Language+Experience+Approach+(LEA)

=Language Experience Approach= Christy Jansen



The Language Experience Approach is a wonderful way to get ALL students eager to read and write, and is especially effective with second language readers. The beauty of this approach is that **//the students provide the text//**, through dictation, that serves as the basis for reading instruction.

As a result, language-experience reading is tailored to the learners’ own interests, background knowledge, and language proficiency. It builds on linguistic, social, and the cultural strengths and interests the students bring to school. Stories can be dictated by **individual students**, **small groups**, or the **whole class**. Stories are written down verbatim, after which students read them back. Students are usually able to read their own stories with minimal decoding skills because they already know the meaning.

An LEA should record a personal experience that is mem orable and provides the child with a great deal to dictate, such as a field trip, class party, or family tradition.

Advantages
 * Through this approach, students learn to see reading and writing as purposeful communication about their own interests and concerns.
 * The students’ own stories become the core of instruction in:
 * Comprehension
 * Composition
 * Word recognition skills
 * General conventions of English print
 * In addition to providing enthusiasm for reading and writing, the language experience approach helps students make the connection that words on paper are really just "talk written down." It creates a natural bridge between spoken language and written language. Students realize:
 * "What I can think about, I can talk about”
 * “What I can say, I can write."
 * " What I can write, I can read."
 * " I can read what I can write and what other people can write for me to read."

<span style="font: normal normal normal 18px/normal 'Times New Roman'; letter-spacing: 0px; margin-bottom: 13px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Methods for recording:
 * <span style="font: normal normal normal 18px/normal 'Times New Roman'; letter-spacing: 0px; margin-bottom: 13px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"> Chart paper
 * <span style="font: normal normal normal 18px/normal 'Times New Roman'; letter-spacing: 0px; margin-bottom: 13px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"> Overhead projector
 * <span style="font: normal normal normal 18px/normal 'Times New Roman'; letter-spacing: 0px; margin-bottom: 13px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"> Computer - type then print for student
 * <span style="font: normal normal normal 18px/normal 'Times New Roman'; letter-spacing: 0px; margin-bottom: 13px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"> Notebook paper - can be illustrated/bound by students to keep as books

<span style="font: normal normal normal 18px/normal 'Times New Roman'; letter-spacing: 0px; margin-bottom: 13px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">LEA example with an individual student
 * 1) <span style="font: normal normal normal 18px/normal 'Times New Roman'; letter-spacing: 0px;">Ask about a subject (be it a television show, video game or a recent experience) that your student enjoys. Encourage your student to talk about what interests him most, in whatever manner is comfortable for him.
 * 2) <span style="font: normal normal normal 18px/normal 'Times New Roman'; letter-spacing: 0px;">As your student speaks, neatly write down his experience IN HIS OWN WORDS. If he says "don't" where you would say "doesn't", you should still write "don't." This is the time for your student to express his own thoughts in his own way. Of course, you'll want to write with printed letters, not cursive.
 * 3) <span style="font: normal normal normal 18px/normal 'Times New Roman'; letter-spacing: 0px;">When your student has finished his description or narration, review his "writing" and read it together. You may be surprised how easily your student can read his own words--even words that might otherwise be considered difficult.
 * 4) <span style="font: normal normal normal 18px/normal 'Times New Roman'; letter-spacing: 0px;">Your student's creation will be important to him and should be treated as such. Encourage him or her to illustrate it and/or staple it into the form of a book.

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<span style="color: #1b2e66; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal;"> @http://www.sasked.gov.sk.ca/docs/ela/e_literacy/language.html