A year-long, quasi-experimental study investigated the comparative effects of a whole language approach and a code emphasis approach upon the emergent literacy of 53 girls in two kindergarten classes in an all girls' parochial school in the Northeast. Subjects in the experimental class received instruction in Holdaway's Shared Book Experience Program, a whole language approach, while subjects in the comparison class received instruction in Lippincott's Beginning to Read, Write, and Listen Program, a code emphasis approach. Emergent literacy--the concepts about reading and writing resulting from a child's first encounters with printed material--was divided into three subsets: linguistic, orthographic, and grapho-phonemic literacy. Posttest results for each of these literacy sets indicated a significant treatment effect favoring the whole language group. The results corroborated Holdaway's research, which indicated a high level of success with the Shared Book Experiences in comparison with a code emphasis approach. The study showed a naturalistic learning model to be structured and viable within a school instructional environment that was informal, relaxed, and supportive. (HTH)