Whole Language and Process Writing: Does One Approach Fit All?

There is a growing concern about the quality of literacy instruction for students with special needs (cf. Allington, 1994; Palinscar & Klenk, 1992). Critics contend there is little special about special education programs for students who have difficulty learning to read and write (Allington, 1994; Allington & McGill-Franzen, 1989; Singer & Butler, 1987). For example, Palinscar and Klenk (1992) found that children in primary-grade special education classrooms spent most of their reading and writing time working alone, completing worksheets, reading directions, and copying board work. They seldom read or wrote for an extended period of time and were "mired in materials that both children and teachers found to be uninteresting and largely irrelevant to their lives" (p. 218).