Oral Language Development Kelly Kertz, Title I Program Specialist

What is Oral Language Development?

How equipped are you today to work with small groups of students to develop oral language?

4 – I have knowledge and strategies to work with students to assist with oral language development and can teach someone else about it.

3 – I have knowledge and strategies to work with students to assist with oral language development.

2 – I have some knowledge but no strategies to assist students with oral language development.

1 – I have no knowledge or strategies to assist students with oral language development.

Learning scale – ask yourself…

Stages of Oral Language Development

Cooing: as early as 6 weeks

Babbling: 4-6 months

One word stage: 8-12 months

Telegraphic Stage: toddler “cookie all gone”

Beginning Oral Fluency: 3-4 Years old

Understand

Talk

Read and Write

Amount of exposure to language — Hart and Risley (1995) found a wide disparity in the quantity of words (sum of unique words and gross sum of all words) as well as the quality of language to which the children were exposed.

Exposure to print – Children in a print-rich environment benefit from early exposure to reading and print concepts such as familiarity with letters and sounds, as well as exposure to the conventions of printed words (e.g., reading left to right on a page and front to back in a book).

Factors :

English not spoken in the home – Children in homes where English is not spoken often lack exposure to critical oral language skills such as English vocabulary, grammar, pragmatics and discourse. Without these skills being modeled and reinforced in the home, these students enter school already significantly behind their peers (Biemiller, 1998).

Factors :

Background experiences – Children in low SES homes often lack the opportunity to expand their background experiences and knowledge, compared to their peers in other subgroups.

Factors :

Parents’ level of education – Research has shown that there is a strong relationship between a parent’s education level—in particular, the mother’s education—and a child’s oral language skills or vocabulary upon entering school (NICHD, 2005).

Factors :

Transitions and disruptions in the student’s home life – Student mobility rate within Title I and ELL subgroups is often among the highest within a given district. Such changes impact a student’s achievement level throughout school (Snow et al., 2007).

Factors :

Conversation and Wait Time

Think-Pair-Share

Think Alouds

Vocabulary

Strategies for Developing Oral Language

Conversations allow children to hear and use language and are more likely to occur when children are engaged and interested in what they are doing. Both conversations between children and between adults and children are important. Extending conversations can occur through using open ended questions e.g. “Can you tell me more about this?” and questions that require children to think e.g. “How do you think that happened?” as they invite talk.

Conversations

Giving children time to respond in conversations is important. Often children need time to process your comment or question and then form a response. This is important for reluctant talkers and children with language differences and difficulties, who may need the extra processing time.

Wait Time

Think Pair Share is a cooperative discussion strategy that has 3 parts to the process:

children think about a question or an issue they talk with a partner about their thoughts then several children share their discussion and thinking with the

class

The strategy sets up a conversation between children, providing children with more opportunities to talk about their work and thinking. It can occur across the curriculum, and hands on learning situations provide meaningful contexts for learning and think pair share can be used before or after such activities.

Think-Pair Share

This is a strategy that is intended to make thinking or the comprehension process explicit. It is like opening a window into the mind to help make comprehension visible. Think‐Alouds allow the educator to model the thinking process by stepping it out, helping children make connections.

The process used in a Think Aloud includes: Stating what happenedA comment about what the people might be thinkingAn explanation of the problem.

Think Alouds are commonly used in reading, when the teacher talks through their thoughts during the reading process.

Think Alouds

Children learn words through immersion in a vocabulary‐rich environment and explicit teaching of targeted words. Key to assisting children learn new words, is to make the learning situation meaningful and ensure there is repetition. This will help words to become part of a child’s communication.

