Talking Points - Volume 13, Issue 2, 2001

This speech was delivered at the 2001 Whole Language Umbrella Conference in Chicago, Illinois.

In this article, Krashen examines the results of the NRP’s comparison of skills-based and whole language approaches through the lens of reading comprehension. His findings reveal that even when one accepts the restrictions on what is acceptable research imposed by the panel, when one considers the actual amount of reading done by children and examines the results for tests of reading comprehension, the research does not show that skills-based methods are superior.

New computer technology offers a tool for following the path and focus of the eyes during reading. Reading educator and researcher Peter Duckett reveals the complexity of what goes on as readers read.

Pat Shannon is Professor of Education at Penn State University. He writes widely on the politics of literacy and, in particular, the marketing of literacy. Peggy Albers talked with him in November 2001 about his interpretation of how literacy is marketed in schools today.