Competency 001

Oral Language

The teacher understands the importance of oral language, knows the developmental processes of oral language and provides the students with varied opportunities to develop listening and speaking skills.

The Beginning Teacher:

• A. Knows and teaches basic linguistic concepts (e.g., phonemes, segmentation) and the developmental stages in the acquisition of oral language — including phonology, semantics, syntax (subject-verb agreement and subject-verb inversion), and pragmatics — and recognizes that individual variations occur within and across languages, in accordance with the Science of Teaching Reading (STR).
  • What does this mean?
    • The rules of language are as vast and numerous as language itself and transposes across the many linguistic layers of our world. We as teachers are to understand how language works and the use of it in our lives and then in turn teach our students this information to help them develop their own oral language. 
  • How do you apply this?
    • A student states “Him got a dog!”; the teacher can reply back with “He has a dog? What’s his dog’s name?” Using correct grammatical form as an example while subtly teaching this form to the student.
• B. Plans and implements systematic oral language instruction based on informal and formal assessment of all students, including English-language learners; fosters oral language development; and addresses students’ individual needs, strengths and interests, in accordance with the STR.
  • What does this mean?
    • The use of informal assessment allows the teacher to create lesson plans based on the instructional needs of the students. The formal assessment is used to see how well the student grasped the concept of oral language.
  • How do you apply this?
    • Young students acquire the most oral language through both mimicry and casual conversation. Should a student be struggling with subject pronouns (he, she, they, I, you, it), practice light conversation. “He is here. I am there. You are a boy.”
• C. Recognizes when speech or language delays or differences warrant in-depth evaluations and additional help or interventions.
  • What does this mean?
    • There is a path of progression that occurs in the acquisition of speech and language development. This is typically used for reference based on age group or grade level. Should a student not be where they need to be, take the time to figure out where they are and the best ways to help them get to where they need to be. 
  • How do you apply this?
    • Let’s say that a four year old is struggling with enunciation. Speech therapy is one option that could benefit the student; having a paraprofessional work with the student one-on-one to help build their speech skills. 
• D. Designs a variety of one-on-one and group activities (e.g., meaningful and purposeful conversations, dramatic play, language play, telling stories, singing songs, creating rhymes, playing games, having discussions, questioning, sharing information) to build on students’ current oral language skills.
  • What does this mean?
    • Play is the best way to learn, regardless of whether its through cooperative play or individual play. Having students have discussions allows for application and practice of language use; academic language and casual discourse depending on the subject matter. When students can bounce ideas off of one another, it expands what all they take in language-wise. These activities are built around where the class is as a whole and where the student is individually.
  • How do you apply this?
    • The class can have a discussion over a read aloud book that the teacher has just finished via the teacher asking the students questions and vice-versa. Small groups can talk about a story that they have read together or practice retelling the story in their own words.
• E. Selects and uses instructional materials and strategies that promote students’ oral language development; respond to students’ individual needs, strengths and interests; reflect cultural diversity; and build on students’ cultural, linguistic and home backgrounds to enhance their oral language development, in accordance with the STR.
  • What does this mean?
    • Personalized education resonates the most with a student. It helps them feel like the teacher supports where they come from, who they are, and the things that they like to do. To understand where a child sits academically is to meet them on their level; to bring the content to their understanding. 
  • How do you apply this?
    • Let’s say that a student comes from a family with only one parent or comes from a family of a certain background. A simple way to catch their attention is to have a read aloud where the main character also has those same characteristics. In an individual session have the student compare and contrast themselves and the main character. Ask them questions like “What did the main character do in the story?” or “Where does the main character go?” and have the student think about or explain how they would respond in the main character’s situation.
• F. Understands relationships between oral language and literacy development and provides instruction that interrelates oral and written language to promote students’ reading and writing proficiencies.
  • What does this mean?
    • Spoken language is acquired first-reading and writing follow afterwards. The student learns to speak through listening and through practice. By supporting the student’s oral language development the teacher is providing a stable backbone for the student to build their reading and writing skills upon.
  • How do you apply this?
    • The point is to help the students understand that the words that they say can be written down and read. A morning report that has the students say what the day of the week is and what the weather outside while the teacher writes it down is a good way to foster this understanding.
• G. Selects and uses instructional strategies, materials, activities and models to strengthen students’ oral vocabulary and narrative skills in spoken language and teaches students to connect spoken and printed language.
  • What does this mean?
