Can someone explain phonics vs whole word approach??

[louloutheshamed]

What are the pros and cons of each method??

I'm struggling to come to terms with the fact that while generations were not taught to sounds things out just to recognize the word? Is that right?

I'd say that reading is 'say it, then learn it'

'Whole word instruction became prevalent in the UK after WW2. It took hold in the 1970s, 80s and 90s; a period which coincided with the rise of 'dyslexia' as worried parents, who trusted that their children's teachers knew how to teach reading, sought desperately to find a reason why their perfectly bright and normal children weren't learning to read.'

Hear hear.
So much easier to label kids than to question the method of instruction.
One of my favourite quotes points out that there is more comeback from selling someone a bad burger than there is from giving them a bad education.

"So much easier to label kids than to question the method of instruction."

So true. In DD's school, every possible problem is attributed to a child's plurilingualism. It's a great excuse for never examining the teaching.

The mantra in my field is
'If the child hasn't learnt, the teacher hasn't taught'.

so true