Developing written discourse knowledge in whole language and code emphasis classrooms

Although there have been a plethora of studies comparing the effects of whole language vs. code emphasis instruction on children's literacy development, few have examined what children actually learn about features of written discourse in the two instructional settings.

The purpose of this study was to compare the development of written discourse knowledge among young children in whole language and code emphasis classrooms.

Participants were 64 first grade children, 29 boys and 35 girls, in four intact classrooms from a mid-western school district of the United States. About half of them (N = 34) received whole language instruction and the other half (N = 30) code emphasis instruction.

Each child was individually asked to compose a book-like story about a personally relevant experience for others to read at the beginning and end of the school year. The texts were analysed linguistically and statistically in terms of three fundamental features of written discourse--autonomy, conventionality, and specialised grammar.

The children developed more knowledge about the autonomy and conventionality features of written discourse, but their understanding of its specialised grammar remained inchoate. Further, the whole language and code emphasis groups did not demonstrate statistically significant differences in their working knowledge of written discourse.

The nature of instructional programme (whole language vs. code emphasis) appears to have little impact on children's developing understanding of written discourse.