What is oral language? Oral language is the ability to speak
and listen. The development of thinking and reading abilities is
closely linked to the development of oral language. Through
meaningful and fun interactions, students can develop the type of
everyday communication skills that facilitate learning.
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Why is it important? Research tells us that children who have
strong oral language skills often have strong reading and writing
skills. In contrast, children with oral language problems are at
higher risk of reading and writing difficulties (Scarborough,
2001).
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Oral language is at the base of literacy.
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Sequence of Oral Language Spoken language naturally comes
before written language. This developmental pattern continues
throughout school. Initial literacy instructional priority should
be given to developing oral proficiency, concurrently supplemented
with print materials to support the development of English language
skills.
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Who needs oral language development?.
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All Students! Its not just English Language Learners that need
to practice oral language development. Todays society does not
encourage oral language development. Various situations such as
two-income households or one-parent families, soccer, baseball, or
ballet practice, and family dynamics rarely allow family members to
sit down and simply (and importantly) talk about the days
happenings. Technology such as TV, video games, computers, personal
listening devices and even DVD players in vehicles discourage oral
conversations and language development.
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How to develop oral language in the classroom? Talk with Your
Children Get Close & Listen Respond and Expand Talk About What
You Are Doing Provide Prompts That Promote Oral Language Wordless
Picture Books Singing Conversation Stations
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Talk with Your Children Talk! Talk! Talk! Teachers should talk
or converse with their children whenever possible. Children often
love to talk about their friends, families, or favorite activities.
Try to develop talking points. Talking points are conversation
starters that you can use with a child. Consider writing them on a
set of note cards to keep with you whenever you want to promote
conversation with a child. Make conversation a game by asking the
child to pick a card to initiate a conversation.
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Get Close & Listen When speaking with children it is
important to get close. The child should be able to see your lips
and facial expressions, hear your voice clearly, and make eye
contact with you. Making sure that you get close helps ensure that
the child keeps an interest in what you are saying. Make sure
during conversation with the child that you are sending a clear
message that you are listening. When a child speaks to you, make
comments about what they are saying, nod your head, or add Mm-hmm,
Really? or Tell me more.
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Respond and Expand When a child says something to you, respond
whenever possible. After you respond, try to expand the
conversation. Add more context to the language even when a childs
response is a simple one. For example, if the child says, I like
apples, You might say, I like apples too. What kind of apples do
you like?
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Talk About What You Are Doing Daily activities, such as
cleaning up after stations or snack time, provide many
opportunities for language development. Talk with children about
what they are doing and what you are doing. This type of talking
exposes children to language in general, involves them in learning
conversation skills, and helps children acquire and use vocabulary
that is important in their everyday lives.
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Wordless Picture Books Wordless picture books provide lots of
opportunities for developing oral language. As you introduce the
book, use rich vocabulary and expand the story with many details as
you explore the pictures. Once you have read the story several
times, it can be placed in the Conversation Station and the
students can retell the story to their classmates.
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Examples of Wordless Picture Books Good Dog Carl Series by
Alexandra Day
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Allen County Public Library This site has many wordless picture
book titles with a synopsis of each book.
http://www.acpl.lib.in.us/children/ wordless.html
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Singing Singing with your class develops oral language,
vocabulary and increases phonological awareness. Be sure to provide
printed posters or slides of the songs to develop the students
concepts of print while you singing.
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Conversation Stations
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Conversation Station Create a reusable sign that reads: Lets
talk about _______ Gather props and books Find a storybook that
models conversational practices from The Balanced Literacy
Diet
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Question Sticks Question sticks can be used in the Conversation
Station to promote discussion of stories. They can be used during
Show and Tell so students can hear and discuss a variety of
questions.
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Mystery Bag Activity Clues 1. It is white. 2. It is cold. 3. It
has stick arms. Question sticks make and take
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Tell Stories Tell stories every day about things from the past
or things that will happen. You can talk about something the class
might do that day or about an upcoming event. During a story, use
prompts to encourage storytelling like, Tell me a story, What
happened next? and When did that happen?
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Provide Prompts That Promote Oral Language Include microphones,
old telephones, puppets, flannel boards, and even paper towel tubes
in the play area. Pretending to be someone else encourages children
to mimic the vocabulary, facial expressions, and body language that
they see and hear from others. These types of prompts encourage
oral language interactions. Make them available and encourage
children to use them whenever possible.
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Poetry Have a weekly poem that is read and discussed daily.
Ensure it is large enough for students to see so that they can
watch as you track while reading. Introduce it on Monday. Discuss
rhythm, rhyming words, or other skills that are emphasized in the
piece. Read the poem daily, inviting the students to read along
with you. By the end of the week, students should be able say it
with you. Be sure to use inflection when appropriate. These
activities will also help build fluency in beginning readers.
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How do students improve their oral language development?
Practice! Practice! Practice! When asking students questions,
instead of calling on one student at a time, allow time for guided
conversations. Some activities to use to encourage this are: Turn
and tell a partner Inner and outer circle A talking line
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Inner and Outer Circle Activity Directions: Number off 1 or 2.
The ones will make a circle and face outward. The twos will make a
circle facing the ones. As the music plays the ones will move
clockwise, the twos counter clockwise. When the music stops, you
will talk about the posted statement with the person you are
facing. Ready?
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In Summary Oral language is the ability to __________. speak
and listen Oral language is at the base of ______. literacy Share
one oral language activity you can use in your classroom tomorrow.
How do students improve oral language? Practice! Practice!
Practice!
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A Point to Ponder If words arent in students oral working
vocabulary, they wont be comprehended if they are encountered in
print.
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Sources Promoting Oral Language Development in Young Children
by Audrey W. Prince, M.Ed. Super Duper
Publicationshttp://www.superduperinc.com/handouts/pdf/120_oral_lan
guage_development.pdfhttp://www.superduperinc.com/handouts/pdf/120_oral_lan
guage_development.pdf The Balanced Literacy Diet
http://www.oise.utoronto.cahttp://www.oise.utoronto.ca Allen County
Public Library http://www.acpl.lib.in.us/children/
wordless.html
