ABSTRACT
The Simple View states that skill level in reading comprehension can be predicted by measuring two processes: word recognition and language comprehension. There are few people who describe themselves as whole language practitioners or who say their methods are whole language based, but there are certain words and characteristics associated with the movement. Relying on oral language alone and using guessing – rather than decoding – is a dead end for many students. There are many systems in schools that place children into reading groups and in reading levels. In fact, there are gigantic, lucrative systems of levelled readers and their whole language accompaniments everywhere. The strength of Edward Dolch and other whole word advocates’ arguments lies in the fact that children do need to be able to instantly recognise and spell a certain number of high frequency words before they can become fluent readers and writers.
