What is the language experience approach?

The language experience approach is an approach to reading instruction based on activities and stories developed from personal experiences of the learner. The stories about personal experiences are written down by a teacher and read together until the learner associates the written form of the word with the spoken.

Here are some benefits of the language experience approach:

• It brings together writing, reading, art, and language.
• It extends the learners' creativity in storytelling through writing.
• It helps learners understand that what they think and say can be written.
• It is learner-centered and demonstrates that the learners' thoughts and language are valued.
• It provides reading material that is predictable and readable because it uses the learners' natural language.

McCormick 1988

• Concept module: language experience approach
• In overview module: Glossary (Literacy): L
• In modular book: Glossary of literacy terms
• In document collection: Reference materials
• In bookshelf: Literacy

This page is an extract from the LinguaLinks Library, Version 4.0, published on CD-ROM by SIL International, 1999. [Ordering information.]

Page content last modified: 8 December 1998

© 1999 SIL International