TheCriticalRoleofOralLanguageinReadingforTitleIStudentsandEnglishLanguageLearners

ElizabethCrawford-­‐Brooke,Ph.D.,CCC-­‐SLP DirectorofEducationalResearchandDesign,LexiaLearning

Unlikemathematicsorscience,readingistheonlyacademicareainwhichweexpectchildrentoarriveaskindergartenerswithabasicskilllevel.Researchhasshownthatorallanguage—thefoundationsofwhicharedevelopedbyagefour—hasaprofoundimpactonchildren’spreparednessforkindergartenandontheirsuccessthroughouttheiracademiccareer.Childrentypicallyenterschoolwithawiderangeofbackgroundknowledgeandorallanguageability,attributableinparttofactorssuchaschildren’sexperiencesinthehomeandtheirsocioeconomicstatus(SES).Theresultinggapinacademicability tends to persist or grow throughout theirschoolexperience(Fieldingetal.,2007;Juel,Biancarosa,CokerDeffes,2003).

Certainpopulations—including studentsin Title I and ELL subgroups—typicallyface a number of factorswithregardtoorallanguagedevelopment(Francis,Rivera,Lesaux,Kieffer,Rivera, 2006; Hart Risley, 1995;NICHD,2005;Snow,Porche,Tabors,Harris,2007):

  • Amountofexposuretolanguage—HartandRisley(1995)foundawidedisparityinthequantityofwords(sumofuniquewordsandgrosssumofallwords)aswellasthequalityoflanguagetowhichthechildrenwereexposed.ChildreninlowSESwereexposedtoshortimperativesandtypicallynegativewordssuchas“No…Stopthat.”Incontrast,childrenfromhighSESfamiliestendedtobeexposedtoagreaterquantityandqualityofwords.Theirinteractionsincludeddescriptivelanguage,expansivenarrationsandpositivereinforcementforcommunication.
  • Exposuretoprint–Childreninaprint-­‐richenvironmentbenefitfromearlyexposuretoreadingandprintconceptssuchasfamiliaritywithlettersandsounds,aswellasexposuretotheconventionsofprintedwords(e.g.,readinglefttorightonapageandfronttobackinabook).
  • Englishnotspokeninthehome–ChildreninhomeswhereEnglishisnotspokenoftenlackexposuretocriticalorallanguageskillssuchasEnglish vocabulary, grammar, pragmatics and discourse. Withouttheseskillsbeingmodeledandreinforcedinthehome,thesestudentsenterschoolalreadysignificantlybehindtheirpeers(Biemiller,1998).
  • Backgroundexperiences–ChildreninlowSEShomesoftenlacktheopportunitytoexpandtheirbackgroundexperiencesandknowledge,comparedtotheirpeersinothersubgroups.Theseexperiencesandknowledgecanbebasedonexposureinbooks,conversation,orfirst-­‐handexperiences.
  • Parents’levelofeducation–Researchhasshownthatthereisastrongrelationshipbetweenaparent’seducationlevel—inparticular,themother’seducation—andachild’sorallanguageskillsorvocabularyuponenteringschool(NICHD,2005).
  • Transitionsanddisruptionsinthestudent’shomelife–StudentmobilityratewithinTitleIand ELLsubgroupsisoftenamongthehighestwithinagivendistrict.Suchchangesimpactastudent’sachievementlevelthroughoutschool(Snowetal.,2007).

The academic gap associatedwith SESandthesignificantrelationshipbetweenSESandreadingachievementhavebeenwelldocumentedinresearch(CainOakhill, 2007;HartRisley,1995;Snipes,Horwitz,Soga,Casserly,2008;Snow,Porche,Tablors,Harris,2007).Similarly,“manyrelatedfactors influenceELLs’ academic outcomes,includingeducationalhistory,culturalandsocialbackground,lengthofexposuretothe English language,andaccesstoappropriateandeffective instruction tosupportsecondlanguage development” (Francis et al.,2006,p.6).So,thequestion facingeducators is: How canweovercomethechallengesofdevelopingstrongorallanguageskills,particularlyinstudent populations whereriskfactorsandobstaclesaresignificant.

