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Importance of oral language development. 

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Importance of oral language development. 

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📘  Oral language lays the foundation for reading and writing skills.

📗  Strong oral language skills help children become successful readers and strong communicators.

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The Importance of Oral Language for Literacy Success

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Oral language lays the foundation for the reading and writing skills children will develop as they enter and progress through school. They will use oral language in all aspects of their education, in the classroom as they connect with their peers and teachers, and throughout their lives as they grow into adulthood. Having a solid foundation in oral language will help children become successful readers and strong communicators as well as build their confidence and overall sense of well-being.
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When Oral Language Skills Are Missing

In 2002, the National Reading Panel (NRP), a team appointed by George W. Bush to review and summarize scientific evidence on reading and its implications for teaching children to read, published a report naming five components of a reading curriculum that are essential to its success: phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency development, vocabulary development, and comprehension (National Reading Panel, 2002).

This report set the standards for many literacy programs, especially those receiving Reading First federal funding, which were required to follow the guidelines in the report in order to qualify for the funding (Gamse, Bloom, Kemple, & Jacob, 2008). However, many English language arts scholars believed other critical components, such as oral language development, had been left out (Garan, 2001; Krashen, 2001; National Education Association, 2013).

Lily Wong Fillmore and Catherine Snow, language and literacy researchers and authors of the first chapter of the book What Teachers Need to Know About Language, tell us that, "Oral language functions as a foundation for literacy and as the means of learning in school and out" (Fillmore & Snow, 2002). However, oral language development is often missing from reading and writing programs, leaving teachers to wonder why their students are still struggling or taking longer than expected to become proficient speakers and readers.

While the essential components listed by the NRP all contribute to a successful literacy program, if children do not have a solid foundation in oral language, communicating effectively and learning to read can be a long and difficult process. "Children's speaking and listening lead the way for their reading and writing skills, and together these language skills are the primary tools of the mind for all future learning" (Roskos, Tabors, & Lenhart, 2009).

The Challenge Presented by the Word Gap

Oral language proficiency has a major impact on students. All standardized testing in the United States is done in academic or standard English, therefore, children whose personal language is not an academic language are at a disadvantage. Children need to be able to speak academic oral language in order to become successful learners and readers in the classroom while their personal language is still valued and maintained.

In 1995, child psychologists Betty Hart and Todd R. Risley from the University of Kansas published the results of their oral language development study (Hart & Risley, 1995). They wanted to try to determine why preschool-aged children from low-income homes did not perform as well in school at the age of nine as their economically advantaged peers. They recorded and analyzed the words spoken between parents and children one hour a month over a period of two and a half years. What they found was astonishing. By the age of three, there was a large gap between children whose parents provided rich language experiences, such as talking to children, singing, reading, and so on, and children who grew up with fewer languages experiences at home. Children with rich language experiences heard about 45 million words compared to the latter group of children who heard only 13 million words.

This 30 million word gap (2003) presents a problem for classroom teachers across the country in today's high-stakes educational environment. The students are not starting out on an even playing field, and teachers are charged with the responsibility of getting the children who are behind caught up and reading at grade level. The good news is, just like math and science, academic oral language can be taught.

Building a Foundation in Oral Language

Again and again research shows that repeated exposure to rich language can help children become successful communicators, readers and writers (Simmons & Kameenui, 1998; Himmele, 2009). Educating parents on the importance of oral language and encouraging them to communicate and read with their children as early as possible can help prepare them for school.

Additionally, providing students with high-quality early childhood education enriched with a supplemental program promoting oral language and literacy development can help young students become proficient readers by third grade.

GrapeSEED is a research-based oral language acquisition and critical listening program that is helping 4 to 8-year-old students close the achievement gap in oral language. The program supplements existing Language Arts and Literacy curricula and is proven to help students develop into proficient readers by third grade. It is used in a variety of settings, including early childhood classrooms, Response-to-Intervention (RTI) initiatives, Title programs for struggling learners, ESL/ELL classrooms, as well as with subgroups of students struggling with oral language.

