Chapter One: Supporting Oral Language Development

In a print rich environment, children's understanding of written and spoken language develop together. Teachers need not postpone children's early exposure to a variety of experiences with written language while supporting oral language development.

Foundations for emerging literacy emphasized in this chapter are: Strengthening listening and speaking abilities Developing confidence as a language user Becoming familiar with the vocabulary and sentence structures of conventional English Increasing vocabulary while broadening life experiences.

An essential foundation for the development of reading and writing abilities is that of strong oral language capabilities including:

• Vocabulary and concept development--information about word meanings (semantics) and pronunciation of words (phonemics)
• Understanding the ways that language conveys meaning through such aspects of structure as word order and the rules for subject-verb agreement (syntactics)
• Understanding conventional and culturally specific ways to communicate with others (pragmatics)
• Desire and ability to use speech for a variety of purposes.

These capabilities are in turn dependent upon a breadth and depth of life experiences, the ability to hear and speak¹⁰, and the consistent proximity of caring adults who encourage children's language development through talking with them. Clay (1991) suggests that in order to compensate for limited language learning, we must go beyond the provision of interesting play and work opportunities for young children to also incorporate regular periods of close interaction with an adult who shows interest in their ideas and concerns. Such adults need to be alert for ways to draw children into spontaneous talk. Activities that isolate vocabulary development from its immediate application for real purposes are not recommended because they appear to have limited carry over into the daily life of the child.

The teaching strategies that follow develop oral language capabilities within meaningful contexts and concrete experiences. At the same time, they lay a foundation for literacy more broadly because they integrate possibilities for reading, writing, speaking, and listening activities within each strategy.