Basal Readers In The Language Program

Abstract

Most educationalists now acknowledge the pedagogical power of the Whole Language or Language Experience approach to the teaching of reading and other language skills. This approach is particularly valuable in remote Aboriginal schools where teaching resources can be made culturally relevant by centering learning around local and community driven experiences. Once a theme has been selected (usually around a personal or mediated experience such an excursion or other activity or a Big Book), the children are immersed in the oral and written language that arises from this experience. Activities may include creating a negotiated text, modelled writing, co-operative cloze and formulating a personal response to the experience. A thematic approach seeks to provide sufficient repetition of language structures and vocabulary for children to increase their fluency as readers and to generally expand their skills as language users.