Blog 3- Oral Language and the Reading Process

Oral language and reading go hand in hand. As soon as a child is born, they are exposed to oral language. This oral language can come in many different forms, and sometimes it may not come at all. From the time the child is born to at least age three, they need to have caregivers that talk to them, use higher level vocabulary, complex sentences, love them, play with them, respond to their needs, use rhymes and read books, in order for them to acquire the necessary oral language skills (Morrow, 2012) These children that receive this are at a huge advantage since oral language development is one of the building blocks to literacy.

When children are exposed to oral language, by being read aloud to, talked to or interacted with, they develop a knowledge of concepts about print, vocabulary and exposure to ideas not necessarily found in their circle (Morrow, 2012). This information transfers over to when they are in school and reading books. If a student’s oral language is developed, and then when they sound out words on a page, they will use their knowledge of oral language to make a connection to that word and its meaning. “Once students decode printed words, they recognize them as words from their oral language” (Freeman, Freeman, 2004). Children will also be able to make meaning of text because of their background knowledge.

Oral language is essential to the development of reading skills. Children who do not develop the appropriate oral language skill, generally enter school far behind their peers and will continue to fall farther and farther behind.

Freeman, D. E., & Freeman, Y. S. (2004).Essential linguistics: what you need to know to teach reading, ESL, spelling, phonics, and grammar. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

Morrow, L. M. (2012). Literacy development in the early years: helping children read and write (7th ed.). Boston: Pearson.