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Orally reading books out loud can help a student with their reading and comprehension skills, but the book needs to be at an appropriate level for the learner. If the book is too easy, students may lose motivation and be uninterested, and if the book is too difficult, students may be frustrated as they won’t be able to understand.

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The teacher needs to make sure to build up phonemic and phonological awareness when learning new words and vocabulary terms. Breaking down each word, clapping in a beat, and using pictures will help students pronounce the words, develop the meaning, and then be able to use it in a sentence. These strategies will increase the students reading and writing abilities.

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https://stayathomeeducator.com/the-impact-of-oral-language-development-on-reading-success/

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Taking skills and oral language development have a strong impact on reading success. And, we want strong readers, right?

So let's talk.

Human beings have a unique ability to learn the rules of language used in their environment. We are born to speak. If you have ever been in a car with a jabbering toddler or preschooler, you can confirm that young children are born to talk...and talk...and talk. Almost all children learn to speak through practice and use over time, with little or no formal instruction, and the environments where children learn their language can have a direct impact of their success in literacy.

This is because children learn language by following the models of significant caretakers around them. As with learning any other skill, learning to talk requires time and everyday practice and children mimic not only the actual words adults around them use, but also the way in which they are used. This means that when significant adults in a child's life pronounces words incorrectly, or uses improper grammar, this is the kind of language the child will also use.

There are four main ways oral language development can prepare children for reading and writing.

1. Oral language develops vocabulary concepts. Children gain information about word meanings and pronunciation and these concepts are first introduced in speaking and understanding others' speech.

2. Children learn through oral language the structure of language and that it communicates meaning. Children who can articulate their words and thoughts clearly have an advantage in learning to read over those children who have poor oral language skills.

3. Oral language teaches children cultural nuances, giving them specific background knowledge that aides in reading comprehension.

4. Oral language acquisition builds a desire to use language for a variety of purposes, such as reading, wiring and listening.

Parents and caregivers play an important role in a child's oral language development. They can impact how quickly and how well oral language can develop. Following are some ways in which parents and caregivers can nurture language development.

Treat children as though they are conversationalists. Listen carefully to what your child is saying and respond with appropriate and sincere thoughts that encourage more dialogue.

Encourage your child to interact with other children. Peer learning, especially in mixed aged play groups, can be a valuable experience for young children still gaining language skills.

Remember that as a parent or caregiver you can reinforce good habits of speech, so model for your child appropriate language, including expression, grammar, and vocabulary.

Read to your child, at length and at frequent intervals.

Help your child recognize the relationship between speech and writing by encouraging storytelling, both orally and in written form.

Oral, or spoken language, is only one of the four domains of language. (The other three domains are listening, reading, and writing). All four domains of language correlate and effect one another in their development. Research indicates that children who enter school with strong oral language skills learn to read and write with greater ease and tend to excel more in school that their peers with less knowledge of vocabulary and language structure. So those moments in the car, or at the dinner table, or while getting dressed when your little one jabbers on and on can be a valuable opportunity to encourage and increase their oral language skills and later success in school.

For further reading:

Oral Language Development: The Foundation for Literacy by Rhode Island Reading First Leadership Meeting

Literacy and Children With Apraxia of Speech by Sharon Gretz, M. Ed.

Early Literacy: Policy and Practice in the Preschool Years by Dorothy Strickland and Shannon Riley-Ayers

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The Impact of Oral Language Development on Literacy Success

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Taking skills and oral language development have a strong impact on reading success. And, we want strong readers, right? So let's talk. Human beings have a unique ability to learn the rules of language used in their environment. We are born to speak.

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https://www.readingrockets.org/article/literacy-rich-environments#:~:text=A%20literacy%2Drich%20environment%20is,of%20oral%20and%20written%20language.

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Imagine walking into an early elementary school classroom and seeing all students immersed in literacy experiences. Children are engaged in a variety of reading and writing activities while some students are working in groups and others working individually. Students explore books of various genres not just in the library or during reading times, but also in science, math, and social studies. During math the teacher reads aloud a book on math such as The Math Curse (Scieszka & Lane, 1995) and discusses the content in order to expose students to literacy across all content areas. During science, students explore the science literature such as eyewitness books to gain greater knowledge about concepts. Students interact with books on CD-Rom and listen to books on tape. Materials in the classroom are adapted not only to help students with challenges interact with text, but also to serve as a motivator for reading. Students write books and reports in all of the content areas, as well as writing in student journals and notebooks. When needing a resource for more information, students use books, computers, dictionaries, encyclopedias, and word walls, as well as teachers and peers for assistance.

The classroom has labels with words and pictures everywhere so that students constantly connect written language with the things they represent. Teachers display these labels based on student needs and interest to provide children with disabilities support in the classroom (Dorrell, 2002). Students use calendars, schedules, signs, and directions to see how words can be used everyday. Teachers and students reconstruct the classroom to represent a book or a theme that the class has studied with written materials so that students can live in the lesson. All materials are adapted to meet the needs of children with disabilities. For example, Braille and textured materials may be used in labels, signs, and other displays for children with visual impairments.

Teachers engage in language and literacy activities in all elements of instruction. Conversations abound in which teachers elicit language from students and ask them to transcribe that language. For example, a teacher conducting a science lesson may request hypotheses, observations, and conclusions from students in an oral and written form. Teachers also facilitate language and literacy exploration with games and activities that students can use one-to-one, independently, or with peers. Finally, teachers demonstrate their own participation in language and literacy through modeling its use continually throughout the day. Teachers can demonstrate writing on the board by recording what children share in class discussions.

