We have been spending a great deal of time understanding oral language. Why is this important for written language? What is the correlation?
Here is a great PowerPoint from the Department of Education:
Some have found the paragraph’s graphs confusing so here is another resource that breaks down the importance of oral language to written languagefoundation to reading
Oral language, starting from the words and sounds a baby hears at birth, is how written language is formed. Of course, written language is more deeply formed by access to education, but oral language is where it all begins. Oral language helps children develop an initial understanding regarding letter sounds and forms, phonemic awareness, and syntax, all of which are related to a students ability to read. My cousin just recently had a baby boy, and every time we see him, she always asks us to talk to him as much as we can. I always knew it was important to talk to a baby to develop their oral language skills and their social skills, but now it makes even more sense as it is related to their written language skills as well.
One part of the article that really stuck out to me was when it stated “If children come to school with well-developed oral language, it must be expanded. If children come to school with underdeveloped oral language, it must be developed.” When I was in AmeriCorps, I was a reading intervention teacher for grades K through 8. I worked with a lot of young students who had just moved from developing countries with their families. I had one student in particular who, even though he was so young, spent his days not in school but sitting on a farm as his parents worked. Because of this, he received little verbal communication and interaction with others. When he came to us, we realized that though he was a Spanish speaker, his basic reading skills were still underdeveloped in Spanish. His vocabulary understanding was very poor, along with his sentence structure and letter sounds in his native language. It was clear to us as teachers that this was more than just an EL student, but a student who was not able to develop his skills at a young age and in turn, his reading skills were being negatively affected. Reflecting on what I have learned about the importance of oral language skills in order to read and develop written language skills, it makes more sense now as to why the student struggled due his lack of interaction with others.
Oral language impacts written language because reading, writing, listening, and speaking are all interrelated. The article also started that, “Oral language is the foundation on which reading and writing are built”. At first, one predominately listens to different sounds in his or her environment and over time, through listening to others talk, they hear and learn different sounds. Then through the development of phonemic and phonological awareness as well as the ability to identify particular sounds and understand the relationship between letters and sounds, one is able to begin speaking and communicating with others in his or her environment. Moreover, an individual then learns how to use taught decoding strategies such as segmenting and blending and use these as word analysis strategies. When one is able to decode the words that he or she reads, one is able to comprehend what has been read. In addition to this, prior experiences are stored in one’s mind and can be used to make connections to things that they are currently reading, writing, speaking about or listening to. Ultimately, when one is able to use their oral language to learn and understand strategies for word identification, they use their skills to read and write. For instance, I had the opportunity to word with a pre-school student 2 years ago and this student was unable to write out his name. I was so determined to teach his to do so but I had to first determine where to start. I soon discovered that he was not able to spell his name either. Additionally, through benchmark assessments, I found out that the student was not able to engage in either of there skill because he was not able to identify his letters as well as their corresponding sounds. I worked with the student to practice tracing and writing the letters while matching the sounds and name of the letter. He would say, “This is the letter C and it makes the /k/ sound while writing it”. Eventually, he was able to write his name correctly and identify each of the corresponding letters, names, and sounds.
There is definitely a tremendous correlation between oral language and written language because before one is able to write, he or she must first learn to speak. If one is not able to do so, he or she does will not fully understand the meaning of different sounds and their relationship to corresponding letters, how letters are put together to make different words, how words can be put together to make sentences and used in communication to exchange thoughts, feeling or ideas. One will also not be able determine the pronunciation of words as well as their meanings and as a result, one will not be able to use word identification strategies to comprehend information that has been read. Finally, one will not be able to express his or her thoughts, feelings, or ideas if he or she cannot apply phonics strategies to create words, sentences, and stories in order to communicate with others.
When reading these resources I began to think about the order in which we acquire speaking, reading, and writing. It is obvious that speaking comes first, but then I started to think about whether we read first or write first or at the same time? To me it kind of seems like these two go hand in hand, but writing being the more difficult of the two. As stated in the article “oral language is the foundation of learning to pronounce and identify words.” Oral language provides the basis for reading and writing. This made me think of the student I am working with who has a communication disorder. When I was helping her do her morning writing activity we were working together to sound words out. She would say a word to try to sound it out, but because some of her pronunciation was off so she would get some of the letters mixed up. When I would say the word with the correct pronunciation she was able to tell me the letters as I sounded it out for her. This showed me fist hand the importance of having good oral language in order to be able to write and sound out words.
In order to be able to read or write this article brought up the point about knowing information about “print.” Things I would never even think about, such as we read from left to right and spaces have a meaning in writing. These things never even occurred to me that some students would not know. It also placed a lot of emphasis on phonemic awareness, something we have talked a lot about in class. The ability to identify syllables and rhyme will help a child in sounding out words and connecting them from oral language to what it would look like on paper. This shows that the skills you acquire through oral language will help you to write and read as well.
