THE EFFECTS OF WHOLE LANGUAGE ON CHILDRENS WRITING - A REVIEW OF LITERATURE

A review was conducted of 14 studies examining the effects of whole la nguage on learning to write. Although we found that the writing of stu dents in whole-language classes generally improved during kindergarten and the primary grades, reliable differences between the writing of c hildren in whole-language and skills-oriented classes were not found. The only reliable difference between children in these two types of pr ograms involved students' thinking about writing. Students in whole-la nguage classes held a meaning-based view of writing, whereas their pee rs in conventional classes viewed writing from a skills perspective. T here were not enough data available to draw any conclusions about the writing progress of older children.