Lack of Phonics
The whole language approach to learning how to read is the opposite the phonics method that taught generations of children the basics of the English language. With phonics, children learn the sound and inflections of each letter and how to sound out words with which they may not be familiar. In the whole language approach, children have no clue what a word or letter should sound like. They are supposed to see a word and repeat it until they have it memorized and can recognize it among other words. With each word, their pool of words grows, but with this approach each word is an individual and separate item to be remembered. This is unlike the phonics approach where language is built brick-by-brick, and the child learns different sounds and letters with the ability to reconstruct these into a variety of words. Children with limited ability to memorize a sequence of words are at a disadvantage with a whole language approach.
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