Oral Language
Development
Kelly Kertz, Title I Program Specialist
What is Oral Language
Development?
Learning scale – ask yourself…
How equipped are you today to work with small groups of students to
develop oral language?
4 – I have knowledge and strategies to work with students to assist with oral
language development and can teach someone else about it.
3 – I have knowledge and strategies to work with students to assist with oral
language development.
2 – I have some knowledge but no strategies to assist students with oral language
development.
1 – I have no knowledge or strategies to assist students with oral language
development.
Stages of Oral Language Development
Cooing: as early as 6 weeks
Telegraphic Stage: toddler “cookie all gone”
Babbling: 4-6 months
Beginning Oral Fluency: 3-4 Years old
One word stage: 8-12 months
Read and
Write
Talk
Understand
Factors :
Amount of exposure to language — Hart and Risley
(1995) found a wide disparity in the quantity of words
(sum of unique words and gross sum of all words) as
well as the quality of language to which the children
were exposed.
Exposure to print – Children in a print-rich
environment benefit from early exposure to reading
and print concepts such as familiarity with letters
and sounds, as well as exposure to the conventions
of printed words (e.g., reading left to right on a page
and front to back in a book).
Factors :
English not spoken in the home – Children in homes
where English is not spoken often lack exposure to
critical oral language skills such as English
vocabulary, grammar, pragmatics and discourse.
Without these skills being modeled and reinforced in
the home, these students enter school already
significantly behind their peers (Biemiller, 1998).
Factors :
Background experiences – Children in low SES
homes often lack the opportunity to expand their
background experiences and knowledge, compared
to their peers in other subgroups.
Factors :
Parents’ level of education – Research has shown
that there is a strong relationship between a parent’s
education level—in particular, the mother’s
education—and a child’s oral language skills or
vocabulary upon entering school (NICHD, 2005).
Factors :
Transitions and disruptions in the student’s home life
– Student mobility rate within Title I and ELL
subgroups is often among the highest within a given
district. Such changes impact a student’s
achievement level throughout school (Snow et al.,
2007).
Strategies for Developing Oral Language
Conversation and Wait Time
Think-Pair-Share
Think Alouds
Vocabulary
Conversations
 Conversations allow children to hear and use language and are more
likely to occur when children are engaged and interested in what they are
doing. Both conversations between children and between adults and
children are important. Extending conversations can occur through using
open ended questions e.g. “Can you tell me more about this?” and
questions that require children to think e.g. “How do you think that
happened?” as they invite talk.
Wait Time
 Giving children time to respond in conversations is important.
Often children need time to process your comment or
question and then form a response. This is important for
reluctant talkers and children with language differences and
difficulties, who may need the extra processing time.
Think-Pair Share
 Think Pair Share is a cooperative discussion strategy that has 3 parts to the
process:
 children think about a question or an issue
 they talk with a partner about their thoughts
 then several children share their discussion and thinking with the class
The strategy sets up a conversation between children, providing children
with more opportunities to talk about their work and thinking. It can occur
across the curriculum, and hands on learning situations provide
meaningful contexts for learning and think pair share can be used before
or after such activities.
Think Alouds
 This is a strategy that is intended to make thinking or the
comprehension process explicit. It is like opening a window into the
mind to help make comprehension visible. Think‐Alouds allow the
educator to model the thinking process by stepping it out, helping
children make connections.
 The process used in a Think Aloud includes:
Stating what happened
 A comment about what the people might be thinking
 An explanation of the problem.

Think Alouds are commonly used in reading, when the teacher talks
through their thoughts during the reading process.
Vocabulary
Children learn words through immersion in a vocabulary‐rich
environment and explicit teaching of targeted words. Key to
assisting children learn new words, is to make the learning
situation meaningful and ensure there is repetition. This will
help words to become part of a child’s communication.
The Seven Components of Our Language
System
1.
Phonology: The basic sound units of Language
2.
Morphology: Units of meaning within words; the way words are formed
(morphemes)
3.
Syntax: Phrase and sentence structure – what makes sense (grammar)
4.
Semantics: The way language conveys meaning
5.
Pragmatics; Appropriate word choice and use in context to communicate effectively.
6.
Orthography: Spelling patterns
7.
Vocabulary: Knowledge of the meaning and pronunciation of words (Lexicon)
- L.C. Moats (2000) nd Burns, Griffin, and Snow (1999)
A Thought…
Proficiency in oral language provides children
with a vital tool for thought. Without fluent and
structured oral language, children will find it
very difficult to think. - J. Bruner (1983)
Teach the Meaning of Critical, Unknown
Vocabulary Words
Children’s vocabulary in the early grades relate to reading comprehension in the
upper grades.