Oral language and critical listening is the heart of the GrapeSEED program for young learners. A focus on building these essential skills is one of the reasons the program is so successful and sets it apart from other literacy programs. Through carefully designed multi-sensory materials, GrapeSEED keeps children engaged and helps them learn oral language naturally. As a result, independent research showed that GrapeSEED students reached proficiency in speaking and reading faster than the national average (Smith & Smith, 2014).

Reading proficiency by the end of third-grade can predict a child's success in school and in life (Donald Hernandez, 2011). Stephen Covey, an educator and author, states that we should, "Begin with the end in mind" (Covey, 1990). If we want to give our children the best chance to graduate high school and become successful contributors to society, we must start as early as possible in their young lives. We must give them a solid foundation in oral language to build upon.

References

Covey, Stephen (1990). The 7 habits of highly effective people. New York City, NY: Free Press.

Fillmore, Lily W. & Catherine E. Snow (2002). What Teachers Need to Know about Language. McHenry, IL: Delta Systems.

Gamse, Beth C., Howard Bloom, James J. Kemple, Robin Tepper Jacob (2008). Reading First Impact Study: Interim Report. Retrieved from MDRC website: http://www.mdrc.org/publication/reading-first-impact-study.

Garan, Elaine (2001). Beyond the Smoke and Mirrors: A Critique of the National Reading Panel Report on Phonics, Phi Delta Kappan, volume 82, pp. 500-506.

Hart, B. & T. R. Risley (1995). Meaningful differences in the everyday experience of young American children. Baltimore, MD: Paul H. Brookes.

Hart, B. & T. R. Risley (2003). The early catastrophe: The 30 million word gap by age 3. American Educator, Spring 2003, 4-9.

Hernandez, Donald (2011). Double Jeopardy: How Third-Grade Reading Skills and Poverty Influence High School Graduation. Baltimore, MD. Retrieved from The Annie E. Casey Foundation website: http://www.aecf.org/resources/double-jeopardy/.

Himmele, P. & W. Himmele (2009). The Language-Rich Classroom: A Research-Based Framework for Teaching English Language Learners (pp. 30-33). Alexandria, VA: ASCD.

Krashen, Stephen D. (2001). More Smoke and Mirrors: A Critique of the National Reading Panel (NRP) Report on "Fluency". Phi Delta Kappan, vol. 83, pp. 119-23.

National Reading Panel (2002). Teaching Children to Read: An Evidence-Based Assessment of the Scientific Research Literature on Reading and Its Implications for Reading Instruction. Rockville, MD;

Roskos, Kathleen A., Tabors, Patton O., & Lenhart, Lisa A. (2009). Oral language and early literacy in preschool: Talking, reading, and writing. Newark, DE: International Reading Association

Simmons, & Edward J. Kameenui. (1998). What reading research tells us about children with diverse learning needs: Bases and basics. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.

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The Importance of Oral Language for Literacy Success

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Oral language lays the foundation for the reading and writing skills children will develop as they enter and progress through school. They will use oral language in all aspects of their education, in the classroom as they connect with their peers and teachers, and throughout their lives as they grow into adulthood.

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Oral language essential for pre-literacy & beyond.

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Oral language essential for pre-literacy & beyond.

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Young children's oral language development

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Young children's oral language development

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Young Children's Oral Language Development

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The development of oral language is one of the child's most natural - and impressive - accomplishments. Get an introduction to when and how language is learned.

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Early Literacy & importance of oral language

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Early Literacy & importance of oral language

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Early Literacy: The Importance of Oral Language

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Oral language development in language-rich environment

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Oral language development in language-rich environment

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Supporting Oral Language Development in a Language-Rich Environment

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Oral language development for ELLs: Challenges & Solutions

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Oral language development for ELLs: Challenges & Solutions

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In this article written for Colorín Colorado, Dr. Lindsey Moses Guccione shares five key challenges related to the oral language development of ELLs, as well as tips for addressing each of the challenges.

