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rrative and expressive literature 
ts when carefully chosen can avoid many of the problems of content and organization which we have just 
cussed. These texts could deal with familiar or easily imagined events which develop in an orderly 
uence of time, or they might deal with ideas, attitudes, and emotions which are part of the common 
man experience. 
u may find, however, that even these types of text are beyond the reach of your students. One way to 
this approach, they control the difficulty of troth the organization and the content; whatever they create 
st by definition be familiar to them. An additional bonus is that reading lessons develop naturally from oral 

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Carol Dixon and Denise Nessel in Language Experience Approach to Reading (and Writing) explain the LEA 
and present detailed plans for its use with students of various levels of language and reading proficiency. 
We will give here a simplified adaptation of the procedure for developing and using a reading selection: 
1. You and your students discuss an experience which all or most of them share: a class field trip, a 
t students have the vocabulary and grammar which they need for the creation of the reading 
material.
eresting ideas, suggest that the class help 
a story. As they collaborate in dictating the sentences of their story, you 
makes no 
orrections of the language which the students dictate. The aim is to create a reading selection in the 
etter able to read it. It 
probably would do no harm, however, if in the next step you unobtrusively guide the students into 
st sentence has 
een dictated, read the entire selection aloud to the students and ask them if they want to make any 
ity. 
y the words for them. Each 
student keeps a personal list of troublesome words which require special attention. (What to do about 
g these 
iscussed in a section on vocabulary later in this chapter.)
po
nt-made reading selection may be treated in the same way as you would treat 
en
sk follow-up questions which assess whether the students understand the 
t and th
n of the text. Don't go after small details. Look for comprehension of the main 
nd abili
e sequence of events. 
Dixon
Nessel. Language Experience Approach to Reading (and Writing). Alemany 
83.] 
An
et
here English is used as a second language and a local English-language literature has 
recent storm, plans for some school event soon to take place. The oral discussion generates ideas and 
ensures tha
2. After the discussion has generated a sufficient number of int
you to write them down to make 
write what they say on the blackboard. In a strict application of the LEA, the teacher
c
language of the students, since if it is in their own language, the students will be b
correcting the language themselves. 
3. Aim for a reading selection of eight to ten sentences in length. Immediately after the la
b
changes. When all the changes have been made, have the students take turns reading parts of the story. 
This is the end of the first phase of the procedure. The students go on to another activ
4. Make a copy of the story for later use. For the second phase of the procedure, duplicate the story so 
that each student has a copy. Now the students read through the story silently on their own. Then they 
take turns reading aloud. If they have trouble reading any of the words, suppl
learnin
words will be d
5. From this 
more conv
int the stude
a 
tional text. A
conten
e organizatio
ideas a
ty to follow th
[Carol N.
Press, 19
and Denise
other technique for avoiding the problems of unfamiliar content is to use reading selections which are a 
elling of fables and folktales from the students' culture. Examples would be the Ananse tales from 
r
equatorial Africa, stories about Mullah Nasruddin in Moslem countries, or picaro tales in Latin America. Still 
another possibility is the retelling of local or national historical events. 
As the reading ability of your students improves, they are ready for less sheltered reading experiences. In 
those countries w
developed (e.g., in India, Nigeria, and other countries), selections from that literature may be used to help 
students gain an understanding of the values of their culture. When students are better able to handle texts 
with partially unfamiliar content, you can begin to use narrative and even drama from American (or British, or 
Canadian, etc.) literature as a basis for developing crosscultural understanding. 
In assessing your students' needs to read English, you may find that they have to advance no further than 
the ability to understand and enjoy narrative and expressive texts of a few hundred words in length. Other 
students, however, may eventually need to be able to handle the types of expository prose which are used in 
academic and professional writing. Or they may be expected to extend their language studies into advanced 
literature courses. 
If you know that long range goals such as these lie ahead of your students, you should help them to begin 
the development of strategies which may be transferred into these more demanding types of reading. The 
foundation may he laid even while students are working with simpler narrative selections. Ask questions and 
set up exercises which lead students to discover the author's purpose or theme. Guide them into picking out 
the organization of the text: the major divisions, the main ideas, the sequence of events. Help them to 

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understand the contribution made by supporting details: examples to clarify a difficult concept, description to 
ma
 Ac
So
ed
mu
e way in 
which a reader approaches these more academic types of 
narratives. 
 
 
 
Some Significant Features of Expository Prose 
You will have to familiarize your students with the patterns of organization commonly used in expository 
prose. Although the patterns may differ somewhat from one academic discipline to another, the kinds of 
writing which students usually deal with-the expository prose of their college and university textbooks-are 
quite similar regardless of the field of study. 
It should also be noted that the kinds of writing which your students may need to do in other courses
(es
ch of the following 
is
of advanced writing 
is divided into three main sections: 
tr
lusion. In a short essay, the introduction may be only one paragraph long. The 
conclusion may also be only one paragraph, or it may be a single sentence attached to the end of the last 
paragraph of the body. Sometimes, if the essay is short enough, the concluding statement is omitted entirely. 
The body of the essay is usually more than one paragraph in length. In longer essays (for example, a 
cha
intr
The most important part of the introduction is the author's statement of the focus of the essay. (In textbooks 
for
con
reader 
tre
sta
d 
Alt
of the war were not of equal importance. Thus, 
the
in the body of the 
essay
There were numerous causes underlying the conflict between the North and the South. However, the 
most important of these were economic; the war was essentially a conflict between two economic 
sys
l.