Describes the look/listen approach and the look/talk approach of the language experience method of early reading instruction. Suggests guidelines for early literacy development that integrate these approaches through the use of trained classroom volunteers. Identifies resources for implementing the integrated literacy approach. (KB)

This article describes how anecdotal teaching can relate classroom material more effectively than lecture presentations. Personalizing the lesson engages students and increases retention.

A language experience approach to teaching reading is a multifaceted program that encompasses more than just self-expression. (Author/JM)

Working with dictated stories helps young hearing-impaired children improve their ability to communicate. (DD)

Describes a spur-of-the-moment curriculum development activity involving primary-school students researching the "real" Leonardo, Donatello, Raphael, and Michelangelo behind the names of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Notes that the products of the research were shared during a classroom pizza party. (RS)

Describes using the language experience approach as a diagnostic tool with adults who want to learn to read. Offers a checklist. (SR)

Reviews the challenges that college-level English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) programs present to instructors and students. Offers suggestions for authentic language experiences in classroom settings. Analyzes the literature on language and literacy, whole language, and learning styles. Offers examples of thematic units tailored to elicit authentic…

Maintains that, in teaching and in teaching writing, methods matter if they are organic methods that grow out of real-life experiences. Notes that in another sense, all that matters is getting both teacher and student to wake up to their own lives and to what they know, absolutely, within themselves. (SR)

Recognizing the utility and limitations of traditional curriculum and of present language programming for its mostly Navajo population, the Ganado Public School District developed the GLAD (Ganado Language Arts Development) project, which aims to: develop literacy in kindergarten through third grade students; expand and enrich the pedagogical…

Describes several approaches used in trying to teach an adult to learn to read over a period of several years, including the approach that was successful (language experience) because the student was highly motivated to write. (JM)

Describes a bilingual open classroom program for kindergarten children in which the classroom environment is rich with printed language and children are introduced to reading by an individualized system they both enjoy and profit from. Tells how children "write" books, how phonics is introduced, and how reading is incorporated in a variety of…

Presents the case history of an adult nonreader taught to read through the language experience approach, rereading, retelling, assisted reading, and sustained silent reading. (DD)

Describes how to use word processing with first graders in lessons exploring oral and written language via the computer. Suggests ways to use the language experience approach in whole-class as well as small-group instruction. (SR)

Describes the steps involved in adapting the language experience approach for teaching second language learners in the regular classroom as: involving the discussion of student experiences and knowledge related to the text reading selection; recording student experiences and knowledge into written language; and considering student review or…

Surveys the implementation of language experience and considers its benefits. Describes how teachers use language experience to demonstrate that language is used to express ideas and thoughts. Concludes that literacy educators need to redouble efforts to model Language Experience at all levels of professional development and to link theory with…