide in order to reply others needs and to supply enough information for others. Thirds, language is a tool used for communication and popularizing information between human beings. Comparatively speaking, languages should be well modified in order to be more precise and easy to use. So, we can know that language can be wholly referred to. We do not have to divide language into four language skills, which are listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Then, according to this idea, the principle of Whole Language lessons is to combine not only so-called four language skills, but language experience and language learning. Whole Language courses focus on learners’ chances to make learners to decide what they want to study.
Therefore, there are “representative” techniques, which includes guided and post-reading, extended from the spirit of Whole Language. Guided strategies include group echoic reading, reading aloud, silent reading, chunking stories, and say something. Here I introduce these techniques one by one precisely and concisely.
First, Group echoic reading means that teachers read the texts and articles aloud because incorrect speaking can be neglected by loud voice so that learners can not fear speaking. Second, Reading aloud means that teachers ask students to read essays frequently to practice reading fast and grasping the idea automatically. Third, Silent reading means that students who can learn fast can begin silent reading and immerse themselves in the beauty of reading! Chunk stories means that teachers divide one article into big chunks, containing one or two paragraph, and students try to ask questions to know the interaction between readers and writers. Last, say something means that teachers should encourage students to express their own ideas and to associate them with their lives.
Then, let us talk about Post-reading strategies. One is Retelling stories, which refers to students should try to create a story or situation and to negotiate with others orally after reading. In the process of that, a new idea can be used in original knowledge system. Besides, the other is character journal, which refers to students can choose one central character to discuss characteristics and plots.
We see that the purpose of these methods is to respect learners and learning everything as a whole. The second-language learners can not only learn the content of language, but develop the ability to gaining confidence and expressing thoughts. However, some people mistakenly think that Whole Language is just a teaching method, and others state that Whole Language is only an activity using chunk reading, aloud reading, writing of process, and so on. Seeing their views, I would like to clarify their “misconception”. For one thing, I have mentioned that Whole Language is a teaching philosophy, not teaching methods. The methods I have referred to are “representative methods”. The practical methods can be modified depending on instructors and learners. For another, some activities are the elements of Whole Language, but we can not regard parts as the whole idea of it.
In recent years, some instructors, who are used to teaching in a traditional teaching way, called Phonics, strongly argue against Whole Language. There are following two reasons that they are opposed to Whole Language. For one thing, they think that Whole Language will make students more stupid because Whole Language ignored the importance of grammar, sentence patterns, and other basic foundations of languages. Those who support Phonics show some statistics that many students do not get good grades on standardized tests and experts’ researches after Whole Language is enforced. For another, they think that Whole Language will cause the degradation of reading ability. They accuse that Whole Language supporters ask their students to regard words as symbols. Also, they think that only by Phonics, language can learn languages systematically. So, those who advocate Phonics strongly state that Whole Language should be got rid of in language teaching methods.
However, from my point of view, those who are against Whole Language misunderstand the idea and content of Whole Language. I would like to refute their statements. First, I have mentioned that Whole Language is a teaching philosophy, not one of the teaching methods. So, Whole Language is hardly compared with Phonics because it is not a teaching method. Second, I think that we can say that students got bad grades on standardized tests due to Whole Language. We can not simply judge students’ Intelligence Quotient (IQ). Many factors can control the statistics. For example, interviewees are possibly mentally-challenged. Or, interviewees do not pay attention to their academic study and tests. Therefore, Whole Language is not the only reason leading students’ language ability to degrade. Third, Whole Language teachers do not use the techniques that students should read symbols. They just encourage their students to read. Perhaps in the process of basic reading, Whole Language teachers may suggest that students should not be afraid of reading, so words can be “temporarily” viewed as symbols. But, that teaching strategies do not come from the spirit of Whole Language. Fourth, in Whole Language, grammar, sentence patterns, and some basic elements indeed are less emphasized. However, it does not mean that Whole Language does not pay attention to them. Whole Language focuses on learn language as a whole, not merely basic language elements. Everything related to language should be learned, such as gaining confidence while you are reading. Last, Phonic supporters state that language should be learned languages systematically. However, their teachings are comparatively trivial. If the ideas of essay are less referred to, the whole essay will be less vivid and specific. Even though students finish his “grammatical” writing, his writing will make readers bored at reading it. Therefore, basic language elements are very important, but at the same time, thesis of the essay is important as well.
