Oral
language plays such an important part in school success! It is essential that we help
children/students develop the oral language skills they will need to become
readers, thinkers, and learners. We
cannot afford to allow children/students to “fail” and be held back in
school—and in life.
What is Oral Language?
What is there to learn about oral language? Here are some frameworks.
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How Babies Talk
Golfinkoff & Hirsh-Pasek 1999
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Language Development
Hoff (2009)
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Helping Young
Children Learn Language & Literacy,
Vukelich, Christie, and Enz (2008)
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Oral Language and Early Literacy in Preschool, Roskos, Tabors,
Lenhart
(2009)
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Speaking and Listening for Preschool thru 3rd Grade,
Resnick and Snow (2008)
|
|
Babbling/sounds
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Phonology
|
Phonology
|
Phonology
|
Phonology
|
|
Words
|
Lexicon
|
Semantics
|
Semantics
|
Semantics
|
|
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Morphology
|
Morphology
|
Morphology
|
Morphology
|
|
Sentences
|
Syntax
|
Syntax
|
Syntax
|
Syntax
|
|
Uses of Language
|
Communication
|
Pragmatics
|
Pragmatics
|
Pragmatics
|
Oral Language Development
Within each of these frameworks, there are several things to
learn and there is a course of development, beginning at birth. Some dimensions of language (phonology, for
example) are mastered at a fairly young age.
The “average” child, for example, recognizes and can produce all of the
sounds of his/her language by age 6 or 7.
Basic syntax skills are also
learned fairly early. Children, for
example, begin putting words together as young as 18 months/24 months; and they
have mastered the basics of syntax by 6 or 7. Appropriate use of conjunctions, however,
continues throughout the school years.
Morphology also begins developing at an early age: children,
for example, start adding endings to some words, as preschoolers. But children
are still learning about dividing words into parts and learning about
derivations and affixes into high school.
Lexicon and word meanings, however, continue to develop
throughout our adult years. Semantics addresses meaning at both the word and
sentence levels. Understanding and speaking with clear and effective meaning is
a life-long venture.
Mastering pragmatics is also a life-long task. That development begins in the first year or
two and continues throughout our life span.
A More Detailed Outline of the
Sequence of Language Development
In my
“Dialogue About Language, Literacy, and Learning” Blog, I outline the sequence
of oral language development using a
Sounds/Words/Sentences/Discourse
framework.
I start with posts on sounds (see links below)
and then words, sentences, and discourse.
There are separate posts for each of those dimensions or levels of
language. I should note that there is
too much information for each link to digest in one session. I offer them here to make the links easier to
find as I will be referring back to these links as I relate them to success in
reading, thinking, and learning in preschool through elementary school, with a
special emphasis on closing the achievement gap.
Sounds
Words
Sentences
Discourse
https://classroomdiscourse.wordpress.com/2014/04/29/oral-language-development-discourse-part-1-of-2/
If we want
children to succeed in school, we will need to begin to pay attention to the
development of those oral language skills before they get to school. In the next post, I’ll write about how we
look at the progress that children
are or are not making in their oral language development in the Zero to 5 age
range.
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