This article describes two educational settings in Nigeria where teachers adapted a language experience approach for reading and writing instruction. The first setting is a professional development workshop for public school teachers of students in grades 1-6. The second setting includes two groups of students with special needs: a grade 6 class…

Offers a description and a rationale for language experience learning, then presents an explanation of current developments and factors influencing the implementation of language experience programs. (FL)

The teaching activities presented in this pamphlet focus on spelling. The pamphlet begins with a discussion of the relationship between spelling and writing. Following that, it describes a language experience approach and its implications, the benefits of daily writing, and the kind of writing that allows a successful spelling program to operate.…

Reviews ways that the word processor makes the language experience approach easier for teachers and students. (FL)

The Apple/Polaroid Language Experience Approach is an extension of the language experience approach which combines photography (a form of communication) and word processing skills. It is considered a holistic approach because it is based on the whole language model of teaching literacy which develops reading skills naturally through the…

The whole-language learning approach is applied to the teaching of writing skills to children with disabilities. Oral storytelling is the basis for an eight-step procedure which progresses from hearing a storyteller through writing a class story and on to publishing and storytelling. (DB)

A whole language approach to learning can be successfully used with children with learning disabilities. The approach can alleviate difficulties children have with memory and cognitive problems, anxiety, self-esteem, locus of control, and attentional deficit. Procedures are outlined for implementation of the whole language approach in resource…

Identifies literacy activities that can be used by volunteers to support classroom instruction. Provides a set of guidelines that teachers may give to the volunteers who work with students in need of additional educational opportunities if the students are to meet the challenge of becoming successful, independent readers. (RS)

The Story Maker is a teaching device that allows children to create stories by choosing options from a set of already-written story segments. This device (1) provides an active language experience that allows children to construct stories easily; (2) demonstrates the consequences of choosing different ways for a story to proceed; (3) avoids the…

A turn-of-the-century printing press motivates elementary students to write. Children write, edit, and print their own stories on the Greenwood School Press. This self-supporting enterprise introduces children to various aspects of writing and producing literature. (DF)

A major topic of interest for teachers participating in a graduate course in reading and computers was the application of word processing to facilitate reading and writing instruction. The course strategy for learning about computers and reading and writing instruction involved identifying helpful articles for theoretical background and practical…

Discusses how microcomputers can stimulate invention in composition, through electronic mail, text analysis, and word processing programs. Describes two exploratory studies designed to examine the feasibility of using a word processor for language experience and sentence-combining activities in the elementary school classroom. (HTH)

Teaching practices in Italy, where teachers combine three different methods for teaching reading, may provide insight into ways to improve methodologies in the United States. The first method is the natural method, which, unlike American methods, teaches reading and writing simultaneously with the emphasis on writing. The teacher writes as…

Children can acquire written language skills and abilities through the natural process by which they acquire oral language. If as infants, toddlers, and preschoolers, children are exposed to rich print environments, they transfer assumptions from experiences with oral dialogue to the more focused situations of print. Discrepancies in the ease with…

The Language Experience Approach (LEA) creates reading materials and writing opportunities through integrated use of the learner's language and experience. Individualized LEA involving a "dictation" approach (child dictates experience; teacher records and reads back experience) is beneficial for hearing-impaired students in terms of increased…