WhatisOralLanguage?

Orallanguageisoftenassociatedwithvocabularyasthemaincomponent.However,inthebroadestdefinition,orallanguageconsistsofphonology,grammar, morphology, vocabulary, discourse, and pragmatics. Theacquisitionoftheseskillsoftenbeginsatayoungage,beforestudentsbeginfocusingonprint-­‐basedconceptssuchassound-­‐symbolcorrespondenceanddecoding.Becausetheseskillsareoftendeveloped early in life,childrenwithlimitedorallanguageabilityatthetimetheyenterkindergartenaretypicallyatadistinctdisadvantage(Fieldingetal.,2007).Furthermore,becauseofriskfactorsmentionedearlier,Title I and ELLstudentsareoftenamongthemostat-­‐risk.

Orallanguagecomprisesthefollowingsixareas:

  • Phonology–Thebroaddefinitionofphonologyincludestheorganizationorsystemofsoundswithinalanguage. Oncethephonologicalsystemhasbeen acquired for basic listening and speaking, childrenbegintodevelopphonologicalawareness,whichistheawarenessofwordsinsentencesorsyllablesinwords.Otheraspectsofphonologicalawarenessincluderhyme,alliteration,onsiterime(wordfamilies),blending,segmentingandmanipulatingsounds.Atthemostcomplexlevelofphonologicalawarenessisphonemicawareness.Phonemicawarenessisblending,segmenting,andmanipulatingwordsattheindividualsound,orphoneme,level.
  • Vocabulary(Semantics)–Thedevelopmentofvocabularyfocusesbothonexpressivevocabularyandreceptivevocabulary.Expressivevocabularyrepresentsthewordsastudentactivelyuseswhentalking,writingorcommunicating.Receptivevocabularyrepresentsthewords that a student understands—basedoncontextandbackgroundexperiences—butmaynotnecessarilyuseinhisorherownspeakingorwriting.Acommonmisconceptionregardingvocabularyistheideathatanindividual’svocabularycanbemeasuredsimplybythesheernumberofwordsheorshe can understand and use. This is thebreadthofvocabularyknowledge.Howevertomeasurethedepthofvocabularyknowledge,abroaderdefinitionalsoincludesafocusonareassuchas:multiplemeaningsofwords(homonyms),shadesofmeaning,figurativelanguage,andrelationshipsbetweenwords(synonym,antonyms,analogies).
  • Grammar(Syntax)–Aschildrendeveloptheirorallanguageskills,theyalsodevelopanunderstandingofgrammar,whichisthesetofstructuralrulesthatgovernthecombinationofwordsandphrasesintosentences,andhowsentencesarecombinedintoparagraphs.
  • Morphology–Sometimesconsideredtobeasubsetofsyntaxandsometimesconsideredundervocabulary(semantics),morphologyisfocusedonthesmallestunitsofmeaningwithinaword,aswellastherulesabouthowthosewordsareformed.Forexample,ifweweretoexaminetheword“cats,”abasicanalysiswouldshowtherearefourphonemes(/k/,/a/,/t/and/s/).However,theword“cats”onlyhastwomorphemes(meaningfulwordparts).“Cat”isafelineanimal,and“s”tellsusthatthereismorethanonecat.Morphologycanalsoincludethestudyofstructuralanalysis—howwordsarejoinedtogetherandbuildvocabularybyanalyzingthemorphologicalstructureoftheword(prefix,rootandsuffix)—whichthenhelpsbuilduponthechild’sfoundationinvocabulary.
  • Pragmatics—Considered by some reading experts asthe“hiddencurriculum” in a classroom,pragmaticsrequirestheunderstandingofthesocialuseoflanguage.Thisincludessocialnormsregardingconversationalturn-­‐taking,personalspace,andappropriatebehaviorwithpeersandauthorityfiguresinavarietyofcommon social situations. In some classroom settings, students lackingbackgroundexperience—attributabletoculturaldifferencesinsomeinstances—don’tunderstandgroup

dynamicsandexpectationsregardingbehavior. Understandingavarietyofsituationspreparesstudentsformoresuccessfulcomprehensionatlaterstages,includingbothlisteningandreadingcomprehension.

