STRENGTH AND WEAKNESS OF WHOLE LANGUAGE APPROACH | TEC
The Whole Language approach is a reading process whereby letting children understand how words are put together to create meaningful sentences in a language. The learner develops to recognize the written form and context of a word rather than sounding it out. With the provided imagery and explanation from the teacher, the child will be able to fully apprehend its meaning.
Advantages:
PROMOTES LEARNING WITH UNDERSTANDING
It motivates children to be able to identify the depths of words in a sentence rather than just having to read each word phonetically. It uses compositions as a tool for learning that ensures there is the meaning behind what he reads and writes.
MAXIMIZES THE CREATIVITY AND INDEPENDENCE OF A CHILD
It encourages the child to use his reading and writing skills to do his everyday tasks by writing simple notes or even journals and diaries making it more fun for him. This primes his dependency on his own perception and self-innovation to apply this method since it is not made to follow any rules or go through lists of sounds.
Disadvantages:
POOR SPELLING SKILL
Since this approach focuses more on the sentence context rather than each word, there is a big possibility that the child who has been taught solely with this teaching may find it difficult to spell words.
INACCURACY
Though the whole meaning of the sentence has been thoroughly explained, there is still a question mark on a child’s mind as to what is the meaning of each word he has read.
DEMANDS MORE TIME AND PATIENCE FOR THE TEACHER
Since this approach does not follow certain rules and teaching structures, this makes things difficult for the teachers as they will have to make their own curriculum and possess excellent knowledge of how to use the whole language approach.
