Discussion 2 (Week 7)

Discuss your opinion on the differences among the whole-word and phonics/decoding approach. Provide examples

Whole Language Approach to reading is a philosophy that assumes that reading and language competency is acquired through integrated use instead of through specific skills such as word attacks, comprehension, and vocabulary. It focuses very heavily on the use of literature and books, rather than phonics readers. The Whole Language Approach involves thematic studies ant the extended use of writing. So an example would be if you are teaching the book "Johnny Appleseed" to your class. Your spelling and vocabulary lessons would be from this piece of literature. You would follow up with a writing assignment on the story. Then you would plant the seeds for science. You would make a graph on how many people in the class like red apples, yellow apples and green apples. This is your math lesson. Then you would sing a song about apples for music. Then you would use the apples for an art project. You could paint them and stamp them on paper in different colors. And so on ..... for each subject matter. The whole language approach philosophy believes that children should learn to read naturally.

A Phonics Based Reading program relies heavily on teaching reading through decoding words. It also teaches spelling rules in a step by step, structured, sequential and cumulative process. In other words the students start with the consonants, then progress to the vowels, then the digraphs, welded sounds, suffixes and prefixes, and so on. The philosophy of a heavy phonics reading program is that through strong decoding skills, the fluency and comprehension will eventually follow. Students begin with Level 1 readers and then progress through until they reach chapter books in this structured manner.

Because all children do not learn in the same way, a blended or differentiated learning approach is necessary. If a child has dyslexia or is struggling with reading then a phonics approach is very important. This child will need a very structured step-by-step phonics program. If a child is very strong in reading and maybe even gifted, then this child will probably love a whole language approach.

Phonics is considered a "bottom up" approach where students "decode" the meaning of a text. The advantage of phonics, especially for students who come to schools with large vocabularies, is that once students get the basics down, they can go to the library and read a wide variety of children's literature.

Whole language is considered a "top down" approach where the reader constructs a personal meaning for a text based on using their prior knowledge to interpret the meaning of what they are reading. Problems associated with whole language include a lack of structure that has been traditionally supplied by the scope and sequence, lessons and activities, and extensive graded literature found in basal readers. Whole language puts a heavy burden on teachers to develop their own curriculum.

"Phonics" emphasizes the alphabetic principle – the idea that letters represent the sounds of speech, and that there are systematic and predictable relationships between written letters and spoken words, which is specific to the alphabetic writing system Children learn letter sounds (b = the first sound in "bat" and "ball") first and then blend them (bl = the first two sounds in "blue") to form words. Children also learn how to segment and chunk letter sounds together in order to blend them to form words (trap = /t/, /r/, /a/, /p/ or /tr/, /ap/).

"Whole language" is a method of teaching reading that emphasizes literature and text comprehension. Students are taught to use critical thinking strategies and to use context to "guess" words that they do not recognize. In the younger grades, children use invented spelling to write their own stories.

Both instructional methods use elements that are emphasized in the other; the differences between the methods are largely related to what is emphasized and the sequence of skill instruction.

the difference between phonics/decoding approach and the whole word approach is that the whole word approach is much easier as words are learned faster than letters. the phonic approach is not natural for children and it will make it hard for the child to acquire the language.

when it came to the whole-word apprch it basiccally about meaning of the word itself (vocabulary)...
for example..... the children acquire language through reading and understanding the context of the word rather, the child see a picture in the book that he or she read then he ask what is it to his mom. The mom answer it is a crocodile rather than saying the sound of each letter to the child....

in the other hand the phonics approach is more likely towards the teaching of sound of each letter.....
for example......... in school the student were taught the sound of each letter which may confusing to a child when they wanna use it in real life situation where we use all chunk of letter to produce a sound....

thus, learning through whole-word are better than learning through phonics approce... this is because it is more benificial and easier...

The idea of whole language vs. phonics is outdated. Balanced literacy is the most current successful approach and incorporates both. Balanced literacy involves five components: phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, comprehension and . The Reading First website is a good website for more information. I believe that this approach works because it meets each child where they are and provides multiple ways to learn to read, because each child learns in a different way. In this approach teachers use flexible grouping so that children can move in and out of groups as needed. For example, a child may be part of a small group of readers who read at the same level and a part of a different group with multiple levels, but who all need to learn a specific strategy.

The Phonics / Decoding advocates focus be on speech, particularly phonemes.

The Whole-Word advocates focus be on meaning, with the whole word as its basic unit.

The difference between there two approach are for whole word approach, it involves the meaning, and it is a a method to teach reading by actually introducing the words to children.

Phonics and decoding on the other hand, only involves the sound of the letter rather than the meaningful concepts.

The phonics decoding approach is focus on the speech forms. Children are required to learn the sound value of letters and letter combination first and by doing so, children will be able to read whole words by decoding words from their component phonemes.

