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Definition:

Oral language refers to the manner in which we covey and receive ideas by both listening and speaking. This can include things like learning how certain words sound, the meaning behind them, and how to communicate these words with your voice.

Basics: Oral Language (n.d.)

Reading Rockets

https://www.readingrockets.org/reading-101/reading-and-writing-basics/oral-language

Application:

While oral language is a skill that is primarily developed in early childhood, one could argue that it is still relevant within my discipline of social studies due to the vast amount of oral historical records. One example of an application of oral language to social studies could be when students listen to Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech. In this case, students would use their oral language skills to derive meaning from listening to this speech and taking note of the language used throughout the speech.

“I Have a Dream Speech” By Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., November 07 2017, Youtube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vP4iY1TtS3s

Importance to Equity and Justice For All Learners:

Patricia Kuhl in her TedTalk asserts that oral language is a crucial skill that individuals must learn at a young age. Kuhl argues that at a young age, children and babies have a cunning ability to acquire language skills by gathering statistical data on which sounds are important and what they truly mean. By age 7, this ability begins to decline and when puberty hits, this skill is almost nonexistent. This underscores the importance of learning oral language at a young age in order to ensure equity and justice for all learners. If individuals are unable to acquire these oral language skills from a young age, they unequivocally will be put at a disadvantage when compared to their peers who were able to learn oral language from early childhood.

Kuhl, P. (n.d.). The linguistic genius of babies. Patricia Kuhl: The linguistic genius of babies | TED Talk. https://www.ted.com/talks/patricia_kuhl_the_linguistic_genius_of_babies?language=en

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Oral language encompasses both speaking and listening. Oral language skills include learning how spoken words sound, what words and sentences mean, and how to communicate ideas. Nurturing oral language skills provides a strong foundation for learning to read.

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Definition:

Phonological awareness refers to an individual's awareness regarding how certain sounds within words interact, combine to create words, and are produced. This can include identifying how words rhyme, how many syllables are present, and identifying alliteration.

Basics: Phonological and Phonemic Awareness (n.d.)

Reading Rockets

https://www.readingrockets.org/reading-101/reading-and-writing-basics/phonological-and-phonemic-awareness

Application:

Within my discipline of social studies, phonological awareness could apply when looking at how language was utilized and "played with" in the past. For example, in 1768, Benjamin Franklin created a new alphabet which he believed was superior to the one we know, opting to get rid of letters he deemed as confusing such as C, J, Q, W, X, and Y. Students with phonological awareness would be able to utilize their skills in order to read some of his works published using his newfound alphabet in which he implements single letters for sounds like "ish" and "ing".

John Kannenburg, October 18, 2019, Benjamin Franklin’s Phonetic Alphabet (1768)

Medium

https://medium.com/museum-of-portable-sound/benjamin-franklins-phonetic-alphabet-1768-2a195df7b0c5

Importance to Equity and Justice For All Learners:

As touched on above, phonological awareness is crucial for all learners to acquire in order to understand any type of alphabetical writing system. This means that our phonological awareness is being facilitated at a young age as we begin to learn the alphabet and how to read. If individual's are not able to develop this phonological awareness at a young age, they clearly will be put at a disadvantage when compared to their peers. They will have far greater difficulty when it comes to learning the alphabet, learning to read, and learning other languages as well. This underscores the importance of phonological awareness from a young age. While phonological skills are not closely related to intelligence, they are crucial in understanding written and oral language so that individuals can effectively communicate with each other.

Louisa Moats, Carol Toleman, (n.d.) Why Phonological Awareness Is Important for Reading and Spelling

Reading Rockets

https://www.readingrockets.org/topics/early-literacy-development/articles/why-phonological-awareness-important-reading-and#:~:text=Phonological%20awareness%20is%20critical%20for,poor%20reading%20and%20spelling%20development.

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Basics: Phonological and Phonemic Awareness

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Before children learn to read print, they need to become aware of how the sounds in words work. They must understand that words are made up of individual speech sounds, or phonemes. A child's skill in phonological and phonemic awareness is a good predictor of later reading success or difficulty.

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Definition: Phonics is the systematic relationship between written letters and spoken sounds which allows students to break down and understand words and word structure. This type of instruction in reading utilizes the alphabetic principle to aid students in their comprehension skills.

