A philosophy about teaching, learning, and the role of language in the classroom. It stresses that children should use language in ways that relate to their own lives and cultures. Children are encouraged to decode words by their context. The common techniques of whole language teaching daily journal and letter writing, a great deal of silent and oral reading of real literature, and student cooperation, to name a few represent that philosophy in action. Comprehension takes priority over technical skills such as spelling.
Students learn phonics or sounding out in the context of reading children's literature.
Recognition - In reading, identifying as known words those that have been decoded or processed as whole words and associating the known words with their meaning and use in language being read. In other words, word recognition is the ability to recognize a previously learned word and its meaning without needing to sound out the word first. A Guide to Promoting Children s Reading Success . National Academy Press, 1999. Education Week Online Manzo, Kathleen Kennedy.