A brief overview of oral language development

Four components of oral language from a

psycholinguistic perspective

• Phonological component (rules for combining sounds; e.g., -ng)

• Semantic component (morphemes and sentences)

• Syntactic component

• Pragmatics

Additional components from a sociocultural perspective

• Language and Discourses

• Language and power

“Typical” progression

1. Beginning language2. Early language3. Exploratory language4. Emergent language for learning5. Consolidated language for learning6. Extended language for learning7. Proficient language use8. Advanced language use

1. Beginning language

• Repertoire of cries and sounds

• Babbling and speech sounds• Emergence of recognizable morphemes (e.g.,

dada, momma, no)• Begins to coordinate words and gestures• Holophrases (one word sentences, like “drink”)

and telegraphic speech (2 word sentences, like “socks on”)

• Overgeneralizations of word meanings (e.g., “dog” may refer to anything with four legs)

• Mispronunciations are common (e.g., “ress” for “dress,” “sunny” instead of “funny”)

2. Early language

• Approximates adult grammar (e.g., “sheeps” for “sheep”, “goed” for “went”)

• Begins to recognize audience needs and provide more context (“ow, foot!” and holds up bandaged foot)

• Simple descriptions of past events• Asks questions and is interested in

explaining things

3. Exploratory language

• Has grasped most grammatical rules, but may still overgeneralize (e.g., tenses, plurals)

• Understands the social conventions, or pragmatics of spoken language more (e.g., how to speak inside the classroom)

• Knows how to ask for information about or help with something

• Uses language to explain, inquire and compare

4. Emergent language for learning (Gr. 2 on)• More closely monitors own spoken

language for grammatical consistency

• Uses tone, pace, volume etc. to enhance meaning

• Can sustain a conversation with a variety of others

• Demonstrates evidence of language cohesion– Narrative is logically sequenced; recounts are

chronologically ordered

– Sustained conversation on a single topic

5. Consolidated language for learning (Gr. 4 on)• Communicates effectively through

speaking; shares ideas, offers advice, states opinions, and reacts to others.

• Recognizes that language is adapted to meet different social and learning needs (i.e., begins to develop fluency in a range of spoken genres, like recounts, reports, anecdotes, jokes, interviews, storytelling)

• Uses more and more appropriate, specialized vocabulary in different subject areas at school

6. Extended language for learning (Gr. 6 on)

• Selects and sustains language and style appropriate to purpose, context and audience (e.g., formal, informal)

• Effectively interprets whether a spoken message has been understood

• Summarizes main ideas of a conversation or from teacher talk effectively

• Is able to describe and discuss outside events (e.g., an international news event)

• Uses language to express ideas and critically-informed opinions

• Can use oral language to formulate hypotheses, to critique ideas or positions, to present ideas etc.

7. Proficient language use (Gr. 8 on)• Can modify spoken language to meet

audience needs (e.g., rephrase complex ideas into simpler terms)

• Can use spoken language to critically reflect on and analyze other spoken texts

• Uses a range of spoken text genres effectively in a range of contexts

• Uses spoken language to reflect on learning and to development own learning; can use language to clarify intended meaning

8. Advanced language use• Demonstrates sophisticated understanding of the

power and effect of spoken language when speaking and listening

• Interacts responsively and confidently with familiar and unfamiliar audiences and chooses language appropriately

• Can analyze the sociocultural values, attitudes, ideologies and assumptions spoken texts convey

• Responds with understanding and insight to spoken language from outside own sociocultural milieu

• Is able to identify specific spoken language qualities that present a particular style or manner of speaking (e.g., petulant, bombastic, humorous, reasonable)

Promoting oral language development

• Include specific play areas in the classroom that encourage children to role play (e.g., shop, post office, telephones, walkie talkies)

• Arrange furniture so that it promotes discussion and exploration

• Include an area in the classroom where the class can gather for newstelling, story reading, calendar and weather chat, etc.

Promoting oral language development

• Read to students daily. Include texts that have a range of topics and styles.

• Teach and recite rhymes, poetry, finger plays.

• Read books that include rhyme, rhythm and repetition; encourage word play

• Shared reading

Promoting oral language development

• Provide materials that support young learners’ retellings (e.g., puppets, feltboards, cardboard cutouts, sequence pictures)

• Have students create stories to accompany wordless picture books

• Promote storytelling• Barrier games• Readers theatre

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