Written language and oral language are very similar and tied together because they require the use of the same skills. Through oral language, a child develops knowledge and skill in letter sounds, phonetic awareness, syntax and sentence structures. Without building these skills through oral language in their early years, students written language and reading will suffer.
Also, we talked in class at length about how students gain a strong vocabulary in their early years through oral language. Without building a strong vocabulary base through oral language, a child’s written language will also suffer in this way. I have seen students who have had a severe struggle in writing all the way up until their senior year because they lacked a strong and wide range of vocabulary in their everyday use.
Oral language is key because it is the key to communication. Without a strong oral language, students will not be able to effectively communicate. If they cannot effectively communicate verball, they will not able able to effectively communicate in their writing.
Oral language is important for written language because it is first important for children to grasp the way language is spoken in order to be able to write it. In the slides, it says that children between 3 and 4 years old “begin to obey requests like put the block under the chair.” At this age, they are understanding prepositions and how they are used in language. For example, we don’t say, “the block put under the chair.” Children are beginning to gain meaning on how to form sentences to convey a meaning. This skill transfers to writing, when forming correct sentences. At 4-5 years old, children begin to use past tense correctly. The ability to express time in language makes for effective communication.
Oral language is also important in being able to pronounce written words and in the writing of words. Most younger children first start to write words using phonetic language; they write how it sounds in their heads. With instruction, they are able to learn the correct spelling as they learn how letters work together to make sounds. Establishing a solid oral language base is the foundation to effective reading and writing.
Oral language is important for written language because it is first important for children to grasp the way language is spoken in order to be able to write it. In the slides, it says that children between 3 and 4 years old “begin to obey requests like put the block under the chair.” At this age, they are understanding prepositions and how they are used in language. For example, we don’t say, “the block put under the chair.” Children are beginning to gain meaning on how to form sentences to convey a meaning. This skill transfers to writing, when forming correct sentences. At 4-5 years old, children begin to use past tense correctly. The ability to express time in language makes for effective communication.
Oral language is also important in being able to pronounce written words and in the writing of words. Most younger children first start to write words using phonetic language; they write how it sounds in their heads. With instruction, they are able to learn the correct spelling as they learn how letters work together to make sounds. Establishing a solid oral language base is the foundation to effective reading and writing.
Oral language is incredibly important for written language. Basically, oral language provides the foundation from which written language and reading can be taught. This language is the culmination of sounds and nuances that are combined to make words. If the child has a strong foundation in this, they will likely be able to learn to read and write quite well. However, if the child does not, they will struggle because when you do not have the simple phonetics of letters down, it could be near impossible to learn to spell or read full words.
Thus, there is direct correlation between oral and written language. Though you can have oral language without the ladder, it is important to know that they are not mutually exclusive. Written language depends heavily on oral language and many studies have shown just that. In a study discussed in the slide show, according to Morrison and Katch, “Children with stronger fall letter Children with stronger fall letter-word reading and vocabulary scores achieved reading and vocabulary scores achieved higher spring letter higher spring letter-word scores on word scores on average.” Moreover, Scarborough believes that Written language and Oral language intertwine like a rope. Things like site recognition, phonetic awareness and decoding are all skills that take practice and teaching. However, the oral language skills are things that you basically come to play with. They can be improved, but things like background knowledge, verbal reasoning, and literacy knowledge are paramount in the process.
I’m appreciating the amount of information that has been taught so far in EDU 571 about oral language. It was interesting to learn about how oral language starts at such an early age and the changes that occur overtime in a child until adulthood.
Oral language paves the foundation for helping students advance through reading and writing skills at each grade level. Students enhance their understanding of words and learn how to communicate their feelings, thoughts, or opinions because of oral language. Using oral language is imperative because it allows students the ability to connect with teachers, classmates, and transfer this skill into their daily life routines.
The written language of a student will vary depending on different variables that coincide with having a strong oral language foundation to start when enrolling into school. Oral language influences the student’s knowledge of vocabulary, sounds of letters or word patterns, sentence structure, and grammar. Personally, I think phonemic awareness is truly the most important element that stems from oral language. Phonemic awareness is the basis for students to know that letters have sounds and the various combination of letters will produce a word that has a specific sound or word meaning. At early age, students come to understand through reading grade level text that blending words and letters together creates meaning into written language as well. A student with strong written language has a solid foundation for vocabulary words and meaning to express written responses to text in greater detail. Students are routinely told to provide evidence when responding to a text and oral language plays an essential role to guide them through that process.