    • To build students’ oral language is to give them ample opportunities to take turns listening and speaking. This slightly relates to competency 001-D. Simply put, create activities that foster that written language can be spoken and read, spoken language can be written and read, and that printed language can be spoken. 
  • How do you apply this?
    • Allow the student to tell and write a 3-sentence story about themselves. If possible ask questions such as “Where did you go?” or “Tell me about blank”. Allow the students to draw a picture with a sentence describing it and then have them talk about it with a partner or in a group.
• H. Selects and uses instructional strategies, materials, activities and models to teach students skills for speaking to various audiences for various purposes and for adapting spoken language for various audiences, purposes and occasions.
  • What does this mean?
    • Words have purpose and purpose varies as much as the audience does. The goal is to give the student ample opportunity to practice using oral language in different ways.
  • How do you apply this?
    • Role play helps the student think about how a person in their position would speak as well as how they would speak to or address another person in the same or different position. Similar to role play, situational questioning builds recognition of roles in the school environment or any given environment. For example, the teacher presents a topic: How would you talk to your friends and how would you talk to your parents? Obviously this variates from grade to grade, student to student, etc., but typically a student would be more casual with friends and comply to a parent-child relationship with parents. 
• I. Selects and uses instructional strategies, materials, activities and models to teach students listening skills for various purposes (e.g., critical listening to evaluate a speaker’s message, listening to enjoy and appreciate spoken language) and provides students with opportunities to engage in active, purposeful listening in a variety of contexts.
  • What does this mean?
    •  In slight contrast to the prior sub-competency, here the goal is to assist the student in finding meaning in listening and interpreting; to take in what is said and process it themselves. This allows them to create their own internalized thoughts and opinions. Is the speaker giving information? Is the speaker telling an entertaining story? Is the speaker telling a joke?
  • How do you apply this?
    • Open-ended questions such as “What do you think the speaker is talking about?” or “Where would you tell a story or message like this?” can be used to get the student to think about, process, and internalize what they heard. Tone can be heard easily in a spoken message, therefore the student can determine if the speaker is happy, sad, angry, etc. about what they are talking about.
• J. Selects and uses instructional strategies, materials, activities and models to teach students to evaluate the content and effectiveness of their own spoken messages and the messages of others.
  • What does this mean?
    • Oral language can be used for more than communication; it is a way to convey ideas, tell stories, and inquire into our own understanding? We listen to what is said and formulate our responses to them. Our goal is for the student to understand that the language we use can effect us and invoke thought and emotion through conversation.
  • How do you apply this?
    • Questioning: Ask the student to think about something they said and ask if they can say it a different way but still get the message across. The same method can be used to ask a student to listen to something someone else as said and to think about what it means. What are they talking about? How would they restate what has been stated? 
• K. Recognizes the interrelationships between oral language and the other components of reading, in accordance with the STR.
  • What does this mean?
    • As presented in the glossary, the STR starts with oral language development and builds upon its practices to help develop reading proficiencies and writing proficiencies; we must learn to speak before we read and we must learn to read before we write.  
  • How do you apply this?
    • As stated, speak to read to write. Once we as teachers comprehend this growth cycle, we can teach our students. When we help our students with their language skills, we help them become metacognitive about this skill-they think about their speech and what they can do with it. Once we help them realize the uses and applications of their oral language, then we can help them understand that spoken words can be read and can be written down.
• L. Selects and uses appropriate technologies to develop students’ oral communication skills.
  • What does this mean?
    • Media and technology both have benefits that can be utilized by the oral language learner. As technology advances, its uses in the classroom does as well giving the oral language learner games to practice listening and speaking. Each age group has a limit to what technologies they are able to utilize correctly and safely, therefore it is up to the instructor to determine what technologies they can use in the classroom. 
  • How do you apply this?
    • Tablets can be programed with apps and games to foster communication. One such example can be “phone call with a fictional character”. Another can be as simple as letting a student talk about their day or something they did into a tape recorder and listen back to themselves should they want to.

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Questions:

1. What are some beneficial ways that you can incorporate play into oral language development?
2. What are the benefits of helping students be metacognitive about their oral language learning?
3. What are some activities that promote oral language?
4. How would a teacher properly find materials that reflect on a student’s cultural background accurately?
5. How would a teacher utilize a student’s cultural background to boost in-class oral language development?
6. What technologies are available to help build oral language at home?
7. What is a critical listening activity that can be used in class and at home?
8. How would one engage older students in meaningful conversation activities?
9. What interventions could be done to help students with speech delays?
10. What are the benefits and challenges of teaching oral language in regard to bilingual students?