Whole language is an approach that encourages students to read by sight rather than by sounding out words. The Whole Language approach derives from the constructivist learning theory and Lev Vygostky. In the 1950s, the Dick and Jane series published by Scott Foresman used a “whole word” approach to teaching reading where words were repeated on each page. Whole language practitioners teach to develop a knowledge of language including the graphophonic, syntactic, semantic and pragmatic aspects of language. Within a whole language perspective, language is treated as a complete meaning-making system, the parts of which function in relational ways.