I’m going to take what I learned in EDU 571 about oral language when observing how my students perform in the classroom now.
I liked what you said about how written language varies based on oral language skills. This school year I had a student with apraxia who spoke really quickly and would often get “tongue-tied” with her words. She was a very sweet girl who had a lot to say about her family. In class, however, she would often shy away from raising her hand and answering questions. Her written work was similar to the way she spoke–quick, words written closely together, words not written on the lines, barely legible. Whenever she would hand it in she would say she tried really hard. I realized there was a correlation between her apraxia (oral) and her written expression.The way she was saying the words was the way she was writing them. She told me she was exited from speech therapy (I am not sure of the reason why) and her parents were proud of her progress. The whole school year I worked with her on her written expression and towards the end of the year she had improved tremendously.
I wish I knew that I could refer her for OT work, but it being my first year, I did not know how to go about referring a student for services. With the help of all of the courses I have taken at Providence College, I have learned strategies to collaborate with my colleagues in providing a better education fro my students.
Oral language is a key component in understanding written language. As a child, you learn to talk before you learn to write. The correlation between the two is that you need oral language to help with written language. As a child, you learn oral language first. You learn the alphabet, how to make sounds, how to say words, and how to use those words in conversations.
Phonemic awareness, which refers to a child’s awareness of the elements of oral language, can help depict the child’s ability in learning to read. The correlation between phonemic awareness and concepts of print is the link between oral and written language. When writing, you sound out words and use oral language to help spell words you do not already know how to spell. Even if the word is spelled wrong, oral language can be used to try to understand the misspelled word.
Oral language is the foundation for reading. You will speak before you write. Oral language is the foundation needed to identify and pronounce written words. You use oral language skills to help sound out words when reading and to sound out how to spell a word when writing. Both oral and written language help communicate ideas and the more developed your oral language is the developed your written language will be.
In the classroom it is important to use good language models, taking about and discussing meaningful topics to help your students expand and develop their skills. It is necessary to develop oral language and expand on it from pre school through a later high school years. This will help to continue to strengthen and develop the child’s written language.
Oral language is the first step towards written language. “Oral language is the foundation for learning to identify or pronounce written words (foundations to learn to read 1).” Having background knowledge of a word from hearing it can help a students ability to identify in writing and use it in their own writing. If a child is able to identify a written word, their comprehension of connected texts relies heavily on their oral language abilities. What this means is the more words a child is able to speak the better foundation they have for written language.If a child starts kindergarten with little oral language skills that child’s instruction focus will still be on language acquistion where if a child has a strong oral language skills they are likely able to begin to read sooner, having a stronger oral language background.
The correlation between writing and speaking and very interesting. As a First grade, and teaching children to read, write, and speak, I often think about how I was taught to do these tasks. At the school I teach at we hold a high for all of our students. Our end goal is that all students will meet this bar, but will meet it in different ways. When it comes to reading and writing this stands very true. As students develop, I am able to see significant differences between students depending on what their home life is or was as a younger child and presently.
During class, I found it very interesting to hear the difference in how many words children from different settings are hearing. It is amazing, how this could positively or negatively effect a child’s speech and language development.
A my school we use a reading test called STEP. Myself and another teacher were recently discussing the importance and impact of concepts of print, so it was interesting to read what the article had to speak about that idea.
Oral language has an impact on written language from the very beginning. It all starts with the ability to hear and understand letter sounds. To begin to write words, you need to be able to sound out the letters that make up a word. Without being able to understand oral language and the sounds that each letter makes you would be able to write letters that correlate correctly to the sounds. We need to understand oral language in order for us to have a well-developed written language. When learning about this it made me think about and wonder about children that are deaf. If they can’t hear the oral language does that mean their written language gets hindered?
You are correct there is a big difference in written language and the student with hearing impairment. Here is an article that does a nice job of explaining it.
https://view.officeapps.live.com/op/view.aspx?src=https://www.uclan.ac.uk/about_us/assets/Language_literacy_and_the_deaf_students.doc
I agree that oral language, which consists of listening and speaking, is the foundation for reading and writing. Oral language development is the first language acquisition skill that an average human develops. As a child becomes more developed in using words and understanding the meaning of new words that they hear, they will learn to associate the verbal sounds and begin to develop a phonemic awareness. Having phonemic awareness aids in learning to read and as a child increases their reading skills, phonemic awareness will increase. According to the article, “Foundations for Learning to Read,” is states that “a long-standing, extremely robust finding in the field of reading research is the high correlation between young children’s knowledge of letter names and success in learning to read. However, that finding is highly influenced on how much appropriate exposure a child has had in order to develop those skills. A child’s success in learning to read depends on several factors, such as how well a child can interpret printed words, how much appropriate and quality oral language models a child has been exposed to, and if effective materials and instruction have been implemented. With that being said, I want to also add that building good language skills can be effected by a child’s demographics. Unfortunately, many children that come from economically disadvantaged homes and communities often lack appropriate language skills, both oral and written. Children who are economically disadvantaged lack appropriate oral language models, effective materials and instruction, as well as other factors for many reasons such as, under educated parents, underfunded preschools etc. Therefore, the child is entering school already behind and there educational performance will be negatively effected.
