The second edition of Essentials of Elementary Language Arts takes a balanced approach to the Language Arts, employing techniques of both holistic and traditional methods. Important topics are covered without weighing the reader down with heavy citations, lengthy jargon, and radical approaches. Most importantly, the text is designed to be “user friendly,” with many vignettes describing classrooms and examples of teachers' techniques and materials at various grade levels in every chapter.

The text continues to present a brief, yet thorough examination of the major aspects of the Language Arts at a length, format, and price perfect for the undergraduate course in Language Arts methods. It is also ideal for “block” courses (Reading/Language Arts, for instance) where more than one content area method is taught, or for general methods courses where the instructor would like deeper coverage of specific subject areas.