TSL 3106

Approaches to Teach Reading

Language Experience Approach (LEA)

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Language Experience Approach (LEA)

An approach to reading instruction based on activities and stories developed from personal experiences of the learner.

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The stories about personal experiences are written down by a teacher and read together until the learner associates the written form of the word with the spoken.

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Language Experience Approach (LEA)

(Van Allen and Halversen) LEA to teaching reading and writing builds on the learner's own language and knowledge and is an effective way to encourage self expression and build awareness of the connections between oral and written language"

(Taylor)

"LEA is a whole language approach that promotes reading and writing through the use of personal experiences and oral language"

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Features of the Language Experience Approach

Materials are learnergenerated.

Difficulty of vocabulary and grammar are determined by the learners own language use. All communication skills--reading, writing, listening, and speaking--are integrated.

Learning and teaching are personalized, communicative, creative.

Variations of the Language Experience Approach

Basically, it is possible to distinguish between two main versions of LEA: the personal and the group experience (Taylor):

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The personal experience

The group experience

The personal experience

The most basic form of the LEA is the simple transcription of an individual learner's personal experience. The teacher its with the learner so that the learner can see what is being written.

The session begins with a conversation.

Once a topic evolves, the learner gives an oral account of a personal experience related to that topic. The teacher may help the learner expand or focus the account by asking questions.

The personal experience

This technique keeps the focus on the content rather than the form of what is written. Errors can be corrected later, during revising and editing stages of the writing process. The relationship between the teacher and learner should be well established before attempting the LEA, and the teacher should be supportive of what the learner has to say.

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The Group Experience

The experience may spring from an event the learners had participated in or from the topics the learners have in common

Can be used in small groups, pairs or as a whole class activity. There are some steps involved when implementing the language experience approach into a class (Taylor).

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Choosing the common experience Teacher cooperates with students to select an activity that can be discussed and consequently written down

Discussing the experience Engages learners in a whole-class debate

Composing the written account Cooperates together on developing a written account which should be visible to all learners Teacher does not correct the learners' mistakes since the focus is mainly on the students' ideas

TSL 3106 Reading the written account The teacher and the learners read it aloud focusing on key structures, vocabulary and pronunciation

Expanding the experience Various follow-up activities can be performed. Mistakes are corrected and the text edited

The Roles of the Language Teacher in a Class Using the LEA

Organizer: Organization skills of the teacher. Prompter: The teacher encourages learners to participate Resource: giving advice, translating when it is necessary

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Tutor: "to model the writing and the thinking process aloud in LEA classes ("Leading from Behind"). Motivator: creating the right atmosphere for composing, generating the ideas, for stimulating students to make more

effort in order to complete the LEA activities

TSL 3106 The LEA is an integrative approach. The LEA takes advantage of cooperative language learning. The LEA enriches learners' vocabulary.

The Main Advantages of the LEA

The LEA can be adjusted for learners of all levels.

The LEA can be used in mixed-ability classes.

There are numerous possibilities how to exploit the created text further.

Students learn in less stressful learning environment. .

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The Main Advantages of the LEA

The LEA stimulates learners' selfexpression.

It helps learners to understand the connection between the written and spoken form of the second language.

It increases students' motivation to learn the target language.

It brings together writing, reading, art, and language.

It extends the learners' creativity in storytelling through writing.

It helps learners understand that what they think and say can be written.

Benefits of the Language Experience Approach:

It provides reading material that is predictable and readable because it uses the learners' natural language.
It is learnercentered and demonstrates that the learners' thoughts and language are valued.

Highly motivating

Boosts self esteem

Aids comprehension

Benefits of the Language Experience Approach:

It is enjoyable and allows the child and his or her life to become known.
Can be used to develop sight vocabulary and comprehension via cloze exercises.

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Insufficient participation of the less proficient learners.

Limited error correction

The Major Disadvantages of the LEA

The preparation for the LEA class may be very time-consuming.