“Oral language is the foundation on which reading and writing is built” (Foundations for Learning to Read, 1). Oral language is important because it is the beginning of all language skills children learn. As a child, you learn to talk before you write, so having the ability to communicate effectively at a young age will help in the long run with writing and reading. Young students begin with oral language at home, and when transitioning to school are assessed for what oral speaking requirements or tweaking they may need. Over time, their vocabulary begins to expand due to the language they already know. For students who may not have a diverse vocabulary or develop language slower, it will significantly impact their writing abilities later. Because of this, oral language is a significant part of learning that will impact writing.
Some important aspects of oral language that should not be overlooked include phonemic awareness along with communication skills. Both go hand and hand and can translate to writing effectively. Phonemic awareness refers to the student’s ability to hear, identify and manipulate phonemes (the smallest units of sound that can differentiate meaning) to understand the language being used. Orally, a student must understand how to break down a word to understand the concept of that word; how to spell the word, say the word, and what to listen for when the student hears said word. Phonemic awareness then transfers to written language as students must use these same abilities to write the word on the paper. When writing the word, the student must know how to spell the word, what the word sounds like in the sentence, and understand the overall meaning of the sentence using that word. Along with this, when a student is reading, they must be able to understand the words they are reading and the concept of the words. Without this, students may be able to “read” but they may not be able to understand the concept of the word, sentence, paragraph, or book in front of them.
Communication skills also go with oral and written language because students must be able to communicate through voice and written work. Starting with early childhood, children communicate orally to those around them. This continues to the school setting, where students answer questions orally as well as que teachers with hand raising and having their questions answered orally. Students must understand this oral language such as “Yes, you may go to the bathroom” with a reaction of understanding they are okay to get up, leave the room, and use the bathroom. This translates to written language as students must take information they understand orally and translate it into written words. For example, if students are asked to write about their day, they must be able to think about what they have done, form ideas and sentences in their head, and then transpose that information to paper or type the information into sentences that are comprehendible.
Overall, oral language plays a key role in the learning, and comprehending of written language for students to be able to transpose written language.
Reading, writing, and speaking are all very closely connected. They are different forms of communication and all are imperative to functioning in our world. Written language is oral language recorded on paper. Oral language is the foundation for written language. We begin learning oral language at a very young age and during our first few years our exposure to oral language is mostly decided by our home life. This means that a child that is exposed to more oral language during infancy and toddler years usually enter school ahead of their peers. This helps them advance their reading and writing skills at a faster rate. When we have a large language bank to pull from we can form sentences with ease. Knowing more vocabulary and understanding it helps us to form written sentences. When we can speak sentences correctly we can write sentences correctly. If we don’t have a large vocabulary or can only speak in simple sentences we will most likely only be able to write in simple sentences too. This correlation is strong; when we have a large vocabulary we can be more successful with our writing.
A line that stood out from the “Foundations of Learning to Read” was that “In this sense, oral language is the foundation for learning to identify or pronounce written words.” Oral language helps students sound out words and then associate those sounds with written language. Children first learn the alphabet, associating letters to sounds. As their oral language develops, they can connect the sounds of letters to what they are reading and writing. As the child gets older, their conversation skills continue to develop. Nowhere is the correlation and connection between reading abilities and oral language more evident than in the research provided in the article. “Spoken language and reading have much in common. If the printed words can be efficiently recognized, comprehension of connected text depends heavily on the reader’s oral language abilities, particularly with regard to understanding the meanings of words that have been identified and the syntactic and semantic relationships among them.”
In my experience, I have encountered various students that have strong speaking skills, but their writing or reading levels are low. This is a surprise to me after viewing this research. I plan on not only looking into this research to utilize in my classroom, but to help the students make positive connections between written and oral language. I had previously learned about letter names and the importance of making those connections. Overall, there is a clear correlation between oral and written language and their development.
Oral language is important because it is the basics for identifying and pronouncing written words. Starting when children first go to school, their oral language needs to be assessed to decide of it needs to be expanded for those students who have a well-developed oral language or it needs to be developed for those with an undeveloped oral language. As a child’s oral language develops they can begin to start learning to letter names and ultimately reading. Without the oral language children will not be able to recognize the words they are trying to read.
