Language Experience Approach
Purpose
To link the learner’s experience and speaking ability to the written word when the learner has
little or no writing ability.
To record learners' own ideas and oral language and use the stories to increase literacy skills.
Procedure
Discuss
Ask the learner to tell you a brief story or share an experience. Listen. Ask for clarification if
necessary.
Tell the learner you would like to write the story or part of the story.
Dictate
Ask the person to retell the story.
Print exactly what the learner says.
Use correct spelling and punctuation, but do not change any words.
Leave a blank line between each printed line in case you must make changes.
Ask the learner to suggest a title for the story.
Note: Some instructors believe that it is important to record learner’s exact words even
if not grammatically correct to help reinforce confidence and participation.
Other instructors believe that grammar mistakes should be corrected because writing
exact words only serves to reinforce grammatical mistakes.
Verify
Read the story back to the learner and ask for any corrections or changes.
Read
Read each sentence aloud, tracking the words with your finger.
Ask the learner to read each sentence after you.
Ask the learner to read the entire story.
File the story
Review the story at the next session. Type it, if possible, and make one copy for you and one for
the learner. Place your copy in a binder or folder as part of a permanent collection of the
learner’s writing and improvement.
Suggestions for stories
Going to the grocery store or a recreational event, a hobby, work or occupation, family, dreams
for the future, issues or problems they are facing.
For ESL: why they came to America, something about their country’s history or culture.
Variations
 Keep the story at two or three sentences if the reader is very much a beginner.
 You might create a semantic web of ideas before telling the story.
 Write about a shared experience, such as a field trip or program function, or something
that happened in class.
 If you are working with a group, find a topic that is familiar to all of them. Have the
learners take turns adding sentences to the story. Read the completed story to them.
What can you do with the story?
 Select and circle five to ten words to practice. Make flash cards for the words.
 Match the flashcards to the words in the story.
 The students can ask and answer questions orally about the story.
 Prepare a CLOZE activity about the story.
 Write each word from one sentence on a separate card. Mix up the cards and ask the
learner to put them into the correct order.
 Write all the words from each sentence on separate cards. Mix up the cards and put the
cards in the correct order.
 Have the student copy the story for writing practice.
 Circle every e (or some other letter) in the story.
 Underline every capital letter.
 Count the number of sentences.
 Make as many words as possible by changing the initial consonant in one of the words in
the story (went, bent, dent, lent).
 Say words that begin with the same consonant blend as a word in the story (start, stop,
stuck). Write them down as the learner says them, then ask the learner to read them.
 Select a word ending you have already studied (-s, -ing). Practice adding it to different
words from the story, then use each word in a sentence.
 Select a word with a long vowel sound and say what the word would be if the sound
were changes to a short vowel (made/mad). Reverse the process (not/note).
 Write contractions from the story and say what words they stand for (wasn’t/was not).
 Circle all the adjectives.
 Give a word or phrase that means the opposite of words from the story.
 Locate on a map the places mentioned in the story.
 Select a list of words to learn to spell.
 Identify cause and effect relationships (Why did that happen?).
 Make a tape of the student reading the story. Listen to the tape to see if it “sounds
right.”
 Use the text to review a grammar point, such as sequence of tenses, word order, or
pronouns.
 Cut the sentences into strips; the student puts them into the correct order.