🔎 Oral Language Part 1: The Science of Reading
In Focus 🔎 Oral Language Skills
Why Is Oral Language a Critical Focus for Improving Literacy Outcomes?
Definition and Major Finding
“In literacy, oral language development stands as the cornerstone upon which proficient reading skills are built. Oral language development refers to the development of the skills needed to properly listen, speak, and comprehend spoken words.” (IMSE Journal, 2023)
“It is critical for educators to pay attention to and facilitate oral language development because oral language is the foundation of thinking and learning and predicts later literacy achievement for preschoolers and kindergarteners.” (Kelley, 2024)
Let’s explore the science of oral language development and take an inside look at how CRSL programs and materials support it. While oral language continues to develop over time, this post focuses on the early childhood years and our Jump Start program.
What does the Science of Reading (SoR) Tell Us? (Point #1):
““Oral language develops primarily through interaction. Supporting students’ oral language, then, involves using practices that encourage active engagement and student talk.””
Oral language grows through use and interaction. This core idea is reinforced throughout the Science of Reading findings. It’s important for teachers to keep this in mind during instruction.
What does the SoR Tell Us? (Point #2):
““Recent research has identified a direct relationship between children’s participation in conversational turns with adults and their brain functioning during language processing… Therefore, educators should not only strive to increase children’s exposure to words but also encourage interactive conversations that include turn-taking interactions between an adult and child throughout childhood.” ”
During professional development for Jump Start, teachers practice REAL (explained in our next blog, Conversations with Cheryl.) Interactive conversations are encouraged, with a goal of at least five back-and-forth turns between the teacher and student (Dickinson, 2003). Teachers learn how to follow the lead of the child, expanding on what the child said, while keeping the conversation meaningful, personal, and engaging.
What does the SoR Tell Us? (Point #3):
““Research indicates that interactive read-alouds, those in which learners ‘offer spontaneous comments as the story unfolds’ (Barrentine, 1996) are particularly beneficial to young readers… Interactive read-alouds are most effectively created when educators match texts with readers’ interests and needs, preview and practice the performative aspects of the read-aloud, have a clear purpose in mind, model fluent and expressive reading, strategically guide discussions, and connect the experiences to other areas of readers’ lives.
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Jump Start instruction exposes students to high-quality literature, rhymes, songs and chants. Children take an active role in storytelling. They engage in open-ended discussions during group read-alouds. these discussions promote vocabulary acquisition, rich content knowledge, and concepts of print. It involves collaborative meaning-making.
Interactive read-aloud lessons help teachers build background knowledge and vocabulary through the wonderful resources of nursery rhymes, classic folktales, predictable fiction, and pictorial non-fiction.
Jump Start encourages repeated readings of the same book. This repeated reading gives teachers the opportunity to teach in layers. On the first read, the children simply enjoy the story. After this, the teacher can seamlessly discuss concepts of print with the student, while also engaging the students in retelling the story and interacting with the story at their developmental level.
What does the SoR Tell Us? (Point #4):
““Play is multidimensional in the way it contributes to oral language.””
““Responsive interactions, when adults used a new vocabulary word when responding to students, were positively associated with word learning. In contrast, instructional interactions, when an adult gave a student unsolicited information about a new word, were negatively related to word learning.”
… These (research) results highlight the need to limit teacher talk and carve out time for students to experiment with new words in a more student-led setting, such as play.””
We’ll explore how this research comes to life in the classroom in our next post, Conversations with Cheryl, with examples of dialogue between student and teacher, demonstrating responsive interaction vs. instructional interaction.
What does the SoR Tell Us? (Point #5)
““Academic language is the talk primarily used and valued in classrooms…Research shows that academic language is tied to success in literacy and content areas in elementary schools.””
In Jump Start, we employ these strategies to develop academic language for basic concepts:
Describe concept in simple terms, using pictures and real objects
Use songs and gestures
Incorporate into play centers
Provide review with lots of fun practice!
Final Thoughts: We know that strong oral language is foundational to reading development. As Shanahan (2018) noted, “there is good reason to believe that many young children are not receiving sufficient language learning support during the preschool years, and that this insufficiency is implicated in later reading problems.”
The opposite is also true. As West et al. (2024) wrote, “research supports the finding that oral language skills are predictive of reading comprehension later in life (Kendeou et al., 2009) and that preschool is a crucial time for children to develop oral language and vocabulary in response to what was heard.”
Research supports effective ways to promote oral language, including interactive conversations with adults, interactive read-alouds, language games with songs and rhymes, and storytelling during play. Studies also show that too much teacher talk and excessive correction can be counterproductive.
Next up: How do teachers bring Oral Language Skills to life in the real classroom? In Conversations with Cheryl, you’ll hear real-world ideas and tips from teachers, guided by our company president and resident expert.
Resources
Barnes, E.M., Grifenhagen, J.F., Dickinson, D.K. (2016), Academic language in early childhood classrooms. The Reading Teacher, 70 (1), 39-48
Conversational Turns Linked to Better Language Development in Children (2018) The Asha Leader, 23 (5), 12.
Dickinson, D. K., McCabe, A., Anastasopoulos, L., Peisner-Feinberg, E. S., & Poe, M. D. (2003). The comprehensive language approach to early literacy: The interrelationships among vocabulary, phonological sensitivity, and print knowledge among preschool-aged children. Journal of Educational Psychology, 95(3), 465–481.
Fisher, D., Frey, N. (2025). A better way to read aloud. Educational Leadership. 82 (6), 10-11.
Gill, C., Moorer-Cook, E.S., Armstrong, K, Gill, K.(2012). The ability to follow verbal directions: identifying skill levels and measuring progress. Canadian Journal of Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology.36(3), 234-247.
Hadley, E.B. Newman, K.M., Mock, J. (2020). Setting the stage for TALK: Strategies for encouraging language-building conversations. The Reading Teacher, 74 (1), 39–48.
https://journal.imse.com/the-role-of-oral-language-development-in-reading-proficiency
https://www.shanahanonliteracy.com/blog/is-there-really-a-30-million-word-gap
Kendeou, P., van den Broek, P., White, M. J., & Lynch, J. S. (2009). Predicting reading comprehension in early elementary school: The independent contributions of oral language and decoding skills. Journal of Educational Psychology, 101(4), 765–778.
Kelley, M.J. (2024). Let's get talking: having intentional conversations to promote oral language development. Literacy Today, 41 (3), 38-41.
West, G. et al. (2024) Oral language enrichment in preschool improves children's language skills: a cluster randomised controlled trial. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 65(8):1087-1097.
Young, T. A., Ricks, P. H., & MacKay, K. L. (2023). Engaging students with expository books through interactive read‐alouds. The Reading Teacher, 77(1), 6-15
This post is a part of our In Focus series, timely writings for educators, addressing concerns and solutions for today’s changing educational climate.
