LANGUAGE EXPERIENCE APPROACH (LEA) Principles and Process

Underlying Philosphies Students’ prior experience used as bridge to new ideas, concepts Vocabulary, grammatical structures first experienced within the existing knowledge base (schemata) of learners Developed for native English-speaking students to provide support for initial reading experiences To teach literary processes and literary functions.

(continued) Invented spelling and incomplete sentences allowable Emphasizes the power of student as creator of meaning and shows writing as powerful source of communication

PROCESS In initial stages student dictates oral narratives Teacher (or aide) writes down the student’s words Resulting text read back to student As skills develop, student writes own script and read to classmates and/or teacher