The language experience approach
Why use a language experience approach with ESOL beginners?
With a language experience approach, the teacher helps the learner(s) to write
down what they want to say and uses this text as the basis for further work on
reading and writing.
The language experience approach is a participatory approach to teaching literacy
which starts from the learners’ own experiences and uses their own words. It is an
ideal starting point for low level literacy beginners because:
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the content is relevant and meaningful to learners and they are learning to read
and write what they want to say
the language used in terms of structures and vocabulary is at a level that
learners can understand
learners can remember the text and this helps them to remember the words,
giving them confidence in their ability to learn to read and write. This is especially
important for learners who have not learnt to read and write in any language yet.
What are the stages in the language experience approach?
In Teaching Basic Literacy to ESOL Learners (2006) Spiegel and Sunderland
provide a detailed description of using the language experience approach with ESOL
learners.
They advocate the following stages:
1. Introduce the topic
Engage the learners’ interest and generate the
vocabulary for the topic by the use of open questions
(When? What? Where? Why? Etc.)
2. Joint production of text
Here the learner talks about the topic and the teacher
writes it down.
3. Correcting learner errors
Where appropriate, the teacher corrects learner errors.
4. Reading back the text
Ask the learner to read the text, with support as needed.
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The language experience approach
5. Text reconstruction
Cut up a copy of the text into sentences and ask the
learner to reorder the text.
6. Sentence reconstruction
Cut up sentences from the text into individual words and
ask the learner to put the sentence together again.
7. Copying the text
Help the learner to copy the text
You can see how this approach works in practice on the ESOL Nexus website at:
https://esol.britishcouncil.org/content/teachers/staff-room/continuing-professionaldevelopment/language-experience
How can I use the language experience approach with beginners?
My group doesn’t speak English!
The first stage of the language process outlined above involved oral work to
generate ideas for the construction of the text and does assume that learners can
speak some English. Learners on the English My Way programme may have very
limited spoken English and you will need to take this into account.
This means
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the text generated may be just one or two short sentences
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The language experience approach
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you might need to support learners to put their utterances into sentences
It is important to keep the texts short, as learners will need to remember the text.
I am working with a group of learners, not an individual
leaner!
It can be more challenging to use the classroom experience with groups.
With smaller groups where classroom support is available, it may be possible for the
teacher and support worker to record each learner’s responses to a shared topic
individually.
When working with larger groups it is important to make sure that all learners
understand the content of the lesson. This is generally done by creating shared
experiences and writing about them as a group.
Some ideas for constructing a group text at this level include:
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describing a picture
weather in the UK and possibly learners’ own countries
describing the town
likes and dislikes
a class outing
With the language experience approach, the teacher generally writes down the
words the learner has dictated. However, when working with groups, it may be
necessary to reword learners’ contributions slightly:
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Some learners may have better spoken English and may contribute more
complex ideas than other learners can understand, so you may need to simplify
the input
It may be necessary to correct learner errors, as they may confuse others
You may need to change the sentences for group work, for example “I like tea” to
“Amir likes tea”
There is an example of using the language experience approach in Session B in
the Me and my child’s school unit
How can I use the text to develop literacy skills?
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The language experience approach
1) Reading the text
Learners should have the opportunity to read the text as many times as necessary to
give confidence and help them to remember the words. You can do this through a
combination of reading it yourself with the learners following, whole group or choral
reading, paired reading or individual reading.
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The language experience approach
2) Working with the text to develop reading skills
Learners need as much exposure to the text as possible, so it is important to provide
follow on tasks. Follow-on activities to develop reading skills include:
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re-arranging the text.
re-arranging sentences
sight reading key words
To develop sight reading skills you can write key words from the sentences onto
flashcards and ask learners to read them or highlight them in the text. To take
this further you could play games with the key words, such as pelmanism, where
learners have to turn words over and find a matching pair.
working on letter sounds
If you want to develop phonic awareness, you can use the text to focus on sounds,
such as initial letter sounds.
3) Working with the text to develop writing skills
To develop writing skills learners can
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Copy the text
Copying the text gives learners a meaningful context through which to practise
their handwriting skills. Learners, who are just starting to develop literacy skills in
English, will need a lot of practice in handwriting, as they need to learn the shape
and height of letters and their correct formation. This is a slow process which
requires a lot of concentration.
Type the text
Some learners enjoy working on the computer and it can be very motivating for
them to type and print out a text. This needs to be approached with care,
however, as a standard keyboard uses capital, not lower case, letters.
Complete a gap fill activity
The text can be used to create gap fill activities, where learners have to write in
the missing words. This can easily be differentiated by the choice and number of
words left out.
Complete the sentences
You can give learners the first part of the sentences for them to complete.
Learners at this level require a lot of support with their writing and most writing
activities will consist of copying, rather than independent writing activities.
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The language experience approach
Where can I get more information?
If you would like to find out more information about language experience , there is a
CPD module available on teaching basic literacy to ESOL learners, which looks at
different approaches to teaching reading skills and in particular the language
experience approach. To go to the module click here. http://esol.britishcouncil.org/cpdmodules/teaching-basic-literacy-esol-learners-1
You can also download a detailed lesson plan from the ESOL Nexus website which
gives an example of how to use the language experience approach with groups
here. http://esol.britishcouncil.org/lesson-plans/around-our-college
There is also a CPD module on developing writing skills with low level learners at:
http://esol.britishcouncil.org/cpd-modules/teaching-basic-literacy-esol-learners-3
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