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.