Basics: Phonics and Decoding (n.d.)

Reading Rockets

https://www.readingrockets.org/reading-101/reading-and-writing-basics/phonics-and-decoding

Application: Similarly to my previous post about phonological awareness, phonics could be applied within the field social studies when observing Benjamin Franklin's alphabet that he created in 1768. Specifically, students could utilize their phonic abilities to recognize Franklin's single letters that represent sounds like "ing" and "ish" and implement that knowledge when reading literature written with this alternative alphabet.

John Kannenburg, October 18, 2019, Benjamin Franklin’s Phonetic Alphabet (1768)

Medium

https://medium.com/museum-of-portable-sound/benjamin-franklins-phonetic-alphabet-1768-2a195df7b0c5

Importance to Equity and Justice For All Learners: Phonics plays a crucial role in the development of all students due to the fact that phonics teaches letter-sound relationships when utilizing and/or converting text and speech. If students are not able to learn this from a young age, they clearly will be at a massive disadvantage when compared to peers who were exposed to phonics when learning how to read and write. This makes it clear that by utilizing phonics in the classroom, equity and justice for all learners will be promoted.

Dr. Susan Russak and Dr. Richard Wong (February 1, 2019) How Phonics Can Give Children a Head Start With Reading English

https://www.britishcouncil.org/voices-magazine/how-phonics-can-give-children-head-start-reading-english#:~:text=It%20is%20important%20for%20children,letters%20changes%20a%20word's%20meaning.

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Phonics instruction teaches the relationships between the letters of written language and the sounds of spoken language. To read, children need to understand the alphabetic principle - the idea that letters represent the sounds of spoken language. Decoding is when we use letter-sound relationships to translate a printed word into speech.

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Definition: Fluency refers to a student's ability to read text quickly, accurately, and expressively. This allows students to have increased stamina and comprehension when it comes to reading.

Basics: Fluency (n.d.)

Reading Rockets

https://www.readingrockets.org/reading-101/reading-and-writing-basics/fluency

Application: One application of fluency within the field of social studies is the ability to consume larger historical texts. One example of this could be students reading "The Epic of Gilgamesh". By consuming this larger text, students will be building up their fluency not only of text in general, but also historical texts that often utilize different language when compared to contemporary texts.

The Epic of Gilgamesh (n.d.)

https://www.readinglength.com/book/isbn-014044100X

Importance to Equity and Justice For All Learners:

Fluency is crucial for all students to acquire so that they may be able to derive meaning from the texts being studied. If a student is not fluent, they cannot accurately comprehend the content being studied and therefore will not be able to learn the same things as their peers. This clearly puts students who do not have fluency at a disadvantage when compared to their peers, further supporting the idea that fluency promotes equity and and justice among all learners.

Jan Hasbrouck (n.d.) For Students Who Are Not Yet Fluent, Silent Reading Is Not the Best Use of Classroom Time

https://www.readingrockets.org/topics/curriculum-and-instruction/articles/students-who-are-not-yet-fluent-silent-reading-not-best#:~:text=Surely%20most%20every%20educator%20has,print%20(reading%20comprehension).%20.

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Fluency is the ability to read a text accurately, quickly, and with expression.Fluent reading builds stamina for reading lengthy or complex texts. Reading fluency serves as a bridge between word recognition and comprehension.

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Definition: Comprehension refers to an individual's ability to understand, analyze, and connect information that they consume. This ability is foundational to the ability for an individual to engage in the learning process.

Basics: Comprehension (n.d.)

Reading Rockets

https://www.readingrockets.org/reading-101/reading-and-writing-basics/reading-comprehension

Application:

Within my discipline of social studies, comprehension applies throughout the totality of the content. If students are unable to comprehend the information they are consuming, they will be unable to take part in the learning process. One example of this can be seen when reading the Declaration of Independence. Students will need to be able to comprehend what they are reading in order to derive meaning from it, analyze it, and connect it to other topics that they are familiar with.

(1776) Thomas Jefferson, et al, July 4, Copy of Declaration of Independence . -07-04. [Manuscript/Mixed Material] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/mtjbib000159/.