In conclusion, I think Whole Language can lead learners to learn not only the content of language, but also the beauty of language. Whole Language has been enforced for many years; nevertheless, there are some disadvantages of it. For example, if the students do not have memorized enough words or they are lazy to study, that will be a problem. In the process of developing Whole Language, Whole Language instructors continue to modify the techniques, including the combination of Phonics and so on, but the basic thesis does not allowed to be changed. I hope that Whole Language can really provide a new way of teaching for every instructors who wants to teach their learners well!
You may wonder what Whole Language is. To tell the truth, the words “Whole Language” are hardly defined. As you can see, some people may mistakenly say that Whole Language is a language teaching method. But, that kind of statements are wrong. Yetta Goodman, who is one of major Whole Language experts, said that Whole Language is a teaching philosophy that “teaching as a whole”. Teaching as a whole means that instructors should respect learners’ quality, interests, cultural experience, and everything related to teaching and learning. At the same time, on the “whole” condition, language teaching should cover all the things of learning and learn the whole content of language.
Whole Language can be extended to the definition of literacy and orality, which is a controversial issue. From Whole Language’s viewpoint, the former is the behavior that is eager to realize every writing form, including pictures, signals, and so on. For example, you walk on the street and read the traffic signals. At that time, you make use of literacy. The focus of literacy consists in the acceptance of meaning and realization. The latter refers to the expression of meaning, inclusive of writing and speaking. That is, learners can choose one or more kinds of symbol systems to represent people, places, things, concepts, and so on. The focus of orality lies in expression. For example, when you draw pictures on a blank paper, you make use of orality.
Whole Language really has pointed out the quality of language. From the view point of Whole, first, language is a product owned by individuals and the whole society. Individuals can make language more creative and special. At the same time, society makes language more systematic when languages are developed. Second, languages are so changeable that readers and listeners continually consider and decide in order to reply others needs and to supply enough information for others. Thirds, language is a tool used for communication and popularizing information between human beings. Comparatively speaking, languages should be well modified in order to be more precise and easy to use. So, we can know that language can be wholly referred to. We do not have to divide language into four language skills, which are listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Then, according to this idea, the principle of Whole Language lessons is to combine not only so-called four language skills, but language experience and language learning. Whole Language courses focus on learners’ chances to make learners to decide what they want to study.
Therefore, there are “representative” techniques, which includes guided and post-reading, extended from the spirit of Whole Language. Guided strategies include group echoic reading, reading aloud, silent reading, chunking stories, and say something. Here I introduce these techniques one by one precisely and concisely.
First, Group echoic reading means that teachers read the texts and articles aloud because incorrect speaking can be neglected by loud voice so that learners can not fear speaking. Second, Reading aloud means that teachers ask students to read essays frequently to practice reading fast and grasping the idea automatically. Third, Silent reading means that students who can learn fast can begin silent reading and immerse themselves in the beauty of reading! Chunk stories means that teachers divide one article into big chunks, containing one or two paragraph, and students try to ask questions to know the interaction between readers and writers. Last, say something means that teachers should encourage students to express their own ideas and to associate them with their lives.
Then, let us talk about Post-reading strategies. One is Retelling stories, which refers to students should try to create a story or situation and to negotiate with others orally after reading. In the process of that, a new idea can be used in original knowledge system. Besides, the other is character journal, which refers to students can choose one central character to discuss characteristics and plots.
We see that the purpose of these methods is to respect learners and learning everything as a whole. The second-language learners can not only learn the content of language, but develop the ability to gaining confidence and expressing thoughts. However, some people mistakenly think that Whole Language is just a teaching method, and others state that Whole Language is only an activity using chunk reading, aloud reading, writing of process, and so on. Seeing their views, I would like to clarify their “misconception”. For one thing, I have mentioned that Whole Language is a teaching philosophy, not teaching methods. The methods I have referred to are “representative methods”. The practical methods can be modified depending on instructors and learners. For another, some activities are the elements of Whole Language, but we can not regard parts as the whole idea of it.