Phonemic awareness which refers to a child’s awareness of the elements of oral language can help depict the child’s ability in learning to read. The correlation between phonemic awareness and concepts of print is the key link between oral language and written language as they are both important for learning to read. A child must learn the concepts of how to read, for example, that you read from left to right, that a printed word is preceded and followed by a space and other, which are the key components of the concept of print and written language.
Oral language is extremely important especially when it comes to written language. From birth, children use oral language whether it be babbling, responding to his or her name, saying “mama” or “dada,” intimidating familiar words, understanding simple instructions, etc. Oral language is also extremely valuable considering children speak before they write.
When students begin to go to school, their language and vocabulary grows. According to one of the articles, “Oral language is the foundation on which reading and writing is built.” Children can develop knowledge of the structure of oral language which develops into an awareness of the composition of spoken words. Oral language and reading comprehension have many factors in common. The syntax, or the set of rules and principles hat govern the structure of sentences, is similar between oral and written language. Students who come into school with underdeveloped language have needs in developing their oral language skills. Teachers must provide instruction and activities to develop and expand oral language.
When teachers provide fun and meaningful learning activities, students are more motivated to learn how to read and write. I know from experience that if the content is not interesting and does not appeal to students, not only will their motivation decrease but they will not learn as much as they could have if they had been interested in the lesson.
Every student must have phonemic awareness. Phonemic awareness refers to the children’s awareness of any of the several units that constitute oral language such as spoken words, syllables, onset and rime, and phonemes. If students have a high measure of phonemic awareness, they will most likely succeed in reading. Phonemic awareness also involves insights about oral language and concepts of print involve insights about written language.
I can certainly tell the difference between a student who has poor oral language and their written language skills. Because they have not been exposed to many vocabulary words, their written language is extremely basic and they often write as if they are speaking. Also, you can also tell if a student does not read a lot or see words in print. They often will have many spelling errors and poor vocabulary. We need to encourage students to read and practice their oral language skills when they enter pre-school and all the way throughout high school and beyond. By doing so, their oral language, reading, and written language skills will improve.
Oral language is important for written language because as a child you learn to talk before you learn to write. The correlation between the two is that you need oral language to help you with your written language.
As a developing child, you learn oral language first. You learn how to say and use words in your conversations. You then learn the alphabet and the way letters sound on their own and when put with other words. You practice making these sounds orally and learn to sound out words. Oral language then helps you develop your written language.
When writing, you sound out words and use your oral language skills to help you spell words you don’t regularly spell or words you are unfamiliar with. Even if you spell it wrong initially, people can usually determine what you mean but the common oral language understanding. People understand the sounds letters make and can use that knowledge to figure out what you mean if you spell a word wrong.
Oral language and written language are ways of communication that do work off each other. The more developed your oral language is, the more developed your written language can be and the more vocabulary words you learn definitions and meanings for to use in your writing, the more words you can add to your oral vocabulary.
In my opinion, it is easier to write if you can a well developed oral language understanding. If you understand letter sounds and how to be pronouncing words, you can write easier. Even when writing in other languages, spelling depends on the sounds letters make together when spoken. So you do need to understand how a word sounds to help you spell and spelling helps you write. So written and oral language are correlated.
Good points, syntax, and grammar also impact how a person writes. There are a variety of rules of a language that the student needs to know in order to be able to construct a good written response.
Both oral and written language skills are ones that we exercise on a daily basis. From this course, we have watched infants as they develop their oral language skills and begin to advocate for themselves from a young age. We learned that their cries have different meanings and they beginning utilizing their oral language from this point. Like Hillary stated, it is difficult to remember times where I developed both oral and written language skills as many of these just came naturally.
In my special education student teaching, it was difficult for me to understand how many of my students with learning disabilities could express themselves orally very well. However, their written language skills were poor and they had extreme difficulty with encoding. I know from this article and powerpoint that there is a such a clear connection between oral and written language skills. This student’s disability in the area of writing was evident as he was able to orally communicate with ease. This topic is very intriguing to me and I am looking forward to learning more about it.
The correlation between written and oral language is evident. How you speak directly influences how you write. This topic has fascinated me since I was in high school. I found myself wondering how I learned to read and write and how, with my mental development and growth, in high school I did not need to “think” hard about how to write.
When I posed this question to a teacher of mine, they said that it has to do with speaking and listening to conversation at a young age. This oral language is the basis of our write language. As an educator myself know, this concept still intrigues me. Especially on the idea of teaching ELL students written language. With a deficit in oral language, how does one grow with written language? The two fit seamlessly together.
