Indirect and Direct Teaching in a Whole Language Program

• Published in: The Reading teacher Vol. 42; no. 1; pp. 30 - 34
• Main Author: Slaughter, Helen B.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Newark International Reading Association 01.10.1988; International Literacy Association; Blackwell Publishing Ltd
• Subjects: Children; Children & youth; Childrens literature; Direct instruction; Language; Language arts; Language arts learning; Language teachers; Learning; Literacy; Methods; Reading; Reading instruction; Reading teachers; Study and teaching; Teachers; Teaching; Writing instruction; Writing teachers
• ISSN: 0034-0561; 1936-2714

A model of indirect & direct instruction as it relates to the teacher's role in whole language classrooms is based upon data gathered in an earlier applied ethnographic study of the oral & written language development of high risk students in kindergarten through grade two in six elementary schools (N unspecified). Whole language classrooms tend to place a greater emphasis on indirect instruction, conventional classrooms on direct instruction. However, whole language teachers engage in some direct teaching, but with a meaning- & learner-centered approach rather than a text-centered approach. A framework is presented for comparing teacher-student interactions in the overlapping areas of literacy, oral language, & implicit & explicit evaluations occurring during instruction. The research indicated that high risk students were more engaged in, & responded more positively to, the whole language instructional settings that were sensitive to their learning needs, than to conventional, basal reader classrooms. 2 Tables, 1 Photograph, 17 References. AA