In recent years, some instructors, who are used to teaching in a traditional teaching way, called Phonics, strongly argue against Whole Language. There are following two reasons that they are opposed to Whole Language. For one thing, they think that Whole Language will make students more stupid because Whole Language ignored the importance of grammar, sentence patterns, and other basic foundations of languages. Those who support Phonics show some statistics that many students do not get good grades on standardized tests and experts’ researches after Whole Language is enforced. For another, they think that Whole Language will cause the degradation of reading ability. They accuse that Whole Language supporters ask their students to regard words as symbols. Also, they think that only by Phonics, language can learn languages systematically. So, those who advocate Phonics strongly state that Whole Language should be got rid of in language teaching methods.
However, from my point of view, those who are against Whole Language misunderstand the idea and content of Whole Language. I would like to refute their statements. First, I have mentioned that Whole Language is a teaching philosophy, not one of the teaching methods. So, Whole Language is hardly compared with Phonics because it is not a teaching method. Second, I think that we can say that students got bad grades on standardized tests due to Whole Language. We can not simply judge students’ Intelligence Quotient (IQ). Many factors can control the statistics. For example, interviewees are possibly mentally-challenged. Or, interviewees do not pay attention to their academic study and tests. Therefore, Whole Language is not the only reason leading students’ language ability to degrade. Third, Whole Language teachers do not use the techniques that students should read symbols. They just encourage their students to read. Perhaps in the process of basic reading, Whole Language teachers may suggest that students should not be afraid of reading, so words can be “temporarily” viewed as symbols. But, that teaching strategies do not come from the spirit of Whole Language. Fourth, in Whole Language, grammar, sentence patterns, and some basic elements indeed are less emphasized. However, it does not mean that Whole Language does not pay attention to them. Whole Language focuses on learn language as a whole, not merely basic language elements. Everything related to language should be learned, such as gaining confidence while you are reading. Last, Phonic supporters state that language should be learned languages systematically. However, their teachings are comparatively trivial. If the ideas of essay are less referred to, the whole essay will be less vivid and specific. Even though students finish his “grammatical” writing, his writing will make readers bored at reading it. Therefore, basic language elements are very important, but at the same time, thesis of the essay is important as well.
In conclusion, I think Whole Language can lead learners to learn not only the content of language, but also the beauty of language. Whole Language has been enforced for many years; nevertheless, there are some disadvantages of it. For example, if the students do not have memorized enough words or they are lazy to study, that will be a problem. In the process of developing Whole Language, Whole Language instructors continue to modify the techniques, including the combination of Phonics and so on, but the basic thesis does not allowed to be changed. I hope that Whole Language can really provide a new way of teaching for every instructors who wants to teach their learners well!
Sunday, December 13, 2009
Reflection II
After the teacher-student conference, I think that I get two points that I can develop my following final paper.
For one thing, I think that I have more ideas how I can construct my paper. Before the teacher-student conference, I had a question whether I should be thoroughly opposed to Whole Language or not. The teacher suggested that I apply those ideas that agree with Whole Language to my final paper as long as the ideas that I apply to could not be seriously confronted with my position. After hearing the teacher’s advice, I think that I will state my thesis and agreed with some thesis of Whole Language, such as encouraging students to read and so on. And I will conclude and introduce my readers to the good language teaching and learning methods from my point of view.
For the other, I have learned that I should have positive attitude towards our group discussion. Due to our ignorance of handing in my annotations, our discussions were so plain that our chat could hardly be related to other group members’ annotations and gave suggestions. I think that we should solve our problems, including our laziness and learning attitude. I believe that only by good interaction, our group members and I are able to write much better.
After teacher-student conference, I hope that I can write a good final paper and truly understand more about language teaching.
For one thing, I think that I have more ideas how I can construct my paper. Before the teacher-student conference, I had a question whether I should be thoroughly opposed to Whole Language or not. The teacher suggested that I apply those ideas that agree with Whole Language to my final paper as long as the ideas that I apply to could not be seriously confronted with my position. After hearing the teacher’s advice, I think that I will state my thesis and agreed with some thesis of Whole Language, such as encouraging students to read and so on. And I will conclude and introduce my readers to the good language teaching and learning methods from my point of view.
For the other, I have learned that I should have positive attitude towards our group discussion. Due to our ignorance of handing in my annotations, our discussions were so plain that our chat could hardly be related to other group members’ annotations and gave suggestions. I think that we should solve our problems, including our laziness and learning attitude. I believe that only by good interaction, our group members and I are able to write much better.