Oral language is a key component in understanding written language. The first step in teaching a child language is the alphabet. We sing the “abc” song constantly, as they get older we add the sound then an object that begins with that later “a apple a (short a sound)” We then progress to writing the letter, and eventually writing words. As the students write a word we have them sound out each letter as they write c-a-t. Without the understanding of oral language and the sounds each letter makes, the child would know what letters to write.
As we get older and our writing increases, it is important to have correct word order (syntax) for others to understand what you are writing. Without a knowledge of oral language, our written language would not be as developed.
Why is oral language important for written language? What is the Correlation?
Oral language is the base of phonology, grammar (syntax), vocabulary (semantics), and pragmatics. Without the knowledge of those, written language would not occur. You must start from the beginning to get to the top so to speak. As children start learning these strategies and begin decoding and understand the sounds of words, they build on what will occur for written language and how they understand, read, and speak it. In order to understand and use written language, one must understand what they are reading/writing. Through syntax, a child will learn to construct combinations of words that will later on become sentences. They will use these sentences and paragraphs as their education strengthens. They need to know what a word means before they use it. Many ELL children struggle in this aspect due to their native language differing from the English language. You write the word the way it sounds/how you spell it out. If a child says the word “knife” but does not know the silent “k”, they will spell it the way it sounds, “n-i-f-e.” Oral and written language come hand in hand and are both immensely important to all.
Okay- I feel like I’m joining this thread a little late, but so many questions and scenarios come to mind in each of your comments.
Having done my student teaching in NY I experienced a great deal of set back in student’s oral and written skills and it was quite sad to me. These children were still being promoted to the next grade and they could barely speak properly, never mind reading or writing.
In the power point what really stuck out to me because I could relate to it personally was that it’s not only the socioeconomic component or the presence or lack there of education- it is the QUALITY of these components. In my house I would say that we are lower middle class and my daughter has been exposed to daycare since the age of 18 months. Being a mom, I trusted these teachers with my child’s safety and education, none of which I had trouble with until this year. After almost a year of my daughter being in the same classroom I began to get concerned about her reading and writing skills and approached the teacher. She didn’t seem the least bit concerned as I was and of course having some knowledge of working with children I knew she was not where she should be, not because of her age, but because of her knowledge. I know that if my daughter would have been the least bit challenged in her classroom she would have been reading and writing.
It is very sad to see a student held back by an educator, this is why I really took it to heart when learning about the ‘tier’ words. I feel many adults are comfortable that their children have language but are not aware of the QUALITY of a child’s language. It really is a ripple effect when children are not guided through their education at home as well as school.
Also, in trying to assist my daughter in reading and writing I also find it difficult explaining the ‘silent’ letters and sound, especially for longer words that they cant just remember how a word looks or sounds.
Lastly, I also agree with Milissa, there should be a huge push for free and high quality universal preschool throughout the country. QUALITY being the key word, with various observations done for teachers and students to assure success and provide that essential strong foundation.
New York actually has set up free preschool programs.http://schools.nyc.gov/ChoicesEnrollment/PreK/default.htm
Universal Preschool
https://www.whitehouse.gov/issues/education/early-childhood
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2013/02/13/education/State-Financed-Preschool-Access-In-the-US.html?_r=1&
http://schools.nyc.gov/ChoicesEnrollment/PreK/default.htm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_preschool
Oral language development is the foundation for academic performance. Providing oral language opportunities at an early age will enable the child to build background knowledge, vocabulary knowledge, and language structures, verbal reasoning, literacy knowledge and word recognition in order to develop literacy skills. Providing language-rich opportunities before a child begins school, will build and foster their oral language development. How can we assure that ALL children regardless of their socioeconomic status are given an opportunity for early childhood education?
There is a correlation between oral language development and literacy achievement. Studies have shown that “children, who develop strong oral language skills during the preschool years, create an important foundation for their later achievements in reading.”
Teachers play a key role in oral language development. In order to increase a student’s oral language development, we must provide language-rich interactions and instruction daily in the classroom. Teachers must “understand a child’s language skills to effectively instruct and design instruction” for students. Reading daily in the classroom is one way to develop oral language and literacy development. Shared book reading, sing-alongs, rhymes, word play, storytelling, group time, and dramatic play are great ways to enhance language growth and development. As a preschool teacher, I must enhance language growth and development through instruction. How can we expect children to develop oral language skills if we do not model language through interactions and instruction? In preschool, teachers are always providing many different opportunities to engage in language-rich opportunities. As stated earlier, oral language development is the foundation to academic success.