Dr. Moses Guccione is the co-author of Comprehension and English Language Learners: 25 Oral Reading Strategies That Cross Proficiency Levels ( Heinemann, 2009).

Getting Started

As a former elementary teacher in a bilingual school, I developed a love and passion for finding effective ways to support oral language and oral reading development of emerging English language learners (ELLs). I discovered this passion when I began my first year of teaching in a second-grade classroom, where I encountered a handful of challenges related to my students' oral language development.

Many students were transitioning from a classroom with Spanish instruction into my classroom with instruction provided in English. I had students ranging from monolingual English speakers to students who had just recently moved to the U.S. from a Spanish-speaking country. The range of language proficiency levels crossed the entire spectrum. Having minimal experience with this range of diverse students and needs, I began reading, researching, and implementing new instructional ideas into my classroom. With each challenge I encountered, I gained new information about my students and their parents. I also began learning more about my own methods of instruction, and I learned a great deal each year about new challenges and successes.

Currently, I am fortunate to work with many teachers who have the opportunity to impact the lives of children and families who speak more than one language. As I work with these teachers and families, I have found five common and reoccurring challenges that they seem to face in the area of oral language development that parallel my own experiences. I detail these challenges and questions below, as well as suggestions for addressing each challenges based on strategies I used in my classroom.

Questions and Classroom Scenarios

1. What do I do if they don't know ANY English?

Understanding the characteristics of language learners at different proficiency levels helps to think about how we can best support students in their oral language and reading development. Below is a chart that gives a description of the first two levels of language proficiency as well as implications for using oral reading. This is a nice place to start when thinking about how to interact with and support our Starting and Emerging English speakers.

Levels of Language Proficiency

Description

Implications For Using Oral Reading

Level 1: Starting
Students are in a silent period in which they listen, but do not speak in English. They may respond using nonverbal cues in attempt to communicate basic needs.

The teacher and other more advanced students should model oral reading. Students in the silent period should not be forced to speak, but should be given the opportunity to participate in a group activity where they won't be singled out.

Level 2: Emerging
Students are beginning to understand more oral language. They respond using one- or two-word phrases and start to produce simple sentences for basic social interactions and to meet basic needs.

Teacher and students should continue to model oral reading. Students should be encouraged to begin taking risks with simple, rehearsed oral reading in non-threatening situations.

Opitz & Guccione (2009). Comprehension and English Language Learners: 25 Oral Reading Strategies that Cross Proficiency Levels.

2. How do I provide instruction and support for the ELLs without holding back the students who are fluent in English?

Differentiation is the key to effective instruction for all students. Students of varying proficiency levels can learn the same content when the teacher provides a wide range of learning opportunities for students with different academic and linguistic needs. Three key strategies for this approach include differentiating or modifying the texts, creating grouping structures, and targeting the amount and nature of support based on students' needs (Opitz & Ford, 2008).

Modifying the text: Teachers can differentiate the text by selecting various levels of text difficulty on similar content, or they can also divide the text up into smaller portions appropriate for certain groups/individuals for a jigsaw activity. Another idea is to summarize text that might be too difficult and provide ways to make the text more accessible (such as vocabulary support, visual support, connecting to background knowledge, etc.).

Creating grouping structures that set students up for success: While some grouping structures can be established according to language or literacy skill levels and needs, it is also important to think about providing students exposure to interact with peers who demonstrate a wide range of different language and literacy skills. Additionally, teachers can improve engagement and motivation by creating choice/interest groups where students gather, read, discuss and work together on topics of common interest.

Targeting the amount and nature of student support: It is important to think about scaffolding the experience and using comprehensible input to make it accessible for all students. Comprehensible input means that students should be able to understand the gist of what is being said or presented. There are many ways to do this, such as selecting key vocabulary, using context or visual cues, building background knowledge, building on experiences the students have had, using consistent language, and providing images or visual representations to support vocabulary and content. Teachers can support their students by embedding comprehensible input into their whole-group instruction, but this also becomes particularly effective when used in the different grouping structures. Teachers can also modify the amount of support and interaction between teachers and students depending on their individual and group needs.

