Although the research base is small on adult English language learners (ELLs) who are learning English while also acquiring basic literacy, this research can still guide instructional practices. The essential components of reading skills suggests that the Language Experience Approach has the potential to integrate relevant meaning-focused reading…

The case study of a third-grade learning disabled boy demonstrates effectiveness of meaning-centered tutoring involving observation, reading to S, and hearing the S language experiences. (MC)

Using the language experience approach, the authors adapted a nutrition pamphlet for less skilled adult readers. Comprehensibility and communication effects of this pamphlet were compared to a standard version. Readers were able to comprehend the pamphlet at least as well as the standard version and were more accepting of its message. (Author/CH)

Discusses the effect of previous knowledge on reading comprehension. Suggests reading instruction methods that evoke the readers' experiences, or schemata, relevant to the material. (HTH)

Shows how the language experience approach is a useful tool in teaching expository prose structure to elementary school students. (EL)

Reports findings of a study demonstrating that language experience techniques can help students comprehend math story problems and successfully apply the mathematical concepts necessary for their solution. (FL)

Lists suggestions for implementing a reading-for-meaning instructional approach that focuses on the development and comprehension of language. (FL)

A model is offered for building the vocabulary skills of students with deafness or hearing impairments. The model is based on Piaget's theoretical concepts of assimilation and accommodation. The model presents six sequenced steps for learning new vocabulary and suggests using the Language Experience approach, environmental print, predictable…

Reports findings of a study demonstrating that language experience techniques can help students comprehend math story problems and successfully apply the mathematical concepts necessary for their solution. (FL)

Discusses the need for systematic exploration of claims about the advantages of language experience dictations; recommends that teachers guide the rereading and editing of early dictations to facilitate comprehending behaviors, and that they help children explore writing conventions as their dictations indicate a readiness to learn them. (ET)

Five contributors suggest ways to (1) develop oral reading skills; (2) adapt the language experience approach for use with the mildly handicapped, slow learner; (3) conduct a "ditto-less day" in the classroom; (4) use microcomputers for reading comprehension; and (5) use LEA with basal readers. (FL)

Children in first, second, and third grades were subjects in a study that investigated how well they drew inferences after reading their own dictated stories, peer-dictated stories, and adult-written stories. Results showed they inferred better if they dictated the story themselves or if they were accurate decoders. (HOD)

Makes use of natural language of the beginning reader to teach a unit on dinosaurs. Outlines steps in the approach, strategies to heighten awareness and application, questions for encouraging further study, and a webbing technique. (RT)

Deaf children need reading programs which emphasize comprehension of meaning rather than syntax and grammar. Successful reading programs can emerge when reading is viewed as a highly social experience, reading materials are meaningful and highly contextualized, and semantic processing in American Sign Language is used to assist reading in English.…

For many White Mountain Apache children, their first contact with the English language occurs in Head Start and day care programs, thus forcing them to learn to read and write a language they seldom use. This situation led the tribe to develop an Apache bilingual/bicultural program in which an orthography based on the letters of the English…