As educators, how can we assure oral language development for students who are at risk? If a study has shown, “preschool instruction enhances oral language growth and development”, why do we not provide universal preschool for all students regardless of their socioeconomic status, or children who are at risk? Providing early childhood education for all families will promote school readiness skills such as; oral language and literacy development and provide a strong foundation in which the student can improve “year to year” at “grade level” in oral language development.
From birth, oral language is the easiest and most important piece of language to acquire and use. As Laura mentioned, even ASL can be taught to young children and still facilitates communication. The better a child’s oral language is, the better their written language will be. If a child’s oral language is not clear, they won’t be able to tell the difference between certain letters and sounds, so they won’t know how to write it down.
I also agree with Athan about the powerpoint acronyms with the graphs. I could make meaning from the graphs based on the information around it, kind of like how children look for context clues to interpret data they don’t know!
Do children on the Autism Spectrum use pronouns (2-3 + years old)? Due to their introvert nature (some children), behavior (parallel play) and not seeing or understanding another person’s point of view (some children) do they use pronouns like the “typical” child?
I find it amazing that children between the ages of 5-6 know 2,000 words yet can only say 5-6 word sentences. The retention is so high! This coincides with information and data that I have been reading.
I am a Secondary Education teacher and am curious about CCS. Can students do the standards below? If so what percentage of students?
CCS Kindergarten
“Recognize common types of texts (e.g., storybooks, poems).”
“With prompting and support, name the author and illustrator of a story and define the role of each in telling the story.”
I am concerned for the low socioeconomic class because the enter kindergarten already behind many of their peers due to lack of preschool. Yes there is Headstart but how many children can they realistically educate?
“Open ended questions and Open ended questions and wh -questions questions Avoid yes Avoid yes -no questions no questions –Conversations Conversations – – Explicit focus on new words Explicit focus on new words –Reading aloud and discussing books above Reading aloud and discussing books above students students’ reading level that have more reading level that have more complex syntax and vocabulary than complex syntax and vocabulary than decodable books decodable books.” (from the powerpoint)
Validates what we have been learning!
Pronoun Use and ASD:
Here is an interesting study on this that I have posted on Sakai.
ink.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs10803-015-2377-x
Here is another explanation as to why pronoun use is difficult for children on the autism spectrum.
http://autismdigest.com/preventing-pronoun-reversals/
Common Core Standards:
Short answer: you need to align your goals with the GRADE level that the student is in regardless of their ability except for those students that might be on alternative assessment and then the goals are aligned with the AAGSEs: standards which are “spanned” or across several grade levels.
Here are some references:
http://www.ritap.org/iep
http://www.ride.ri.gov/InstructionAssessment/Assessment/AlternateAssessments.aspx
I also really like this guidance from Illinois:
http://www.isbe.state.il.us/spec-ed/pdfs/guidance-ccss.pdf
There are many correlations between written and oral language, as well as many differences. Speech can be very transient, it stays in the moment and creates personal nuances and inflections that are not always conveyed in text. On the other hand, as long as language is written, anyone with the capability to read that language can understand the basic concepts of the text. The words are left to be interpreted and read over as many times as necessary.
We have many influences that effect our speech and our writing. Our backgrounds, abilities, upbringing and experiences all effect the way we interpret, write, speak and communicate.
Our oral language, what we speak and what we hear from others greatly impacts how we write. Oral language is also varies depending on who speaks to us and with us as our language develops.
I have always wondered about the connections between variations in language and the way communication devices are set up. Does it make sense to set up these devices using convention grammar, when the students that work with these are processing language and text in a different way? As educators, are we aware of when the language of a text is outdated? Should we start looking at other aspects of the texts we use before testing students to see if there are communication difficulties?
Excellent thoughts!
In terms of augmentative communication here is a reference to what we should be looking at in the setup.
http://www.asha.org/public/speech/disorders/CommunicationDecisions/
Good thoughts about us reviewing information presented in text as that is crucial.
Oral language is a huge part of every day life and being exposed to a wide variety of language at an early age can really give you a good start in school. Unfortunately, not all children are exposed to such broad vocabulary and can sometimes suffer later on in reading and writing. Like Nicole mentioned, some “children with language delays are also more likely to have difficulty learning to read.”
To me it seems pretty simple, how you speak directly effects how you write. I think for the most part when people are speaking in a professional setting (school or work) they tend to express their verbal ideas the same way they would end up writing them. A person who uses a broader vocabulary will tend to you that same vocabulary when writing. When I have my students explain their mathematical thinking through written expression I get a text that truly matched how the speak when conversing with their friends. They use a lot of slang and phrases instead of complete sentences and thoughts. I would assume for an ELL strong writing would not come until the language is mastered orally? If they are surrounded by teachers and students who use appropriate/academic language on a daily bases it would seem they would start to write in a similar way as well.