3. This student knows English - I hear him talking to his friends and on the playground. He just doesn't want to try in class.

I have heard many teachers discussing variations of this same idea. However, I would caution teachers and parents about jumping to this conclusion. Academic language (or the language specifically related to school and/or academic content) can be complicated to acquire. Students often first develop social language and demonstrate near proficiency or proficiency in English in social settings. A student may be demonstrating sophisticated use of social language, but they may have difficulty using language in more formal settings such as school.

Much of the academic language required to be successful in school - everything from instructions to expectations to content-specific vocabulary - requires assistance in acquiring. Students hear and use their social language in various settings from home, community, and school, but academic language is often only used in the school setting. These students need specific instruction and support surrounding their language development in this area.

The same children who appear to be functioning at a high level of English proficiency in social settings may actually be functioning at a beginning stage in other settings, depending on how they are called on to use language. The students need to feel safe and in a low-anxiety environment in order to begin to feel comfortable taking risks with their oral language. When they have less exposure and instruction related to academic language, this can often cause students to feel intimidated and less likely to be willing to share in class.

One idea for reducing anxiety and encouraging students to experiment with language might include allowing students to read, practice, and discuss their responses in partners and small groups before sharing out to the entire group. This allows students an opportunity to hear language modeled by peers, practice what they want to say, and possibly revise their original thought and/or language before sharing it in a public way. As students find more success with their language production and classroom participation, they will be more likely to share and take risks, and in turn continue building their confidence.

4. How is the child ever going to learn English if they don't speak it at home?

It is important to celebrate being bilingual and biliterate. Research has shown that development of a students' first language can facilitate development in the second language (Genessee, Geva, Dressler, and Kamil, 2007). Understanding this helps parents, teachers, and children to encourage the use and development of the students' home language while they are at home. All of the home literacy activities that we recommend for English speakers, such as reading aloud, making lists, discussing books, reading environmental print, etc., should also be encouraged for the English language learners in their home language. Students can begin to use more English as they feel comfortable in different settings, but it is important to note that speaking two languages will not hinder their English development.

Another important idea to remember is that we want to invite parents to feel confident in their interactions with their children regardless of their English proficiency level. As they begin to read or retell stories and discuss them at home, they are developing vital oral language and comprehension skills, and these skills will transfer over into their school language.

5. What kinds of activities should I be doing to help the student develop their oral language and oral reading?

McCauley and McCauley (1992) report four factors as necessary for acquiring a second language: a low-anxiety environment, repeated practice, comprehensible input, and drama. These are all important components of setting children up for success and language development.

A low-anxiety environment includes a setting where students feel nurtured and supported by their teacher and peers, and in turn, they feel safe to take risks without the fear of being laughed at or made fun of.

Repeated practice is just like what it sounds! Students need repeated practice hearing and using a new language. They need multiple opportunities to comprehend and express their ideas in a new language. Like with anything new that we learn, practice helps us get better.

Comprehensible input, as explained above, means finding different ways to make what is being said comprehensible and easier to understand. Things to consider with comprehensible input might include using speech that is appropriate for students' language proficiency, providing a clear, step-by-step explanation of tasks, and using a variety of techniques to support their understanding.

Drama, or a sense of excitement and engagement, can be found in activities like Reader's Theatre, dramatic play, puppetry, narrating wordless picture books, etc. All of these activities also have the other three factors embedded within them. These activities assist in the development of oral language in addition to introducing students to oral reading and rich literacy experiences and responses in a classroom setting.

Closing Thoughts

As you can see from these questions and examples, there are a lot of different approaches to helping ELLs build their oral language development skills, and you may have to try different activities until you find what works for your students. The most important thing, however, is to build your students' confidence while giving them new words and phrases to practice. Don't be afraid to try something new - and most of all, don't be afraid to have fun doing it!

