Much discussion today concerns psycholinguist Ken Goodman’s “whole language,” https://www.amazon.com/Whats-Whole-Language-21st-Century/dp/1942146043 which places a strong focus on oral language experiences and reading aloud as a means of encouraging children to use their knowledge. The main structure of whole language is based on speaking, reading, and writing activities that are most naturally nurtured when children use words and concepts from their own experiences.

Teachers avoid overemphasizing correct spelling and grammar. Instead, the emphasis is placed on supporting the child’s self-expression. When working with emergent readers, teachers can record the child’s words to share later or can write them on a chart or bulletin board. Teachers using the whole language approach do not change a child’s words or dialect.

The focus is always on the unique ways children express meaning within context or social situations. In other words, teachers do not break language into bits and pieces for study. Words in isolation or sounds in isolation have no meaning. Children do not need to practice isolated components of language, nor do they need to learn the parts and then put them back together and use them. They do need to learn language in many situations and with a variety of speakers (Brewer, 2001).

Whole language programs are built on this belief that children should learn to read and write in the same natural way they learned to speak. Curriculum-related music, listening, songs, poems, and chants are used. Songs and poems are read aloud to internalize the rhythm and intonation of language. As we listen, we realize how musical speech is. https://study.com/academy/lesson/the-whole-language-approach-to-reading.html