Engaging in the Language Arts:
Exploring the Power of Language
Donna Ogle and James W. Beers
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Copyright © 2009 Pearson Allyn & Bacon
Engaging in the Language Arts:
Exploring the Power of Language
Donna Ogle and James W. Beers
Chapter 2: Understanding Oral
Language Development
Copyright © 2009 Pearson Allyn & Bacon
What Is Language?
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Language is a system.
Language includes arbitrary symbols.
Language allows us to classify everything.
Talking and writing are expressive modes
of language.
Listening and reading are receptive modes.
Copyright © 2009 Pearson Allyn & Bacon
Why is Oral Language Important?
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Talking Improves Students’ Ability to
communicate
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Language growth does not stop once a child reaches
school age
Plan opportunities for students to talk and listen
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Talking and Listening Promote a Deeper
Understanding of Text
 Talking Promotes More Critical Thinking and
Problem Solving
Copyright © 2009 Pearson Allyn & Bacon
Why is Oral Language Important?
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The Interdependence of Oral and Written
Language
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Competence with the oral system, particularly the
representation function, has a direct impact on how
well students progress with the written system
The Pressing Issue of Talking
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Talking and listening facilitate an honest exchange
of ideas, promote better understandings, and
develop deeper appreciations for other points of
view
Copyright © 2009 Pearson Allyn & Bacon
What Do We Know about Oral
Language Development?
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The Properties of Language
Language is generative
 Language is rule-governed
 Language is arbitrary
 Language has a dual quality
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What Do We Know about Oral
Language Development?
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The Components of Language
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Phonology: The study of speech sounds
(phonemes) and how they are produced and
combined
Morphology: The study of morphemes—the
smallest unit of meaning in our language
Syntax: Concerned with the arrangement of words
into acceptable sequences
Semantics: Deals with meaning and how it is
communicated in our language system
Pragmatics: Refers to the rules that help us
navigate our conversations
Copyright © 2009 Pearson Allyn & Bacon
What Do We Know about Oral
Language Development?
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The Importance of Talking and
Listening
45 percent of the time we spend engaged in
communication is devoted to listening
 Children’s comprehension is far greater
than their production
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Copyright © 2009 Pearson Allyn & Bacon
How Does Language Grow?
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Skinnerian Theory
Shaping
 Discriminate learning
 Imitation
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Psycholinguistic Theory (Chomsky)
Innate capabilities
 Language acquisition device (LAD)
 Deep structure and surface structure
 Transformational rules
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Copyright © 2009 Pearson Allyn & Bacon
How Does Language Grow?
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Semantic-Cognitivist Theory (Bloom)
Thought precedes language
 Role of the adult is crucial
 Object permanence
 Utterances are the result of semantic, not
syntactic, relationships
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Copyright © 2009 Pearson Allyn & Bacon
How Does Language Grow?
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Sociolinguistic Theory
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The speech act is the central focus of analysis
Illocutionary force, conversational principles, and
presuppositions
Intention may be implicit or explicit
Conversational principles refer to the listener’s
expectations
Presuppositions refer to what both speakers and
listeners expect of the information provided in an
utterance.
Copyright © 2009 Pearson Allyn & Bacon
How Does Language Change
during the Preschool Years?
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The Prelinguistic Period
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The Emergence of Speech
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Crying
Cooing
Babbling
Between twelve and eighteen
months
Holophrases
The Beginnings of
Sentences
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Between eighteen and
twenty-four months
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Family Life Royalty Free CD
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How Does Language Change
during the Preschool Years?
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The Development of Vocabularies
Semantic Features Hypothesis
 Functional-Core Hypothesis
 Prototypic-Complex Hypothesis
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Comprehension versus Production
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Productive vocabularies typically lag behind
receptive vocabularies
Copyright © 2009 Pearson Allyn & Bacon
Copyright © 2009 Pearson Allyn & Bacon
Is Language Development “Finished”
When Children Enter School?
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Syntax Continues to Grow
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Vocabulary Continues to Grow
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Horizontal and vertical increases in word meaning
Phoneme Awareness Continues to Grow
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Conjoining
Embedding
Passive sentences
Voiced and Unvoiced Sounds
Phoneme Segmentation
Sound Associations
Conversational Abilities Continue to Grow
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Topic Maintenance
Conversational Repair
Copyright © 2009 Pearson Allyn & Bacon
What Do We Know about
Dialects?
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Characteristics of African American
English
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The linguistic differences between AAVE and
Standard English (SE) are minimal and rulegoverned
The linguistic differences that AAVE exhibits have
considerable overlap with southern dialects and
other dialects
Not all African Americans use a dialect
Copyright © 2009 Pearson Allyn & Bacon
Copyright © 2009 Pearson Allyn & Bacon
What Do We Know about
Dialects?
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Characteristics of Latino English
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Linguistic differences between LE and Standard
English (SAE) are minimal and rule-governed
Guidelines for Working with Diverse
Language Learners
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Learn more about the culture and dialect of
students
Help students develop an understanding and
respect of others’ dialect differences
Model a curiosity and interest in other cultures and
dialects
Copyright © 2009 Pearson Allyn & Bacon
Copyright © 2009 Pearson Allyn & Bacon
What Do We Know about
Dialects?
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Teaching Standard English
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Discuss examples of and differences between
home language and school language
Examine children’s writing samples to determine
which linguistic features should be taught first
Teach components of school language in a direct,
explicit way
Expect older students to use school language in the
classroom
Model language rather than correct it
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How Do Students Use Language?
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Halliday’s Model for Language Use
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Functions: instrumental, regulatory,
interactional, personal, heuristic,
imaginative, and representational
Tough’s Model for Language Use
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Functions: self-maintaining, directing,
reporting, reasoning, predicting, projecting,
and imagining
Copyright © 2009 Pearson Allyn & Bacon
Copyright © 2009 Pearson Allyn & Bacon
Copyright © 2009 Pearson Allyn & Bacon
How Can We Promote Language
Growth?
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Examine Assumptions about Language
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Language growth continues
Language and cognitive growth Intertwine
Language growth occurs with active Involvement
Language growth occurs in a student-oriented
environment
Language growth occurs in responsive
environments
Copyright © 2009 Pearson Allyn & Bacon
How Can We Promote Language
Growth?
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Increase Time for Discussion
Promotes a deeper understanding of text
 Increases higher-level thinking
 Improves communication skills
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How to Begin
Discussing in class
 Supporting the discussion
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How Can We Promote Language
Growth?
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Promote Language Growth Using
Other Activities
Directing Activities
 Self-Maintaining Activities
 Reporting Activities
 Reasoning and Predicting Activities
 Projecting
 Imagining Activities
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Copyright © 2009 Pearson Allyn & Bacon