One advantage of the literature-based approach in teaching reading is that it allows students to understand words in context. Language is nuanced, and so it can be argued that words only find meaning in the way they’re used. Teaching children to read individual words will not help foster the communication skills needed to read and respond to longer texts later in life.
Despite the many advantages of literature, and the obvious importance of literature itself to society, the technique does come with some disadvantages. One disadvantage is that teaching a literary text is much more difficult than teaching individual vocabulary words. Students read at different paces, making structuring class time difficult.