I found this topic very interesting but too be quite honest with everybody I had alot of difficulty and was struggling while I was interpreting the data from the attached link. I read it over but graphs have never made any sense to me so I will try to answer this question based on the class lectures. If anybody could explain the significance of the data from the charts and graphs that would be appreciated.
Oral language is very important for a child to learn first. We have learned in class that from infancy babies/young children learn many new words in the first couple of years of life due to their exposure to oral language, which is essential to learning. We have also learned that children from a higher socioeconomic status tend develop a firm grasp of oral and written language at a much quicker pace than children from a lower socioeconomic status. ELL children also master oral language before written language. The trend that oral language must be mastered first, is in my opinion universal based on the above examples that I mentioned. As I had mentioned in an earlier blog on my own experience, I developed a fluency in speaking the Greek language before I was able to write in the language. I liked that chart that was provided above because it is so true in the sense that a child will listen until they learn the language, will then speak the language when they are feeling comfortable with it, will then read the language and then write out the language. I feel that you must follow the steps in that order to master a language. I was wondering if children learn the steps out of that order?
I feel that the correlation between oral language and written language is that you have to master one before you can master the other one. As an ELL learning the English Language I can say that I had to orally learn the language first, but then as I began to learn how to write, it was difficult but over a long period of time it began to make sense to me. At first, I would write sentences in fragments but when my ELL teacher had me orally read out loud what I wrote, I was able to recognize my mistakes by listening and was able to then fix them based on hearing the language. Now when I write an assignment I will read out loud what I write to make sure that it makes sense, I feel that this may be one correlation.
As a teacher of deaf and hard of hearing students, this topic has always fascinated me, and also caused difficulties. There is the obvious phonemic awareness connection between reading/writing and oral language. Typical students who develop phonemic awareness normally develop reading and writing well also, and if they don’t, further practice in phonemic awareness usually helps. Deaf students (especially those without cochlear implants or hearing aids), don’t develop phonemic awareness, and therefore, educators have to find different techniques to help them develop reading and writing skills, even though they have little to no phonemic awareness connected to oral language. There are techniques that can be used (such as visual phonics) but these deaf students typically do not ever develop reading and writing skills at the same level as hearing students with developed phonemic awareness.
However, one thing I did notice in the power point is that they also pointed out that language development (not necessarily oral language) is an even bigger factor in development of reading and writing. This is where ASL can help. If deaf children have access to ASL prior to being implanted or prior to having full access to oral language through hearing aids, they still have a chance to develop language during the critical period (birth-3). These children typically develop stronger reading and writing skills than those who have no phonemic awareness AND who have weak language skills because they had no access to language during the critical period. This is one of the reasons that we are so supportive of ASL at the school for the deaf. Best case for deaf students is to have choice (ASL knowledge and cochlear implant/hearing aids).
Here is some research on literacy specific to deafness
http://jdsde.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2007/06/12/deafed.enm020.full.pdf+html
I will upload it to the course website.
This is a research article on phonological awareness and deafness which is very interesting.
http://jdsde.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2013/01/08/deafed.ens067.full.pdf+html
When you are spelling or reading you say the words in your head. If you’re mispronouncing them, you’re often misspelling them as well and may be struggling with comprehension as well. Young students’ writing tends to have a lot of voice in it. If they say “danceded” that’s what they write. If they “sowy” in stead or sorry, they hear it that way and will spell it that way as well. In the power point, it states that “children with language delays are also more likely to have difficulty learning to read.”
Nicole,
I agree with your statement. I have been observing and working with a first grade class this summer and never realized how much work they need to do to make sure they understand language. I am not a strong speller and definitely sound out words as they sound (to me). I was wondering about the words that have the silent letters. For example on of the boys spelled “stik” instead of “stick.” I am not an elementary teacher, but to me the “k” and “ck” sound seem pretty similar. Does that play into effect with oral or written language at all? I would assume written language. Is that just something that students need to learn?
Some of these phonic rules need to be taught. This is why so many of the structured phonics program work so well. There is much research about why there is a need especially in the English Language to teach this.
Below is an article about this:
http://www.ldonline.org/article/6316/?theme=print
In the kindergarten ESY class I was observing for my other class, the teacher was explaining when to use ck. She said, when there is a short vowel then an ending k sound, you should assume it is spelled with a ck.
Nicole what you said is so true. Even my high school kids make the same mistake. One student spelled geography; “gearegrafee” and when I asked the student what word they meant, and they told me how they thought how to spell the word out in their head and put it to paper. They thought “ge” “are” “gra” “fee” spelled the word geography, when they did it in they head and that is what they put on the paper. I can see why a student made this mistake, by reflecting on what you wrote!