Stories from the past: Using the language experience approach in correctional education ESL

Gardner, S. (2014). Stories from the past: Using the language experience approach in correctional education ESL. Talking Points, 25(1), 19-25.


The Language Experience Approach (LEA), in which learners generate stories about their own experiences and use those stories as texts to build literacy skills, has long been a staple in early literacy instruction, and is also often used when working with older children who struggle with reading, and for whom it can be difficult to find age-appropriate reading material at their reading level. Here, the author, an educator who works in a correctional setting, takes the LEA a step further and uses it to build literacy and language skills with incarcerated adult learners, most of whom were English learners from Mexico and Central America.

Gardner’s story is inspiring, and demonstrates what can happen when people’s language and experiences are valued. The five-day unit described here centered on the skill of using past tense forms of verbs. In essence, the men in the program composed brief memoirs about memorable events in their past lives. These men learned about past tense verbs, but more importantly, they had positive, affirming experiences with reading and writing, and their stories were honored and respected, something that may not have happened much in their lives before. The stories were compiled into a book, and the men worked together to design and create that publication.

On the surface, one might say that no large miracles were worked here. Most of these men remained incarcerated, and only about half (there were 15 men total in the program described here) continued to work on their high school diplomas while incarcerated. One might say that there is not that much expectation for these men’s lives to change radically for the better. Some of them will one day re-enter society, but what will be their chances for educational and economic success? Some might even resent the time and effort that Gardner spent with these men, who were lawbreakers and might even be called criminals. Educators like Gardner may not receive much praise or many rewards for doing the challenging work that they do in populations like the one described here.

I maintain that there were indeed miracles at work here, and the LEA was a powerful vehicle to those miracles. Being able to use language to tell our stories, to accomplish purposes, to work together productively, and to create something that has the power to move other human beings is life-affirming. It may take more than just this one five-day unit to convince these men and others like them that there is value in learning to do these things, but maybe if such experiences are repeated and nurtured, some of them will see some hope for an improved life.