ABSTRACT
Overview is chapter presents the basic dichotomy between two diering philosophies and practices of Language Arts instruction. One focus, the “commonsense,” transmissive tradition or the “pipeline theory,” stresses teaching and the presentation of information and learning as the accumulation of information and the exercising of discrete skills. Such a focus on the content area seems to many in education to be the only way to prepare students for standardized examinations and high-stakes tests. However, direct instruction and the “developmental lesson plan,” focusing, as it does, on formulaic writing and plot-and theme-based reading, tends to alienate students from active engagement with reading and writing. Another stance, the uncommonsense (Mayher, 1990) or constructivist focus, centers on how students actively construct meaning for
themselves. is chapter argues that this progressive stance engages students with authentic reading and writing practices. ough dismissed by many who favor testbased reforms as overly subjective and non-rigorous, the student-centered curriculum actually values the content of the Language Arts curriculum and sees it as enhancing active student engagement with reading and writing.
