ABSTRACT
Forty years after Dora V. Smith and NCTE’s Commission on the English Curriculum (Smith & The Commission, 1952) called for integrated language arts in the elementary school, reading is emerging with the richness of a real language art rather than remaining a separate skill-oriented subject. This is the overriding impression one receives from the chapters in this volume. Whereas the Commission called for genuine communication in the classroom, not quite the “meaning making” preferred today, the ultimate intent seems similar, particularly given the stress on literature for children and on thematic and topical units to provide an ideational framework that marked the work of the earlier commission (see Mackintosh, 1954). Some differences remain unresolved in the profession, particularly with respect to the kinds of instruction needed by young people and the ways in which instruction is most effectively introduced; but even the most militant whole language advocate seems now to recognize the importance of planning help for some children, whether by coaching, conferencing, scaffolding, reciprocal teaching, instructional conversations, or even direct teaching. And researchers concerned about skill development seem newly aware of such matters as children’s need to read widely, of the importance of linking oral language and writing to reading, of the power of reading literature aloud, and of the importance of talking about books. Sharp differences remain, especially with respect to the when, why, and how of phonics, but, clearly, leaders in the profession are moving to resolve the baffling clash between those who stress instructional design and those who cultivate language experience.
