A COMPARISON OF CHILDRENS DEVELOPMENT OF ALPHABETIC KNOWLEDGE IN A SKILLS-BASED AND A WHOLE LANGUAGE CLASSROOM

This study examined how 6 low-income children developed alphabetic kno wledge in two different instructional settings, skills-based and whole language. Three learners from each setting were matched on their leve l of literacy experience at the beginning of kindergarten and on their level of achievement at the end of first grade. They were observed tw ice a week in their regular kindergarten and first grade classroom con texts. All 6 children learned alphabetic concepts and skills necessary for successful reading and writing, and the pattern of acquisition wa s similar across the two year period in both instructional settings de spite differences in the pace of the children's acquisition of alphabe tic knowledge. The learners in the skills-based classroom acquired alp habetic knowledge primarily through reading basals and writing from te acher prompts. The children in the whole language classroom acquired t he same knowledge reading self-selected literature and writing texts w ith self-selected topics. Both instructional settings provided explici t phonics instruction (albeit contextualized differently), and both se ttings provided time for children to read self-selected books and to w rite. These common components may be necessary in beginning literacy i nstructional programs.