Reading Lessons: The Debate over Literacy

by Gerald Coles

Examines how both the phonics and whole language reading instruction methods not only fail to teach children to read and write, but also harm their thinking and behavior patterns

212 pages, Hardcover

First published August 1, 1998

Reviews

[Elizabeth]

A comprehensive (though sometimes, perhaps, needlessly technical) account of how the ways we have gone about pursuing literacy in America presume (1) a particular definition of literacy and (2) preclude certain types of reading.

[Sara]

Debate between whole language and phonomic instruction, so not as helpful as I thought it would be.