A Lexicon of Learning

What Educators Mean When They Say...

whole language

A technique for teaching language arts that emphasizes the reading and writing of whole texts (sometimes beginning with picture books) before analyzing words and individual letter sounds. Advocates believe it instills a love of reading more than a strictly phonetic approach, which begins with drilling and memorizing the basic vowel and consonant sounds. Although some reading specialists are bitterly divided over the merits of whole language versus systematic phonics, most schools offer a combination of both—some putting more emphasis on reading for meaning, some on component skills. Some programs differentiate instruction according to individual student needs. Research studies indicate that whole-language practices work well with children who are visual, holistic learners.

world-class standards

Content and performance levels that are expected of students in other industrialized countries. Also refers to the movement in the United States to bring students' academic achievement and knowledge on par with students' accomplishments in the other industrialized countries.

In 1993, New Standards (a joint project of the National Center on Education and the Economy and the Learning Research and Development Center) began to collect and analyze tests and documents from other countries whose students performed well on international tests and whose citizens perform well economically and tend to hold skilled jobs. The project was based on the view that educational systems are successful when they set clear, consistent, demanding public standards that make sense in the culture of the school and the country.

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This document contains some material that was previously published in The Language of Learning: A Guide to Educational Terms, edited by J. Lynn McBrien and Ronald Brandt, 1997, Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.