The whole-word approach on the other hand is focus on meaning and communication and NOT on speech.

I think many of us have encountered problems because of decoding, especially in 2nd Language Acquisition.
I have my fair share of personal experiences. When I was around 7 or 8, I was introduced to the word "syarikat" in my BM class. For someone who speaks English as a 1st language n BM as a 2nd language, i have always thought that /y/ is pronounced the same way in all the languages i knew back then...so this is how i used to say "syarikat": see-ah-ree-kaat...it was only a few years later when I encountered the word "skuasy" that I realised the letter /y/ actually helps to aspirate the fricative /s/ in BM, turning it to "sh"...

whole word focuses on the meaning by presenting the whole words as the basic unit. this is when a child will be expose in learning a new words and get to know the meaning as well at the same time. for example in the class where students learn new words and its meaning by using flash cards. while in phonics/decoding approach the words were learned not based on the meaning and sometimes causes confusion to a child. mostly about pronunciation and misunderstanding of the meaning of the words. for example, child may thought insects refers to all type of living things except human if they didn't know the meaning

Whole-word approach is a method that focus on meaning and with the whole word as basic unit, without analysis their subword parts. Using this approach allow people to pronounce a whole word as single unit. By repeating exposure to words with meaningful contexts, people will learn the words without any conscious attention to subword units. So, the development of a whole-word vocabulary is a goal of whole-word instruction. The whole-word concept is a whole to part method of teaching children to read.


Phonics/Decoding approach focuses on the sound values rather than to meaningful concepts.

Whole-word approach is more suitable for learning languages that have ideogram as their characters, for example:
Chinese

Phonics / decoding approach may be more suitable for languages which sounds can be 'guess' from its words or spelling, for example:
English
Malay
Jawi

Overall,

Phonics/ Decoding Approach has 3 problems:
learning words' pronunciation without knowing the meanings is BORING & CONFUSING
eg, learning how to pronounce "bat, mat, cat , pat" correctly but don't know their meaning is not interesting & tend to confuse learners
learning pronunciation by referring to letters in words is difficult
eg, "spit" /p/ is unaspirated; "pit" /p/ is aspirated but their spelling in the words do not show this difference
able say new words bcoz want to convey meaning not bcoz want to produce some sounds
eg, a child may point at a fan using a finger & its finger is also doing a circular motion, the child at the same time may speak inaccurately: [fin], but we know its meaning. This is bcoz of the context of situation & some of the sounds produced by the child, /f/ & /n/.

Whole-word Approach does not have much problems:
children have good memory
to remember the meaning of many words are not a problem for children
induction is used by children
children don't need to be taught about plural, past,... They learn it through self discovery.

The Whole-Word proponents advocate that the focus be on meaning, with the whole word as its basic unit. Comprehension is ensured by using words that represent 'people or things'. For example: names, food, actions, colors.

On the other hand,The Phonics and Decoding proponents advocate that the focus be on speech, particularly phonemes. For example,;phonics included grammar and syntax of a sentence, meaning (semantic) clues, word parts (prefixes, suffixes, base words), and familiarity with similar words (analogy).

Phonics/decoding approach is believed to be effective to some children but somehow it has its own disadvantages.

Phonics/decoding is a system where children will learn through decoding letters according to phonology, now, this would end up having children being able to read and pronounce words accurately, but, the focus is not on the meaning but the sounds ONLY.

Thus, it only relies on the sound without concerning on the meaning where the children would face problem to guess new word in a chunk sentence due to the fact that new world depends on the meaning. for example; "the world is sp...." for a children to guess the word, he/she needs to discover the meaning according to the context, instead of figuring the sound that would start with the consonant clusters "sp". It also difficult for a child to do a decoding process, because according to Bloomfield (1942/1961) in Sciarinni and Steinberg (2006) stated that a word is not a combination of individually sounds. There are sounds that do not appear as it is appears in the word, therefore it is a difficult explanation for a child to decode it.

Meanwhile, whole-word approach is seemed to be much better approach learned especially by fluent learners. Rather than focusing on the phonological aspect, its more effective to focus it on the meaning of the word. Plus it is easier for the children because children are able to store lots of words in their brain, the capacity of their memory is high. So, in any language acquisition context, comprehension precedes production which is parallel to the whole-word approach.

Discuss your opinion on the differences among the whole-word and phonics/decoding approach. Provide examples

Whole-word Approach are more focused on literature and books. Eg. Chinese, Korean, Japanese.
Phonics/decoding approach relies heavily on teaching reading through decoding words. Eg. English, Malay.

basically, there are two ways in teaching children to read which are the whole-word and phonics/ decoding approach.

