differences between whole word approach and decoding approach

helo evry1.. so our topic 4 this week is to differentiate between the whole-word and decoding approach. Basically,there a big distinction between these two approach. The whole-word approach is focuses on semantically or the meaning of the words rather than decoding approach that focuses on the sounds of the words.
The whole word approach is claimed to focus on meaning and communication and not on speech.While, decoding approach is taught to children of how to recognized words according to the sounds.