Vocabulary

The Seven Components of Our Language System 1. Phonology: The basic sound units of Language

2. Morphology: Units of meaning within words; the way words are formed (morphemes)

3. Syntax: Phrase and sentence structure – what makes sense (grammar)

4. Semantics: The way language conveys meaning

5. Pragmatics; Appropriate word choice and use in context to communicate effectively.

6. Orthography: Spelling patterns

7. Vocabulary: Knowledge of the meaning and pronunciation of words (Lexicon)

- L.C. Moats (2000) nd Burns, Griffin, and Snow (1999)

A Thought…

Proficiency in oral language provides children with a vital tool for thought. Without fluent and structured oral language, children will find it very difficult to think. - J. Bruner (1983)

Teach the Meaning of Critical, Unknown Vocabulary Words Children’s vocabulary in the early grades relate to reading comprehension in the upper grades.

Preschool – children’s vocabulary correlated with reading comprehension in upper elementary school. (Tabors, 2001)

Kindergarten- Vocabulary size was an effective predictor of reading comprehension in middle elementary years (Scarborough, 1998)

First grade – Orally tested vocabulary was a proficient predictor of reading comprehension ten years later. (Cunningham and Stanovich, 1997)

Third grade – Children with restricted vocabulary have declining comprehension scores in later elementary years. (Chall, Jacobs, & Baldwin, 1990)

More Oral Language Activities

Naming: Objects related to topic People related to topic Related objects by categories Parts of objects related to topic by attributes Naming similar objects Detailed associations of objects

More Oral Language Activities Describing:

Name, category, class or groupFunction

Who might use this? How? Why? Where might I find this object? Where do I go to buy or find this object?

Attributes: What does it look like? Size, color, shape, texture, taste, etc.

Compare: How different from other similar objects in same group or

category?

More Oral Language Activities Continued

Things to think about Counting syllables General knowledge

Relationships: How do these two words/things go together? Synonyms and oppositesWhich one doesn’t belong? Why?

Narrative Text and Retell

Elements of narrative text include: Characters (People or animals the story is about) Setting (When and where the story is being told) Event (Beginning, leading up to the climax, release of

tension, resolution, ending) Climax (The problem) Resolution (Solution to the problem)

Prefixes are Happy Beginnings!

20 most common prefixes account for 97% of all prefixed words:

un, re, in, im, il, ir, dis, account for 58% en/em, non, in/im, over, mis, sub, pre, inter, fore, de,

trans, super, semi, anti, mid, under, com/con/col/cor account for 39%

White, Sowell, and Yanagihara (1989)

Happy Endings – Suffixes

The importance of suffixes in our language and teaching the meaning of suffixes.

16 suffixes account for 87% of suffixed words. s, es, ed, and ing account for 65% ly, er/or, ion, tion, able/ible, al, y, ness, ity, ment account for

22% White, Sowell, and Yanagihara

(1989)

Students will talk more if we… Wait a few seconds before we reply to what they say.

Look at their faces

Show you are listening

Talk about what they want to talk about

Talk about what they are doing

Use new words (excursion, expedition)

Repeat new words often

Avoid interrupting them

Avoid changing topics quickly

Mile a MinuteFor this game you will be in teams of 2. One is a

“talker” and the other is a “guesser”. The talker faces a list of words on the board and tries to get the guesser to say the words. The talker may not use any of the words in the category or the category title. You may talk, describe, pantomime but you only have 1 minute to get as many words as you can. If you finish the list, raise your hand!

Activity

Types of AnimalsReptile

Bird

Insect

Mammal

Fish

Spider

Amphibian

Canine

ShapesSquare

Circle

Triangle

Rectangle

Oval

Rhombus

Heart

Star

Activities Handout

What is Listening Comprehension?

Language Ability Background Knowledge

Remember this….

“The limits of my language means the limits of my world.”

Ludwig Wittgenstein

Austrian-British Philosopher

How equipped are you today to work with small groups of students to develop oral language?

• 4 – I have knowledge and strategies to work with students to assist with oral language development and can teach someone else about it.

• 3 – I have knowledge and strategies to work with students to assist with oral language development.

• 2 – I have some knowledge but no strategies to assist students with oral language development.

• 1 – I have no knowledge or strategies to assist students with oral language development.

Learning scale – ask yourself…

Resources:

Much of the content of this slide presentation was retrieved from the internet 9/29/15

http://www2.ed.gov/programs/readingfirst/2008conferences/language.pdf