The language experience approach
Why use a language experience approach with ESOL beginners?
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:
- 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 ofusing the language experience approach with ESOL learners.
They advocate the following stages:
- Introduce the topic
- Joint production of text
- Correcting learner errors
- Reading back the text
- Text reconstruction
- Sentence reconstruction
- Copying the text
You can see how this approach works in practice on the ESOL Nexus website at:
How can I use the language experience approach with beginners?
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
- the text generated may be just one or two short sentences
- 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.
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:
- 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:
- 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?
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.
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:
- 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
- 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.
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.
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.
There is also a CPD module on developing writing skills with low level learners at:
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