An organic approach to the teaching of reading emphasizes the selection of vocabulary from the experiential background of the child. (JH)

A practical and detailed account of how the language-experience approach to reading instruction functions is presented. The importance of the bond between thought, word, and deed and reading, writing, and school learning is emphasized, The included chapters describe the function of dictated experience stories, building a word bank, creative…

The classroom use of the key vocabulary, developed by Sylvia Ashton-Warner as a reading approach--rather than as a reading method--which utilizes the child's actual experience, is the major concern of this book. Materials used and tested for a number of years present examples, outlines, and various methods for eliciting children's dramas through…

Relates the expressive writing experiences of children at Deddington primary school in rural Oxfordshire. (HOD)

The central focus of this second edition is the same as that of the first edition: to describe the language-experience approach and to identify instructional practices which can be followed to teach reading with this approach. In addition, the volume expands the theoretical foundations of language-experience communication, extends the…

To make sense of unknown words encountered in their reading, children must relate what they read to their prior knowledge. It is important to use children's language in early reading instruction, through the use of language experience stories that provide children with a natural transition from oral to written language. Nursery rhymes may also be…