Viewing Film and Television as Whole Language Instruction

viewing? Without equally developing viewing skills along with reading, writing, and speaking, it seems to me that the notion of whole language is fragmented and incomplete. Without integrating viewing as a companion to these other activities, we are suggesting that developing literate, capable language users is an exclusive, not inclusive process. And if viewing is being avoided or overlooked because it is seen as practice without process, a mindless engagement, then this is exactly the reason it needs to be included as a valued component in whole language instruction. Robert Blake explains that whole language is really not one concept but rather a constellation of (1990, v) which together compose the universe of language literacy instruction. The wholeness of whole language, then, is best understood by the sum-and inter-relatedness-of five key beliefs: beliefs in the whole person, the whole class, the whole process, the whole discipline, the whole curriculum. I would like to suggest activities focusing on viewing which might be thoughtfully integrated in typical secondary English classrooms, and in doing this I am also advocating that developing literate viewers is not only a process which meets a larger literacy goal but meets this goal by addressing each of these whole language beliefs.