Original sentence: It is often analyzed in contrast to the phonic method of instruction.Whole language has been characterized as encouraging children to guess at the pronunciation of words rather than focusing on phonics or memorization
Edited sentence: Few would argue that deriving meaning from a text is the underlying purpose behind reading.In addition to the graphophonemic system that is known popularly as "phonics", good readers also use semantic and syntactic clues within a text to make meaning.It is often mistakenly characterized as being in opposition to the phonic method of instruction.The whole language approach to reading instruction recognizes that the best readers make use of a wide variety of "systems" to derive meaning from a text.Whole language has been characterized as encouraging children to guess at the pronunciation of words rather than focusing on phonics or memorization; such criticisms in turn highlight the inadequacy of phonics alone to help students gain meaning from texts