After teacher-student conference, I hope that I can write a good final paper and truly understand more about language teaching.
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
Revised Annotation III
Source:Liang ju, Lee. (2006) Whole Language Education, Taipei: National Books
According to the third annotation, in this revised annotation, I would like to talk much more details, such as practical methods and the process of developing this approach, about Whole Language.
Whole Language is one of study methods that differ from, and even challenge the view of traditional teaching methods. The one who established the basic concept of this is Ken Goodman, which is called “the father of Whole Language”. He read many books about language extensively and tried to figure the pros and cons of traditional language teaching and lay a foundation on Whole Language. He thought that reading is not a process of learning words, but began to regard language learning as a whole body.
Whole Language is not only a philosophy combining theories and techniques, but also a system putting learning, teaching, and teacher-student faith together. Whole Language educators emphasize that the ability of how to listen, speak, read, and write can be learned in our daily lives and experience. Besides, the idea of Whole Language combines part of ideas of these following theories: Humanism, Progressivism, and Language Acquisition. Therefore, we can know that these three theories
In terms of Humanism, Humanists put an emphasis on holistic education. They think state that teaching materials should the learning levels of students. For example, talented students can be taught by means of advanced reading materials, such as Times Magazine and New York Newspaper. In contrast, students who do not learn fast can be taught by means of reading short simple stories and essays. In terms of Progressivism, Deway, who is a master of it, emphasized that teaching should be learner-centered and view learners as whole child. He thought that the cultivation of language ability is not only for a “tool”, but for developing a solution to problems occurred in our daily lives and expressing our ideas. So, we can know that he thought we should read a book before learning how to read; likewise, write essays and sentences before learning how to write. In terms of Language Acquisition, Chomsky, who is a master of Language Acquisition, state that everyone has inborn LAD (Language Acquisition Device). As long as LAD is initiated, everyone can easily understand languages no matter how complex sentences are.
After knowing the idea of Whole Language, let us take a look at the techniques of it. The major technique consists of guided strategies, post-reading strategies. Guided strategies include group echoic reading, reading aloud, silent reading, chunking stories, and say something. Post-reading strategies includes retelling stories and character journal. Here I introduce these techniques one by one precisely and concisely.
First, Group echoic reading means that teachers read the texts and articles aloud because incorrect speaking can be neglected by loud voice so that learners can not fear speaking. Second, Reading aloud means that teachers ask students to read essays frequently to practice reading fast and grasping the idea automatically. Third, Silent reading means that students who can learn fast can begin silent reading and immerse themselves in the beauty of reading! Chunk stories means that teachers divide one article into big chunks, containing one or two paragraph, and students try to ask questions to know the interaction between readers and writers. Last, say something means that teachers should encourage students to express their own ideas and to associate them with their lives.
Then, let us talk about Post-reading strategies. One is Retelling stories, which refers to students should try to create a story or situation and to negotiate with others orally after reading. In the process of that, a new idea can be used in original knowledge system. Besides, the other is character journal, which refers to students can choose one central character to discuss characteristics and plots.
In conclusion, Whole Language really provides a new way of language teaching. The purpose of Whole Language is to hope students to learn, think, and write independently. Compared with tradition language teaching, it is a one more new idea that we can figure out what is a good way to improve our language teaching.
According to the third annotation, in this revised annotation, I would like to talk much more details, such as practical methods and the process of developing this approach, about Whole Language.
Whole Language is one of study methods that differ from, and even challenge the view of traditional teaching methods. The one who established the basic concept of this is Ken Goodman, which is called “the father of Whole Language”. He read many books about language extensively and tried to figure the pros and cons of traditional language teaching and lay a foundation on Whole Language. He thought that reading is not a process of learning words, but began to regard language learning as a whole body.
