Whole Language as a Method of Acquisition
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To define the approach of the "Whole Language", as a start, demands that we admit the fact that an individual can not possibly learn a sole language skill in isolation from the other skills. All language skills - the four basic skills: listening, speaking, reading, and writing - are to be acquired together, in unity. In fact, treating language as a whole grants the learner the chance to experience the language altogether. Breaking down the unity of language, into chunks, creates obstacles and holds back learners' natural drive to acquire the language. On the contrary, combining skills and creating real-life experiences motivate the learners to take a step forward, and to initiate the journey of fluently using language. So, the more real experiences the facilitator creates, the more the learners are encouraged to participate; the more society-based situations introduced, the more all of the four language skills are utilised. And the facilitator here resembles the teacher in the traditional methods of language acquisition; but he is no more an authority, but embodies, more closer, the role of a partner of the learner. He does not seek to dictate orders and awaits obedience; but he tends to facilitate the process of language acquisition and to bind the obstacles that might hinder the process of communication.
One of the main pillars of the "Whole Language" method is the realism of situations. Reality, according to each learner, needs to be an aim. Using learners' outside-of-the-learning-institution incidents, exchanges, problems, situations, and the like, provides the acquisition of language with a sense of eagerness, and prompts the learners to express their ideas, feelings, thoughts, ... in a more elaborated manner; it essentially makes language learning their very own experiential choice. They tend to be driven by the desire to utilise language skills, correctly, and to extend their ability to manifest their personal progression in acquiring the language. And, as a result, the entire of the process converts its focus to the learners. Social context, in addition, contributes to the before mentioned desire. For instance: "a man is harassing a woman sexually and is exhibiting degrading manners and a whole lot of domestic violence acts"; such a situation is unlimitedly encountered in several societies; How would learners react? How would any human being react? Of course, the previous situation is quite an intense one to react to, especially for beginning and young learners. So the scale of maturity - plus other factors - rules the type of social context deployed. Based on the learners' capabilities, ages, proficiencies, eagerness, the facilitator tries his best to create the best environment he possibly can to enable the learners to communicate as if in real life scenes. Yet confining learners within a precise environment, even if it is an imitation of reality, may limit their abilities and prevents them from unleashing their linguistic powers. Hence learners have to communicate with the outside world as well; with native people, through real unexpected scenes. Such an experience will raise their confidence and allow self-assessment of how much have been accomplished and how much awaits accomplishment.
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There are, essentially, no strict rules guiding the "Whole Langauge" approach; but the guideline to adopt, in favour of learners, is that the "Whole Language" approach is definitely a learner-based approach. The learner determines every aspect of the language acquisition process, not because learners need to be given the upper hand, but because once they have selected what they wanna learn and how they wanna learn it, accompanied by the aid of the facilitator, they enthusiastically embark upon the journey of language acquisition and utilisation driven by their deep desires to achieve the goals they've intentionally set for themselves.
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