In considering the backlash against “whole language” that occurred in the 1990s, I have to wonder whether whole language got a bad “rap” because of a misunderstanding and misapplication as to its use. Some teachers seemed to have taken whole language practices and ideas to the extreme and based their entire reading and writing curriculum on those ideas. But, was it ever meant to be that? Was this the case of educators taking good ideas and “jumping on the bandwagon” without completely understanding what was needed to make it a successful program? The backlash that occurred seems equally misplaced. In a case of “throwing the baby out with the bath water,” politicians and parents sought to do away with the whole language philosophy in its entirety to return to a traditional phonics approach rather than trying to fix the whole language approach. It seems that a number of years went by, and many studies seemed took place, to swing the pendulum back to a middle ground where both approaches are key elements to the curriculum.
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