Importance to Equity and Justice For All Learners: Clearly, comprehension is a foundational ability for all students to have in order to properly engage with any type of information, but particularly text. If a student is unable to do so, they clearly will be put at a massive disadvantage when it comes to learning compared to their peers. This is why dyslexia is classified as a learning disability. This learning disability impedes an individual's ability to comprehend texts and thus puts any individual that suffers from this at a massive disadvantage when compared to peers who do not suffer from this disability.

5 Most Common Learning Disabilities (n.d.) Masters in Special Education

https://www.masters-in-special-education.com/lists/5-most-common-learning-disabilities/#:~:text=Dyslexia&text=It%20is%20a%20learning%20disorder,break%20down%20according%20to%20sound.

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Comprehension is the reason for reading. If readers can read the words but do not understand or connect to what they are reading, they are not really reading. Good readers are both purposeful and active, and have the skills to absorb what they read, analyze it, make sense of it, and make it their own.

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Definition: Vocabulary refers to the words in which students utilize in order to receive and convey information. This includes concepts like listening, reading, writing, and speaking. Vocabulary plays a critical role in the learning process and is essential for students to utilize in order to facilitate reading comprehension.

Basics: Vocabulary (n.d.)

Reading Rockets

https://www.readingrockets.org/reading-101/reading-and-writing-basics/vocabulary

Application: Vocabulary can be applied within my discipline of social studies in many ways. One example of this can be seen when students are learning about the American Revolution. It is crucial for students to understand the vocabulary associated with this topic such as words like abolish, diplomacy, Loyalist, and monarchy.

American Revolution Vocabulary (n.d.)

chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://www.mountainsideschools.org/cms/lib/NJ01912827/Centricity/Domain/476/American%20Revolution%20Vocabulary.pdf

Importance to Equity and Justice For All Learners:

As we have discussed in class, vocabulary is essential when it comes to equity and justice for all learners because vocabulary makes up the "language" of each discipline. Students who possess knowledge of disciplinary vocabulary will be better equipped to engage with complex text sets, engage in discussions within specific disciplines, and further enrich their literacy within their disciplines. Students who do not possess vocabulary knowledge will clearly be at a massive disadvantage as they do not have the fundamental building blocks that allow one to engage in topics that utilize higher levels of vocabulary.

Department of Education (n.d.)

Literacy Teaching Toolkit: Vocabulary

https://www.education.vic.gov.au/school/teachers/teachingresources/discipline/english/literacy/readingviewing/Pages/litfocusvocab.aspx

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Vocabulary plays a fundamental role in the reading process and is critical to reading comprehension. Children learn the meanings of most words indirectly, through everyday experiences with oral and written language. Other words are learned through carefully designed instruction.

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Definition: Writing is a method in which an individual conveys information through the use of visual words. Writing can be simple or complex, often requiring an understanding concepts like vocabulary, text structure, grammar, punctuation, and organization.

Basics: Writing (n.d.)

Reading Rockets

https://www.readingrockets.org/reading-101/reading-and-writing-basics/writing

Application: One example of how writing can apply within my specific discipline of social studies is when having students write a letter to a member of congress about an issue that they care deeply about. Students will need to utilize their understanding of concepts within writing such as vocabulary, text structure, and organization in order to properly carry out the assignment effectively.

Writing a Letter to a Member of Congress (n.d.)

AIP Publishing

https://www.aip.org/writing-member-congress

Importance to Equity and Justice For All Learners: Writing is a crucial and fundamental skill that each student will need to be able to utilize so that they can effectively function within the classroom. Writing about a text that one has just read allows the writer to think critically about the information that they have just read, ultimately furthering their knowledge regarding the text. If a student is unable to effectively convey their ideas through writing, they will ultimately be put at a massive disadvantage when compared to their peers.

Why is writing important for a student’s education? Why learn to write at a young age? (n.d.)

Steve Graham

https://www.readingrockets.org/resources/expert-qa/why-writing-important-students-education-why-learn-write-young-age

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Writing is a complex process that requires a wide range of skills — a strong vocabulary; an understanding of genre, text structure, and voice; basic mechanical skills (grammar and punctuation); organizational skills; and higher order thinking.