ABSTRACT
Deriving from Latin, integrate means to make whole or renew. Definitions from the 1996 American Heritage Dictionary include (a) to join so as to form a larger more comprehensive entity, and (b) to blend, harmonize, synthesize, arrange, incorporate, unify, coordinate, and orchestrate. By their very definition, integration and integrated approaches to literacy instruction are extremely appealing. Further, integrated instruction has been thought to address three needs in education: authenticity, meaningfulness, and efficiency. Integrated instruction is more authentic, being parallel to real-world tasks, not those developed solely for schooling. Integrated instruction is more meaningful-knowledge or information is rarely needed to answer isolated que.stions. Rather, knowledge construction is an integrative process. Third, integrated instruction is efficient, offering hope for greater curriculum coverage. Integrated instruction may be everyone's ideal, but it is the reality in few classrooms. Our literature review convinced us that integrated literacy instruction is one of our field's most multi-faceted and elusive constructs.!