  • Discourse–Oralandwrittencommunication,alsoknownasdiscourse,isacriticalskill.Forexample,narrativestorytellingfollowsaveryspecificformat:Storiestypicallyhaveabeginning,middleandend.Theydescribethemaincharactersandthesettinginwhichtheylive,theconflictandtheresolution.Anunderstandingofstorystructureisessentialinordertoread,understandandwrite narrative. Incontrast,considerthestructureofexpository,orinformationaltext.Theseformsofwritingalsofollowcertainstructures,suchas:persuasive,causeandeffect,compareandcontrast,procedural.Itiscriticallyimportantthatstudentsunderstandthesestructuresthroughlisteningcomprehensionbeforetheyevenbegintofocusonreadingcomprehension.Theyfirstneedtobeabletounderstandandtellstoriesinthoseformats,beforetheycanbegintowritethosekindsofstories.

WhatistheroleofOralLanguageinReading?

Childrenwithahistoryoforallanguageimpairmentaremorelikelytopresentwithreadingdifficultiesthantheirpeers(generalpopulation).Someresearchidentifiedthisincreasedlikelihoodtobeasgreatas4-­‐5timesmorelikelythantheirpeers(Cattsetal.,2001).Ithasbeenshownthatchildrenwhostruggle with phonemicawarenesshavesignificantdifficultyacquiringphonicword-­‐attackstrategies.Thereisalsoevidencethatachild’slevelofvocabularysignificantlyimpactsreadingdevelopment,buttherehasbeendebateintheresearchoverwhetherornotitisonlyvocabularyorifreadingacquisitionisaffectedbyalloftheorallanguagecomponentsmentionedabove.Anotherquestionstudiedintheresearchiswhichcomponentsofreadingdoesorallanguageimpact.Evidenceexistslinkingorallanguagetothewordrecognitionaspectsof reading and/or thecomprehensionaspectsofthereadingmodel.Itisimportanttoconsiderthat“notonlyareorallanguageskillslinkedtothecode-­‐relatedskillsthathelpwordreadingtodevelop,buttheyalsoprovidethefoundationforthedevelopmentofthemore-­‐advancedlanguageskillsneededforcomprehension”(CainOakhill,2007,p.31).

Whataretheimplicationsfortheclassroomteachers?

Duetothegrowingnumberofdiverseprofilesoflearningneeds,theclassroomteacherfacesthedauntingtaskofbeingabletoprovidesufficientlypowerfulinstructiontomeettheneedsofallstudents.Inordertohelpclosetheachievementgapforsomeofthesestudents,teachershavetoprovideinstructionthatismoreintensivethantypicalinstructiontohelpacceleratelearningandclosethegap.Powerfulorintensiveinstructioninvolves

notjustmoreinstructionaltimeandsmallerinstructionalgroups,butinstructionthatismorepreciselytargetedattherightlevel,providesclearerandmoredetailedexplanations(i.e.,explicit),corrective feedback, guidedpractice,andinstructionalsequencesthataresystematic(FoormanTorgesen,2001).Itisimportanttokeepthesekeycomponentsofpowerfulinstructioninmind,particularlyinthemanyinstanceswhenthelevelofinstructionalintensityneedstobeincreased.Theseelementsofinstructioncanbeusedwithskillsandactivitiesthathelpdevelopastudent’sorallanguageskills.

Instructioninphonologicalawarenessinvolvesactivitiesaroundrhyme(e.g.,pie/tie/cry),alliteration(e.g.,SallysailsonSaturday),onset/rime(e.g.,c–at,r–at,b– at, etc.), and blending/segmenting and manipulatingactivitiesattheword,syllableandsoundlevel.Intensiveinstructionworkssystematicallythroughthesetypesoftasksworkingfromsimpletomorecomplex.Phonology-­‐basedactivitiescanalsobeincorporatedthroughouttheday,forexample,byhavingstudentslineupiftheirnamestartswiththesound/b/orcometotherugiftheirnameistwosyllables.