Preschool – children’s vocabulary correlated with reading comprehension in
upper elementary school. (Tabors, 2001)
 Kindergarten- Vocabulary size was an effective predictor of reading
comprehension in middle elementary years (Scarborough, 1998)
 First grade – Orally tested vocabulary was a proficient predictor of reading
comprehension ten years later. (Cunningham and Stanovich, 1997)
 Third grade – Children with restricted vocabulary have declining
comprehension scores in later elementary years. (Chall, Jacobs, & Baldwin,
1990)
More Oral Language Activities
Naming:
 Objects related to topic
 People related to topic
 Related objects by categories
 Parts of objects related to topic by attributes
 Naming similar objects
 Detailed associations of objects
More Oral Language Activities
Describing:
 Name, category, class or group
 Function
 Who might use this? How? Why?
 Where might I find this object? Where do I go to buy or find this object?
 Attributes:
 What does it look like?
 Size, color, shape, texture, taste, etc.
 Compare:
 How different from other similar objects in same group or category?
More Oral Language Activities Continued
Things to think about
 Counting syllables
 General knowledge
Relationships:
 How do these two words/things go together?
 Synonyms and
opposites
 Which one doesn’t belong? Why?
Narrative Text and Retell
 Elements of narrative text include:
 Characters (People or animals the story is about)
 Setting (When and where the story is being told)
 Event
(Beginning, leading up to the climax, release of tension,
resolution, ending)
 Climax (The problem)
 Resolution (Solution to the problem)
Prefixes are Happy Beginnings!
 20 most common prefixes account for 97% of all prefixed
words:
 un, re, in, im, il, ir, dis, account for 58%
 en/em, non, in/im, over, mis, sub, pre, inter, fore, de, trans, super,
semi, anti, mid, under, com/con/col/cor account for 39%
White, Sowell, and Yanagihara
(1989)
Happy Endings – Suffixes
The importance of suffixes in our language and teaching the
meaning of suffixes.
 16 suffixes account for 87% of suffixed words.
 s, es, ed, and ing account for 65%
 ly, er/or, ion, tion, able/ible, al, y, ness, ity, ment account for 22%
White, Sowell, and Yanagihara (1989)
Students will talk more if we…

Wait a few seconds before we reply to what they say.

Look at their faces

Show you are listening

Talk about what they want to talk about

Talk about what they are doing

Use new words (excursion, expedition)

Repeat new words often

Avoid interrupting them

Avoid changing topics quickly
Activity
Mile a Minute
 For this game you will be in teams of 2.
One is a “talker” and the
other is a “guesser”. The talker faces a list of words on the board and
tries to get the guesser to say the words. The talker may not use any
of the words in the category or the category title. You may talk,
describe, pantomime but you only have 1 minute to get as many
words as you can. If you finish the list, raise your hand!
Types of Animals
Reptile
Bird
Insect
Mammal
Fish
Spider
Amphibian
Canine
Shapes
Square
Circle
Triangle
Rectangle
Oval
Rhombus
Heart
Star
Activities Handout
What is Listening Comprehension?
Language Ability
Knowledge
Background
Remember this….
“The limits of my language
means the limits of my
world.”
Ludwig Wittgenstein
Austrian-British Philosopher
Learning scale – ask yourself…
How equipped are you today to work with small groups of students to
develop oral language?
•
4 – I have knowledge and strategies to work with students to assist with oral
language development and can teach someone else about it.
•
3 – I have knowledge and strategies to work with students to assist with oral
language development.
•
2 – I have some knowledge but no strategies to assist students with oral language
development.
•
1 – I have no knowledge or strategies to assist students with oral language
development.
Resources:
Much of the content of this slide presentation was retrieved
from the internet 9/29/15
http://www2.ed.gov/programs/readingfirst/2008conferences/lan
guage.pdf