Concerning phonics instruction, it is ore focusing on the speech, particularly phonemes. plus, it emphasises direct instruction in letter-sound associations and how to use these associations in reading new and familiar words. hence, the research suggests that:-

Phonics instruction is more effective if provided systematically and balanced with instruction in both letter-sound associations and letter sequence-rhyme associations.

Phonics instruction may be best delayed until children have developed the necessary vocabulary and skills.

on the other hand, whole language instruction (also known as “literature-based literacy instruction” or “language experience instruction”), on the other hand, emphasises child-centered instruction, teacher empowerment, integration of reading and writing, and natural language experiences as opposed to direct instruction in isolated skills. simply put, whole-word approach focus on the meaning, with the whole word as its basic unit. research on whole language suggests that:-

Direct instruction in letter-sound associations is not actually necessary for young children to learn letter-sound associations and may not even be appropriate for young children.

The use of literature in teaching is related to the development of oral and written language, and may also have a positive effect on children’s attitudes toward reading.

based on the explanation given above about these two approaches, i believe that whole-word approach is more effective in helping children to learn to read in term of the long-goal aspect. it is true, pronunciation is important in reading but if we are too focus on pronouncing rather than understanding the meaning of the word, we will end up raising the children to speak gibberish as they will talk fluently in English but not knowing what they are saying.

1. The whole-word approach is a method to teach reading by introducing words to children as whole units without analysis of their subword parts.

2. Phonics is a method for teaching reading and writing by developing learners’ phonemic awareness—the ability to hear, identify, and manipulate English phonemes to learn new word.

In my opinion teaching children using the whole word approach is better as it will be easier for the children to understand.

"Phonic" is emphasized word analysis. Children learn letter sounds (b=buh) first and then blend them (bl=bluh) to form words. They also learn strategies to figure out words they don't know.

Drawbacks: Some phonics programs use low-interest reading material and too many boring worksheets.

While, "Whole Language" is emphasized literature and word meanings. Students use critical thinking strategies. In the younger grades, children use invented spelling to write their own stories.

Drawbacks: Some whole language programs place too little emphasis on word analysis or phonics. When that's left out, young readers may guess or skip over words they don't know and some children may not learn how to read.

"Phonic" is emphasized word analysis. Children learn letter sounds (b=buh) first and then blend them (bl=bluh) to form words. They also learn strategies to figure out words they don't know.

Drawbacks: Some phonics programs use low-interest reading material and too many boring worksheets.

While, "Whole Language" is emphasized literature and word meanings. Students use critical thinking strategies. In the younger grades, children use invented spelling to write their own stories.

Drawbacks: Some whole language programs place too little emphasis on word analysis or phonics. When that's left out, young readers may guess or skip over words they don't know and some children may not learn how to read.

the whole-word approach focus on meaning and communication. it is used usually by fluent readers and is a 'top-down' approach where words are being identify. for example, seeing unidentified words in a paragraph or sentence and try to derive the meaning based on the words 'around' it, and taking the meaning as a 'whole'

on the other hand, the phonic/decoding approach focus on speech and only then, the meaning will follow. it is used usually by kindergarteners or someone who just about to learn a new foreign language. it is a kind of 'bottom-up' approach. it is not an effective way as it identify words through the sound values of the letters. for example using the sounds /d/ /o/ /g/ to learn about the animal 'dog', instead of learning the meaning of the word.

Whole language? Phonics? A combination of the two? Which is the best approach? [b]

WHOLE LANGUAGE

Less technique than learner-centered philosophy encouraging children to learn to read the way they learned to speak, plunging in with whole words, sentences and stories

Child selects own reading materials.

Child reads such "authentic" texts as class children's books and magazines.

Child interprets meaning based on experiences and understanding.

Child receives instruction in basic skills "as needed" within the context of what is read. (too bad if you're absent that day, or if the teacher doesn't "notice" you need help with a certain skill.

Child learns to decipher unfamiliar words in context. (They are taught to "guess" what the word might be from the words they recognize surrounding that word filling in with "whatever" until you guess the right word.)

Whole Language Classroom: The teaching philosophy builds on a variety of reading and writing activities that encourage emergent readers to choose their own books, enjoy classic literature, construct meaning from their own experiences, sound out words in context and decipher syntactical "clues".

PHONICS

Teacher Directed reading instruction teaching children to sound out words first.

Children learn to open and hold a book (preferably a basal reader with controlled vocabulary) and discover that words run left to right and top to bottom.

Child masters 44 sound letter correlations that can be created in English (such as bl, pl, cr and br) before they move into actual words and texts.

Child can connect letters to sounds.

Child learns how to blend sounds.

Child recognizes letter-sound patterns such as cat, hat, bat.

Basic Skills Classroom: This teaching philosophy builds on a series of basic skills that introduce emergent readers to such fundamental skills as holding a book right side up, learning their ABCs, linking sounds and letters, connecting sounds and recognizing words with similar sound patterns.