The article written by Waxler reiterates the importance of integrating Language Arts to other subjects, especially in social studies and science classes, in order to promote reading comprehension in all levels of the educational institution. Apparently, low ELA scores supported this fact by forcing elementary schools to focus more on reading and writing in language arts classes. However, the shift towards concentrating in language arts, such as reading and writing, was at a disadvantage as it lessened the time for social studies and science learning. Integration is the answer for these problems is language arts integration to these courses aforementioned.
The author made a clear and significant statement about the importance of language arts integration in order to strengthen student skills in reading comprehension and writing. Although the author talked about what educational institutions should do, the framework of how the shift to language arts integration should be implemented was not discussed. The problem was determined as proven by English proficiency testing and undesirable learning outcomes in language arts as obtained by educational institutions. The next move is to figure and lay out a plan that would form the base of language arts integration programs and implementation.
The most important move in this entire predicament is to inform educational institutions that promoting the importance of language arts should be only a small part of their educational goals and objectives, such that it should not steer away attention and interest from other courses, such as social studies and science. What the author failed to mention was that subjects, that are highly specialized, such as social studies and science, cannot be merely taught with the principles and instructional methods used in language arts. The point of the matter is that educational institutions should set clear and appropriate boundaries or limitations as to the coverage of language arts integration, while strengthening the foundations of the language arts course as a single subject, and establish language arts integration while keeping in mind the specialized instructional needs in other subjects, such as social studies and science.