From the atmosphere and decor of the room to interactions with peers and teachers, every element of the classroom is designed to allow students with disabilities explore the elements of literacy. The literacy rich environment emphasizes the importance of speaking, reading, and writing in the learning of all students. This involves the selection of materials that will facilitate language and literacy opportunities; reflection and thought regarding classroom design; and intentional instruction and facilitation by teachers and staff (Snow, Burns, & Griffin, 1999). Because literacy-rich environments can be individualized to meet student's needs, teachers are able to create both independent and directed activities to enhance understanding of concept of print and word, linguistic and phonemic awareness, and vocabulary development. All of this occurs in a concrete setting giving students with disabilities multiple opportunities to gain the skills necessary to participate in the general education curriculum. For example, books, technology, manipulative materials, art projects, and explorative activities can be used around a central theme.

Classroom materials for literacy-rich environments

The intentional selection and use of materials is central to the development of the literacy-rich environment. Teachers ensure that students have access to a variety of resources by providing many choices. Teaching staff connect literacy to all elements of classroom life. Teaching staff alternate books in the classroom library to maintain student's interest and expose them to various genres and ideas (International Reading Association [IRA] & the National Association for the Education of Young children [NAEYC], 1998). For example, teachers should include both fiction and nonfiction literature. Classrooms include miscellaneous literacy materials that are used in everyday life further demonstrate how literacy is used (Goodman, Bird, & Goodman, 1991).

Examples of materials

Taking dictation for students not yet fluent in writing allows students to see how oral language is translated into written language. Written words let students see what they say. Therefore, writing makes thoughts visible. As students make attempts to write, allowing for diverse materials (pens, pencils, markers, and crayons of varying shapes and sizes, typewriters, computers, keyboards, magnetic writing boards, etc.) increases students choice and motivation. Adapted materials such as tactile books, manipulatives, slant boards, and pencil grips for diverse learners offers accessibility and motivation. Home-school connections are made through lending materials that ensure that students with diverse ability have literacy opportunities at home as well as at school. Parents are made aware of the materials and shown how students can use them at home.

Adapted materials

Tactile Books - textured print or pictures within books for students to touch and sniff

Manipulatives - hands-on skill building materials such as pattern blocks, color tiles, and reading rods

Slant boards - boards propped up on an angled book stands to assist students with their writing

Pencil grips - a pre-shaped grip that is placed over a pencil to assist students with proper grip and letter formation

Conclusion

The literacy-rich classroom serves as a means to build the basic skills necessary for literacy development by demonstrating to students with disabilities the function and utility of language in an intentional, purposeful, and intensive way. While many students come to school with exposure to literacy in their everyday lives, students who may not have access or exposure benefit from the instruction and intensity provided by teachers and staff in this setting. Given the support of this environment, students are better prepared to work on other literacy skills including phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension.

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The literacy-rich environment emphasizes the importance of speaking, reading, and writing in the learning of all students. This involves the selection of materials that will facilitate language and literacy opportunities; reflection and thought regarding classroom design; and intentional instruction and facilitation by teachers and staff.

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https://region.grapeseed.com/us/blog/the-importance-of-oral-language-for-literacy-success/

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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.

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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Overall, learners need to be exposed to oral language from birth, and the more practice they have from a young age, the easier it will be once they start school. More exposure to spoken words will benefit students’ speaking, listening, reading, and writing development.

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With regards to an information-intensive environment, Reading Rockets states that this setting stimulates students with disabilities to participate in language and literacy activities in their daily lives. It helps to begin to understand the utility and function of oral and written language.

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Being in an environment where students can visually see information around them in the classroom and have access to a class library and technology (such as iPads) will give students the opportunity to develop their comprehension and writing skills. There are various techniques that teachers can do to create an information-intensive environment, such as making a word wall. Students can match a word with a picture and then write the word from the wall in a sentence. This way the students can practice their understanding, write a sentence, and then read the sentence.

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Oral language is the foundation for literacy development as it helps children develop vocabulary and comprehension skills. It helps children develop fluency and comprehension skills as well as develop critical thinking and problem-solving skills.

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Stay at Home Educator states that oral language skills provide the foundation for fluency and comprehension. Almost all children learn to speak through practice and use over time, with little or no formal instruction. Children need to be in an environment that supports oral development. Grapeseed (2020) states how educating parents on the importance of oral language is important. Encouraging parents to communicate and read with their children as early as possible can help prepare them for school. The environments where children learn their language can have a direct impact on their success in literacy.

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Oral language encourages emergent literacy. Without oral language, children are at an extreme disadvantage when learning the ways in which we speak, and the meaning behind the words, which then impacts reading and writing.

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Giving the students the opportunity to expand on answers from differentiated questions set by the teacher will help increase their understanding and oral development. Teachers should encourage students to expand on their answers.

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Teachers should give the students the chance to discuss projects (such as research activities) with the class, and then be able to choose what they would like to research. Having students talk about what they want to learn more about will help gauge their interest and increase motivation. It will also help them organise their thoughts and plan their written work effectively.

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5) Varied Reading Techniques and Comprehension Questions

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5) Varied Reading Techniques and Comprehension Questions

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Popcorn reading, individual reading, silent reading, paired reading and so on will help with practising students’ oral language skills. The teacher can differentiate how the students read out loud so that they are able to practice and comprehend the book. The teacher also can structure comprehension questions on a given book to help practice their writing skills.