Whole Language is not only a philosophy combining theories and techniques, but also a system putting learning, teaching, and teacher-student faith together. Whole Language educators emphasize that the ability of how to listen, speak, read, and write can be learned in our daily lives and experience. Besides, the idea of Whole Language combines part of ideas of these following theories: Humanism, Progressivism, and Language Acquisition. Therefore, we can know that these three theories
In terms of Humanism, Humanists put an emphasis on holistic education. They think state that teaching materials should the learning levels of students. For example, talented students can be taught by means of advanced reading materials, such as Times Magazine and New York Newspaper. In contrast, students who do not learn fast can be taught by means of reading short simple stories and essays. In terms of Progressivism, Deway, who is a master of it, emphasized that teaching should be learner-centered and view learners as whole child. He thought that the cultivation of language ability is not only for a “tool”, but for developing a solution to problems occurred in our daily lives and expressing our ideas. So, we can know that he thought we should read a book before learning how to read; likewise, write essays and sentences before learning how to write. In terms of Language Acquisition, Chomsky, who is a master of Language Acquisition, state that everyone has inborn LAD (Language Acquisition Device). As long as LAD is initiated, everyone can easily understand languages no matter how complex sentences are.
After knowing the idea of Whole Language, let us take a look at the techniques of it. The major technique consists of guided strategies, post-reading strategies. Guided strategies include group echoic reading, reading aloud, silent reading, chunking stories, and say something. Post-reading strategies includes retelling stories and character journal. Here I introduce these techniques one by one precisely and concisely.
First, Group echoic reading means that teachers read the texts and articles aloud because incorrect speaking can be neglected by loud voice so that learners can not fear speaking. Second, Reading aloud means that teachers ask students to read essays frequently to practice reading fast and grasping the idea automatically. Third, Silent reading means that students who can learn fast can begin silent reading and immerse themselves in the beauty of reading! Chunk stories means that teachers divide one article into big chunks, containing one or two paragraph, and students try to ask questions to know the interaction between readers and writers. Last, say something means that teachers should encourage students to express their own ideas and to associate them with their lives.
Then, let us talk about Post-reading strategies. One is Retelling stories, which refers to students should try to create a story or situation and to negotiate with others orally after reading. In the process of that, a new idea can be used in original knowledge system. Besides, the other is character journal, which refers to students can choose one central character to discuss characteristics and plots.
In conclusion, Whole Language really provides a new way of language teaching. The purpose of Whole Language is to hope students to learn, think, and write independently. Compared with tradition language teaching, it is a one more new idea that we can figure out what is a good way to improve our language teaching.
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
Annotation IV
Source: Hammond, J. (1992), “Is learning to read and write the same as learning to speak?” Literacy for a Changing World, ed, F. Christie, ACER, Melbourne, pp. 26-54.
Compared with the previous annotation, I would like to introduce disadvantages of Whole Language in this annotation in this annotation.
Well, according to the last annotation, we can know the idea of Whole Language is that writing and speaking should not be separately referred to. Besides, Whole Language experts claim that language learning should be based on language learners’ experience. However, after thirty years from 1970s, the controversies of Whole Language came into being little by little. Nowadays, many language teaching experts begin to strongly disapprove of the teaching methods of Whole Language; even some of them blame Whole Language for causing Literacy Skills to degrade. The reasons why Whole Language is as good as Whole Language specialists originally think are base on three following major reasons.
First, Whole Language put too more emphasis on completeness of articles and sentences. The basic idea of Whole Language is “knowledge is a complete education system and can not be taught by dividing into several pieces.” But, at the same time, comparatively detailed language skills and ability, such as phonics and grammar will be ignored. Then, by using Whole Language Approach, language learner will not pay more attention to details of language. Then, it will be a situation that language learner speak and write so ungrammatically that listener and readers will not understand what they mean. Besides, if grammatical learning is ignored, language learners will not know the relationship between sentences, words, and even sounds.
Second, for second language learners and those who do not learn so well and fast, it will be a burden if Whole Language Approach is put into practiced. According to the thesis of Whole Language, language should begin from language learners’ experience. Nevertheless, this method is suitable for all language learners. For example, in terms of second language learners, it is hard for them to know the meaning of “England in six-wicket collapse”. Comparatively speaking, for those who live in the Australia and the UK, it is much easier to know what it means because they know what it means by their cultural knowledge. Besides, for those who do not learn well and fast, it will be a trouble as well. That is because their learning ability is not good and they need to practice their basic language skills repeatedly and systematically. If their reading skills is not good and they have hard time knowing each part of sentences and words, how come they can know the articles as a whole by only reading it?
