“Reading and writing float on a sea of talk.” – James Britton 1970

It is widely accepted by researchers and educators that oral language is a critical part of learning in the early years. Learning to talk is natural and children generally arrive at school knowing a lot about spoken language.

Research from the National Early Literacy Panel Report 2010 revealed that children with better oral language skills have an easier time learning to read. Language skills and literacy achievement are highly correlated; research consistently demonstrates that the more children know about spoken language, the better equipped they are to succeed in reading and writing (Burns et al., 1999, Mehta et al., 2005, Pennington et al., 2019).

By the time children enter school it is generally expected that children have mastered the fundamentals of language and can communicate easily with family and friends. The language children are exposed to at home and in school influences the development of their language comprehension, fluency, vocabulary development and comprehension of written texts. Children use oral language to assist them in becoming good thinkers and communicators, and to help develop their literacy skills which allow them to achieve well in school and beyond.

However, it has been identified in recent research that there are significant groups of children who struggle, and Covid-19 has made this worse. Evidence both in New Zealand and internationally is clear that children from lower socio-economic communities are more likely to struggle with oral language skills. Boys have more difficulty developing oral language than girls and that children who are behind most often struggle with constructing sentences, telling stories, and using social communication to talk about their thoughts and feelings. (Let’s Keep Talking: Oral Language Development in the Early Years; ERO 2024)

Oral language is essential for:

• Communication
• Learning
• Wellbeing
• Identity and belonging
• Literacy and educational achievement

So what can we do in our classrooms to build our student’s oral language skills?

Build Vocabulary

• Explicitly teach Tier 2 vocabulary (words which allow students to access more complex topics and discussions and can be used across multiple topics).
• Intentionally choose and teach words from picture books, read alouds and class novels.
• Use sophisticated words when speaking with students.
• Drop the vocabulary you have explicitly taught as often as you can into conversations and writing with your students.

Modeling to Students

• Ask questions and engage in turn taking conversations.
• Model to students how words make sentences, and support students to answer questions in full sentences rather than one word answers.
• The goal for upper primary students is for them to be able to use longer, more complex sentences which use academic vocabulary and that the student can sustain multiple back and forth interactions.

Read Alouds

• Read a wide variety of fiction and non-fiction texts interactively with your students.
•  Talk about books, ask students to retell the stories in their own words.
• Use illustrations from different texts to use as prompts.

Serve and Return Conversations

• Use conversation to extend your students’ language skills.
• Engage your students in serve and return interactions. Serve and return describes the back and forth in what you say and do in these conversations.
• Consciously engage your students in one-to-one, uninterrupted, reciprocal interactions. Building strong relationships assists in ensuring these interactions help children grow and research tells us this approach also helps grow students’ brain architecture.

Social Communication

• Develop positive social communication skills through role play and explicit teaching.
• Listening (receptive language) is focused on the input of oral language and students need to be taught listening skills.

Johnna Alborn

Deputy Principal/Literacy Facilitator

References:

Let’s Keep Talking: Oral Language Development in the Early Years; ERO – Education Review Office, NZ, 2024)
Oral Language: The Foundation for Reading and Writing; Joan Sedita 2024.
Reading Rockets; Basics Oral Language – www.readingrockets.org