A study examined whether the integration of whole language with the basal reader would increase the use of language and comprehension of literature. Twenty students and one teacher in a split third/fourth grade classroom in a predominantly white, lower socioeconomic school in Ottumwa, Iowa, participated in the study. For 16 weeks, students wrote in journals daily, read silently every day, and were exposed to a variety of whole language activities as well as using their basal readers. Students were pre and posttested using a reading attitude survey, a reading inventory, and a curriculum-based assessment. Results indicated that: (1) there was an increase in punctuation, length of sentences, subject verb use and length of written work; (2) all students showed an increase of one grade level in comprehension; and (3) there was a 2% increase in positive attitudes toward reading. Findings suggest that the students benefitted from the combined use of whole language and the basal reader. (Two figures and one table of data are included; the reading attitude survey and 66 references are attached.) (RS)