Third, Whole Language ignores the difference between oral language and written language. Take English for example. We often hear African Americans are used to use the words such as “ain’t”; however, it is not acceptable to use that word in writing. We can know that writing often be used in formal situations, such as asking for jobs, applying for entering to a college, sending letters to his or her boss and so on. So, writing should be more formal, specific, and clearly stated so that readers can really know what you mean. Contrarily, speaking is much more flexible because people can know what you say by their background knowledge and simply looking at speakers’ facial expression and intonation and other non-verbal “hints”. Besides, speaking often can be used in most situations of conversation, joking, and teaching. In these situations, as long as speakers can speak approximately eighty percent correct, listeners can guess what you mean. Accordingly, we can know that speaking and writing is not the same at all.
Finally, I would like to conclude that there are defects do existing in Whole Language Approach, but the basic idea of it is good. We can see that in recent years, many language educators and Whole Language advocate begin to consider whether the action of Whole Language can not changed or not. Some educators state that Whole Language is a good way for language learning and should continue to be used, others think Whole Language should be totally disposed of, and still others think that they can find helpfulness and advantages for language learners between both traditional language teaching (Communicative approach) and Whole Language Approach, so they think good language teaching method is choosing advantages between them. In sum, from my point of view, a good language learning method is both more advantages and fewer disadvantages for language learners. At the same time, it can really be put into effect to extreme in language teaching. I believe that it is a good language learning method.
Compared with the previous annotation, I would like to introduce disadvantages of Whole Language in this annotation in this annotation.
Well, according to the last annotation, we can know the idea of Whole Language is that writing and speaking should not be separately referred to. Besides, Whole Language experts claim that language learning should be based on language learners’ experience. However, after thirty years from 1970s, the controversies of Whole Language came into being little by little. Nowadays, many language teaching experts begin to strongly disapprove of the teaching methods of Whole Language; even some of them blame Whole Language for causing Literacy Skills to degrade. The reasons why Whole Language is as good as Whole Language specialists originally think are base on three following major reasons.
First, Whole Language put too more emphasis on completeness of articles and sentences. The basic idea of Whole Language is “knowledge is a complete education system and can not be taught by dividing into several pieces.” But, at the same time, comparatively detailed language skills and ability, such as phonics and grammar will be ignored. Then, by using Whole Language Approach, language learner will not pay more attention to details of language. Then, it will be a situation that language learner speak and write so ungrammatically that listener and readers will not understand what they mean. Besides, if grammatical learning is ignored, language learners will not know the relationship between sentences, words, and even sounds.
Second, for second language learners and those who do not learn so well and fast, it will be a burden if Whole Language Approach is put into practiced. According to the thesis of Whole Language, language should begin from language learners’ experience. Nevertheless, this method is suitable for all language learners. For example, in terms of second language learners, it is hard for them to know the meaning of “England in six-wicket collapse”. Comparatively speaking, for those who live in the Australia and the UK, it is much easier to know what it means because they know what it means by their cultural knowledge. Besides, for those who do not learn well and fast, it will be a trouble as well. That is because their learning ability is not good and they need to practice their basic language skills repeatedly and systematically. If their reading skills is not good and they have hard time knowing each part of sentences and words, how come they can know the articles as a whole by only reading it?
Third, Whole Language ignores the difference between oral language and written language. Take English for example. We often hear African Americans are used to use the words such as “ain’t”; however, it is not acceptable to use that word in writing. We can know that writing often be used in formal situations, such as asking for jobs, applying for entering to a college, sending letters to his or her boss and so on. So, writing should be more formal, specific, and clearly stated so that readers can really know what you mean. Contrarily, speaking is much more flexible because people can know what you say by their background knowledge and simply looking at speakers’ facial expression and intonation and other non-verbal “hints”. Besides, speaking often can be used in most situations of conversation, joking, and teaching. In these situations, as long as speakers can speak approximately eighty percent correct, listeners can guess what you mean. Accordingly, we can know that speaking and writing is not the same at all.
Finally, I would like to conclude that there are defects do existing in Whole Language Approach, but the basic idea of it is good. We can see that in recent years, many language educators and Whole Language advocate begin to consider whether the action of Whole Language can not changed or not. Some educators state that Whole Language is a good way for language learning and should continue to be used, others think Whole Language should be totally disposed of, and still others think that they can find helpfulness and advantages for language learners between both traditional language teaching (Communicative approach) and Whole Language Approach, so they think good language teaching method is choosing advantages between them. In sum, from my point of view, a good language learning method is both more advantages and fewer disadvantages for language learners. At the same time, it can really be put into effect to extreme in language teaching. I believe that it is a good language learning method.