Instructioninvocabularyinvolvesprovidingstudentswithopportunitiestodevelopdeepvocabularyknowledgethroughmultipleexposuresinvariedcontexts(BeckMcKeown,2007;Francisetal.,2006).Whendeterminingthewordsonwhichtofocusinstruction,ateachershouldconsider“highutility”wordsorwordsthatcanbeusedacrossmultiplecontexts.Thesehighutilitywordscanbeespeciallyhelpfulinthetypesoftasksthatarebeingaskedofstudentsindirections(i.e.,describe,analyze,etc.).Instructioninvocabularyshouldalsoincludeworkwithmultiplemeanings,shadesofmeanings,relationshipsbetweenwords(i.e.,analogies,synonyms/antonyms,etc.)andfigurativelanguage(i.e.idioms,similes,metaphors).ComprehensionoffigurativelanguagecanbeespeciallychallengingforELLstudents.Instructionfocusedonthemeaningsofprefixes,suffixesandbaseandrootwordscanhelpstudentsbuildacademicvocabularythatwillbehelpfulinspecificcontentareas.

InareviewoftheELLresearch,Francisandcolleagues(2006)highlightedkeyareasoffocus for readinginstructionforELLstudents.Theseareascanalsobeappliedtoinstructioninorallanguageaswell.Theresearchemphasizestheimportanceofteachingstrategiesandtechniquesforanalyzingtext,bothnarrativeandexpository,andstrategiesthatteachtheabilitytobreakdownthecomponentsofthetext.Itisimportanttofocusontheprocessofcomprehension,notjusttheendproductofbeingableto answer multiple choicequestionscorrectly orwritearesponse. Suchstrategiesas visualizingastoryinyourmindwhilelisteningorreading can be extremely powerful for students who struggle with vocabulary and oral language skills.

Instructionshouldalsoincludeconceptssuchashowstoriesareconstructedfromtheverybasicstructureofbeginning,middle,andendtothemorecomplexstructuresfoundininformationalandexpositorytext(i.e.,compare/contrast,persuasive,cause/effect,etc.).

Itisimportanttoengagestudentsindiscussionswithheterogeneousgroupssothatstudentswithlowervocabularyskillsandlimited backgroundknowledgecanbenefitfromhearingthediscussionsoftheirpeers.Classroomsshouldbeprint-­‐richenvironmentswherebooksandlanguagesurrounds students all day and where students have opportunities toengageinconversations,listentostories,andbuildlanguagearoundexperiencestheymightnotencounterinreallife,butonlythroughbooks/stories(i.e.,achildfromaninnercitylisteningtoastoryaboutaboygrowinguponafarm).Hearingstoriesreadwithexpressionandintonation,andwithafocusonthephrasingandstructuresofsentencesandstories,canbehelpfullateronwhenstudentsstrivetobecomefluentreaders.

Thekeytoorallanguageinstructionisfocusingonbuildingafoundationoftheseskillsthroughlisteningcomprehensionandoral expressionandnotwaitinguntilthestudentcanread before working on the skills.Buildingthefoundationoforallanguageskillscanbeginassoonasachildenterstheschoolenvironment—asweknowsomechildrenareenteringtheenvironmentalreadyfourtimesbehindtheirpeers just in sheerexposuretowords(HartRisley,1995).Thesestrugglingstudentscannotaffordtoloseanymoretimeandallowthegaptocontinuetogrow.Researchhasindicatedthattheseearlyskillsare among the strongestindicatorsoffuturesuccess.Therefore,anearlyandintensivefocusonorallanguageskills—beforestudentscanreadindependently—isimperativeforallstudentstoreadatgradelevelandsucceedinallothersubjectareas.“Itmatterslittlewhatelsetheylearntodoinelementaryschooliftheydonotlearntoreadatgradelevel.”(Fieldingetal.,2007,p.49)

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