About the Author

Dr. Lindsey Moses Guccione is a coauthor of Comprehension and English Language Learners: 25 Oral Reading Strategies that Cross Proficiency Levels. She is an assistant professor at the University of Northern Colorado and teaches courses in Early Childhood Education, Literacy, and Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Education. She is a former elementary teacher of English language learners and is currently researching how ELLs make sense of texts.

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Oral Language Development and ELLs: 5 Challenges and Solutions

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In this article written for Colorín Colorado, Dr. Lindsey Moses Guccione shares five key challenges related to the oral language development of ELLs, as well as tips for addressing each of the challenges. Dr. Moses Guccione is the co-author of Comprehension and English Language Learners: 25 Oral Reading Strategies That Cross Proficiency Levels ( Heinemann, 2009).

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Considerations for ELLs

Oral language provides the foundation for literacy development. English language learners (ELLs) need daily opportunities to learn and practice oral English in order for their literacy skills to flourish. ELLs learn English primarily by listening to language in use around them, while using context to figure out what the spoken words mean. This language serves as the input or data that learners internalize and use to express their own meanings in their interactions with others.

It is important to consider that many ELLs go through a "silent period," during which they listen and observe more than they speak. ELLs may speak at first in single words or short phrases. They may speak fluently when using greetings and other basic phrases in routine interpersonal situations, but speak haltingly when constructing English sentences to express more complex ideas. Effective teachers are aware that ELLs who are quiet in class may be hard at work listening and comprehending. Teachers also know that ELLs may take longer to answer a question or volunteer a comment, because they need more time to process meaning and formulate an appropriate response.

ELLs' speech may be ungrammatical, reflecting their lack of experience with English word order, grammatical patterns, or word endings. Their speech may be "accented," reflecting lack of experience with English sounds, rhythms, and stress patterns. As a result, ELLs may feel self-conscious about speaking, especially in large groups. Criticism, ridicule, and public correction exacerbate these anxieties. ELLs are likely to be more comfortable speaking in small groups.

ELLs may over-use high frequency words like nice or go until they acquire a larger repertoire of more differentiated words, such as beautiful, happy, entertaining, kind, generous or leave, depart, travel, journey, race, hike, skip. While young ELLs naturally acquire the language of play and daily life from social interaction with other students and adults, ELLs require explicit instruction and modeling of the more formal language used in academic settings to talk about reading and writing. In addition, as they listen to literature that is read aloud, Ells become familiar with its language (e.g., "Once upon a time . . . " and ". . . happily ever after") and its structure (introduction of characters, setting, problem, and solution), which are important prerequisites for reading.

With time and lots of opportunities to listen, observe, participate, and interact, ELLs progress in understanding and are able to produce language that is increasingly complete, complex, and grammatical. This is similar to the natural way that most young children learn the languages spoken by their families at home - in the context of activities and relationships.

In some cultures, discussion and story telling are filled with personal anecdotes that are implicitly rather than explicitly connected to the topic. Teachers may sometimes perceive such narratives as rambling or confused. Effective teachers strive to understand such cultural differences and respect them, while at the same time helping children add more sequential and topic centered styles to their repertoire.

Conferences about writing and other opportunities for one-on-one conversations with a teacher provide great support for the development of topic-centered narrative styles for use in academic contexts. In addition, use of their native language can provide ELLs with much-needed clarification, explanation, and self-expression as they go through the difficult process of learning to speak, read, and write in English.

Strategies

1. Teachers include listening as an integral part of reading and writing instruction.

2. Teachers employ a variety of effective strategies that involve students as active and engaged listeners.

3. Teachers guide students to identify literary elements as they read aloud, listen to, and discuss books together.

4. Teachers help students understand and make connections to their reading through social interactions in which students listen to and build upon each other's responses to the text.

5. Teachers provide opportunities for students to discuss insights from their reading with each other.

6. Teachers model and explain text-to-self, text-to-text, and text-to-world connections for their students.

7. Teachers include daily sharing as an important activity in their classrooms.

8. Teachers provide ample opportunities for students to talk about familiar topics and then demonstrate to students how talking better enables them to write.

9. Teachers have regular conversations with individual students about their writing, thereby enabling students to improve the quality of their work.