Monday, December 7, 2009
Annotation III
The Study of Whole Language Approach
Source: Liang ju, Lee. (2006) Whole Language Education, Taipei: National Books
According to the last teacher-student conference, I found it difficult to develop my paper and annotations if I continued to work on the topic, which emphasized the relationship of orality and literacy. Therefore, I would like to modify my topic a little bit and discuss about whether orality and literacy should be referred to separately or not. Then, I would like to introduce one of the teaching strategies, called “Whole Language Approach” or “Whole Language”, to this annotation.
Whole Language Approach is a new language teaching methods developed in 1990s. The purpose of Whole Language is to enhance language teaching. Whole Language differs from native-speaking countries, such as America and the UK, to non-native speaking countries, like Taiwan and China. In America, Whole Language experts tend to reflected upon the loss alphabetical spelling methods, called Phonics. In contrast, in Taiwan, Whole Language specialists pays more attention to whether orality and literary should be separated. Their answer is “no”. We can see Whole Language can be put into practice differently in different countries.
The reason why Whole Language experts disapprove of the separation of orality and literacy is due to “holism”. Those who support Holism think that it will have a bad effect on learning language if teaching lessons or materials divided into small pieces. They think that if learning is divided into small pieces, this learning will not be coherent and complete. To be specific, we used to learn language in four individual aspects, including listening, writing, reading, and speaking. For Whole Language supporters, language should be regarded as a whole communicative system that learners should learn language by their past background knowledge and experience.
Besides, Whole Language supporters agree to the following ideas: First, by means of encourage students to read books; students can improve their writing and speaking. Second, encourage parents to spend some time accompanying their children when they are reading. Third, different students should be taught by different teaching methods. Fourth, students should read books quietly by themselves. Last but the least, students should participate in many activities so that they can express own ideas in his writing.
In conclusion, we can know that the main idea of Whole Language is that language can not be separately discussed and learned. In addition, they think learners should initiate their language learning by themselves. The most important of all is that the motivation of learning language. Whole Language Believers trust if language learners continue to learn by this way, they will learn languages more completely.
Source: Liang ju, Lee. (2006) Whole Language Education, Taipei: National Books
According to the last teacher-student conference, I found it difficult to develop my paper and annotations if I continued to work on the topic, which emphasized the relationship of orality and literacy. Therefore, I would like to modify my topic a little bit and discuss about whether orality and literacy should be referred to separately or not. Then, I would like to introduce one of the teaching strategies, called “Whole Language Approach” or “Whole Language”, to this annotation.
Whole Language Approach is a new language teaching methods developed in 1990s. The purpose of Whole Language is to enhance language teaching. Whole Language differs from native-speaking countries, such as America and the UK, to non-native speaking countries, like Taiwan and China. In America, Whole Language experts tend to reflected upon the loss alphabetical spelling methods, called Phonics. In contrast, in Taiwan, Whole Language specialists pays more attention to whether orality and literary should be separated. Their answer is “no”. We can see Whole Language can be put into practice differently in different countries.
The reason why Whole Language experts disapprove of the separation of orality and literacy is due to “holism”. Those who support Holism think that it will have a bad effect on learning language if teaching lessons or materials divided into small pieces. They think that if learning is divided into small pieces, this learning will not be coherent and complete. To be specific, we used to learn language in four individual aspects, including listening, writing, reading, and speaking. For Whole Language supporters, language should be regarded as a whole communicative system that learners should learn language by their past background knowledge and experience.
Besides, Whole Language supporters agree to the following ideas: First, by means of encourage students to read books; students can improve their writing and speaking. Second, encourage parents to spend some time accompanying their children when they are reading. Third, different students should be taught by different teaching methods. Fourth, students should read books quietly by themselves. Last but the least, students should participate in many activities so that they can express own ideas in his writing.
In conclusion, we can know that the main idea of Whole Language is that language can not be separately discussed and learned. In addition, they think learners should initiate their language learning by themselves. The most important of all is that the motivation of learning language. Whole Language Believers trust if language learners continue to learn by this way, they will learn languages more completely.
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