Which instructional approach helps ELLs integrate listening, speaking, reading, and writing?

The language experience approach is centered around the idea that students create their own reading and writing materials based on their personal experiences and oral language. This method encourages students to use their own words to express thoughts and feelings, which allows for the integration of listening, speaking, reading, and writing. As they narrate their experiences, they practice speaking and listening. Then, when these experiences are transcribed into writing, it develops their writing skills. Finally, when they engage with the written content, they enhance their reading comprehension. The holistic nature of the language experience approach effectively combines these four language modalities, making it a powerful method for supporting English Language Learners (ELLs) in developing comprehensive language skills.

Other approaches, while beneficial in their own rights, may focus on specific skills without the same level of integration. For example, content-based instruction often emphasizes specific subjects or contexts for language learning rather than fostering a seamless application of all language skills. Similarly, communicative language teaching prioritizes interaction but may not always involve all four skills consistently. Task-based learning focuses on completing tasks which may engage various skills but does not always ensure that all skills are intertwined as naturally as in the language experience approach.