10. Teachers model how to verbalize understandings and questions about readings and then provide opportunities for students to practice these comprehension strategies.

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Oral language provides the foundation for literacy development. English language learners (ELLs) need daily opportunities to learn and practice oral English in order for their literacy skills to flourish. ELLs learn English primarily by listening to language in use around them, while using context to figure out what the spoken words mean.

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Supporting ELLs development of English skills

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Supporting ELLs development of English skills

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CECE Early Childhood Videos at Eastern CT State U.

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Supporting Oral Language Development in Dual Language Learners

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Activities for preschoolers & kindergartners

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Activities for preschoolers & kindergartners

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Communication strategies - verbal cues & posters

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Communication strategies - verbal cues & posters

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4 speaking activities for students in upper grades

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4 speaking activities for students in upper grades

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In-depth assessment guide for lower elementary grades

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In-depth assessment guide for lower elementary grades

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Fun speaking games for ELLs in classroom

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Fun speaking games for ELLs in classroom

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Edutopia is a free source of information, inspiration, and practical strategies for learning and teaching in preK-12 education. We are published by the George Lucas Educational Foundation, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization.

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Language & communication apps by Reading Rockets

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Language & communication apps by Reading Rockets

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Children and teens with autism or Aspergers often struggle with spoken language and communication. In this collection, you'll find tools that support both auditory and visual learners, with apps that promote communication through simple pictures, picture-based stories, and text-to-speech. For more quality apps, browse our full library of literacy apps.

Many of the reviews we link to are from Common Sense Education, a trusted resource for learning about apps and other edtech tools.

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Children and teens with autism or Aspergers often struggle with spoken language and communication. In this collection, you'll find tools that support both auditory and visual learners, with apps that promote communication through simple pictures, picture-based stories, and text-to-speech. For more quality apps, browse our full library of literacy apps.

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Language Arts

This Scholastic e-reader app is designed just for kids. Books are embedded with questions, learning activities, and pop-up dictionary definitions. The app download comes with five free books; additional books can be purchased and added to a student's bookshelf.
iOS and Android. Free.

Tales2Go
Tales2Go is an audiobook app that provides access to more than 2,000 titles. "Its wide selection of audiobooks, both classic and popular, has made listening to reading fun and engaging," says Dawn French, library and media specialist at Edinbrook Elementary School in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota. iOS. $99.99 annual subscription.

Super Duper StoryMaker
Primary students can craft their own stories using text, images, photos, sounds, and drawings. Stories can be saved, printed out, and e-mailed to friends. iOS. $4.99.

Jessica Millberg, school library media specialist at Central Early Childhood Center in Deptford, New Jersey, loves to use Super Why! with kindergartners and first graders. "It's easy to navigate for little hands and it addresses rhyming words, letter identification, spelling, word building, and sentence completion," she says.
iOS and Android. $2.99.

Toontastic
Toontastic provides kids with a structured story arc and 40 "playsets" of characters and story worlds so that they can create their own animated stories. They can use drawing tools, and incorporate images, photos, music, and voice narration. iOS. Free; $12.99 for access to all playsets.

Handwriting Without Tears: Wet-Dry-Try
Students use a virtual slate chalkboard to practice forming numbers and capital letters using the Wet-Dry-Try approach. Students first trace the letter with a wet sponge, then with a dry paper towel, and finally with a piece of chalk. iOS and Android. $4.99.

Grammar Jammers
If you thought grammar couldn't be fun, you've never tried Grammar Jammers. It's a series of three apps designed for different levels-Primary, Elementary, and Middle-that teach grammar skills in a game format.
iOS. $2.99 (primary edition is free).
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7 Fabulous Apps for Language Arts | Scholastic

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This Scholastic e-reader app is designed just for kids. Books are embedded with questions, learning activities, and pop-up dictionary definitions. The app download comes with five free books; additional books can be purchased and added to a student's bookshelf. iOS and Android. Free. Tales2Go Tales2Go is an audiobook app that provides access to more than 2,000 titles.