The Language Experience Approach

The text of this training paper has been transcribed for the Web. Click on the links below to go to the paragraph you need:-

Introduction

The approach outlined below is recommended for the reader with whom all previous methods have failed. Using it, I have personally taught many non-readers ranging from children in occupation centres to illiterate adults, as well as children in ordinary schools who, through apparently, otherwise normal, have not previously been able to read. Some hundreds of tutors trained by me to teach reading either at initial or in-service courses can testify to the efficiency of this approach.

Materials

The following materials are needed; two cards, each about A4 in size, ruled off with pencil lines about an inch apart; a scribbling pad; two black felt tip pens; a pair of scissors; and two A4 sized envelopes.

The First Steps

Get your student to talk to you about anything that interests them. Prod them if necessary to generate about ten sentences or utterances on a topic of their interest. The first child with whom I tried this had precious little language but I managed to get from her that she sometimes helped Mummy and this is what she said:-

Scribble down fast on your pad exactly what your student tells you. Read back their own words as soon as they have finished speaking, and ask them if this is what they have just said. They will agree. Say to them "Now we will read that. Watch me".

Transfer their exact speech from your pad to one of the ruled cards, in pencil in large print, keeping each sentence to its own line as I have done in the example above. As you print each word, read it aloud asking them to do the same. As you finish each sentence, read it aloud, asking your student to repeat it through from start to finish, then ask them to read it aloud themselves; you should help your student if they have any difficulties. This is not likely however, as they will remember saying the words and the order in which they said them.

Reinforcing the Message

Give your student a black felt tip pen and ask them to trace over your pencilled print with it, saying each word as they trace it; and reading each sentence in its entirety as it is completed. When the whole thing has been traced, read it aloud from start to finish and then get the student to do the same.

The student will then have "written" themselves their own words and sentences and produced their own first page of their own first reading book. On the other ruled card, quickly make an exact copy of this "first page" for yourself with the other black felt tip pen.

Sentence Strips

Cut your card along the pencilled lines into sentence strips. Shuffle them and flash them to the student in random order. Let them consult their own master card and match the sentence strips to it as they read each one.

When all the sentences have been matched and read, collect the strips, shuffle them and place them between you to play the sentence game. Take an A4 envelope each and remove the master card so that it cannot be referred to for context help. Flash the sentence strips. Each one they can read perfectly goes into their envelope. Those where difficulty occurs go into yours.

You thus have a perfect record of the sentences learned and of those, which require further work. Reinforce the latter by further reading and matching to the master card. Repeat the sentence game until all the sentence strips have been transferred to the student's envelope, i.e. they know every one perfectly and in random order.

Word Cards

Next, take back the sentence strips and cut them into their separate words. Flash them. If the student has difficulty, get them to find the word in its context on the master card, until it is completely covered. Then play the word game.

Turn over the master card to remove the contextual aid; shuffle and place the words between you, flash them and transfer them to the appropriate envelopes as with the sentence game. Work on the words from your envelope by further reading and matching to the master card, and repeat the word game until all the words have been read at sight.

Starting to Use Printed Material

Repeat this procedure by processing further spoken utterances on a variety of topics until a sight vocabulary of three to four hundred words has been achieved. Do not rush your student into printed books, and do not insult their maturity by offering infantile material. Start with material like the Radio Times or TV Times. They will be more motivated to find out what’s on the telly each night than to follow the "adventures" of various cats, dogs and small children, depicted in the typical infant reading schemes.

The first printed book offered should reflect what, by then, you will know of their particular interests. The first real book read by one of my students was the Highway Code. It is extremely difficult material, but the student mastered it, they had to, to take their Driving Test.

The Transition to Phonics

At about the same time when language imported from printed texts is introduced and a start is made at weaning the student away from their own speech as the basis of reading development, as start should be made with phonic work. Only when this has been done systematically will your pupil have the independence to tackle new words with confidence.

Teach them always, of course to use context first. This is the most important clue to meaning and therefore to recognition, but when this fails, they must apply their word attack skills. With my own students, I refer to training in word attack skills as "spelling" for I always insist on them writing each new word when they have built it. Writing is reading’s sister skill and the one reinforces the other. Each new word made then goes into the word stock for later practice and consolidation.

Start the phonic work by drawing on the spoken vocabulary already read. Establish rules within this area before applying them to new words, taking care to teach the correct sounds, phonic not alphabetic, with consonants unvoiced.

Volunteers unsure of themselves at this stage and concerned not to omit important steps in phonic progression could keep to the stages advocated by A E Tansley in Reading and Remedial Reading".

Volunteers can be reassured that students trained on the methods suggested will rarely have to start from scratch in phonic work. The kinaesthetic element (tracing), the writing and frequent repetition built-in will result in the majority of students having acquired an implicit knowledge of many of the major sounds and symbols and the ability to apply this knowledge successfully to many new words.

Care should be taken not to overload the students with phonics. It is better done regularly in short doses, say one new rule a day with occasional revision of previous work or a game thrown in where suitable, say from Stott’s "Programmed Reading Kit".

C Walker
Mather College
Manchester

This paper was presented to a group of Amity Reading Clubs’ volunteers by Professor Chris Walker, and is reproduced with his kind permission.