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 writing, the library, group instruction by directed reading-thinking activities, individualized directed reading-thinking activities, word recognition, instruction in grade 2 and beyond, and special uses of the language-experience approach. Appended are (1) science activities to motivate language experiences, (2) summaries of four USOE-sponsored studies comparing achievement of language-arts and basic-reader groups, (3) an informal spelling inventory, and (4) book-list sources. Bibliographies are included for each chapter. (Author/CM)