Commentary on the relationship between oral language acquistion and the reading process

Blog Entry #3

“We learn language, we learn through language, and we learn about language” (Freeman & Freeman, 2004, p. xi). Language is involved in everything we do. For this purpose alone, the English language must be made accessible to all English language learners (ELLs). The cognitive view of oral language is one where learning and using language is innate; it just happens out of necessity. However, when learning to read, children must be explicitly taught symbol and sound relationships. They must then be able to put those symbols and sounds together to form words. The primary similarity between oral language development and reading acquisition is that neither can be mastered without multiple opportunities for meaningful practice.

As a secondary science teacher, I strive to give students multiple opportunities to practice both reading and speaking in the classroom. Science has a vocabulary of its own, and if students do not have several opportunities to apply the language in some authentic setting, they will not learn it. To have all levels of ELLs experience success, teachers of ELLs should adopt a cooperative approach to learning in the classroom. This approach to teaching allows students to bond, communicate with each other, and share ideas and views on topics taught during class sessions. This collaborative environment fostered by ELL teachers allows students to sharpen their reading, writing, speaking and listening skills while augmenting their social skills.

To connect oral language development to reading acquisition, preproduction and early production ELLs should read aloud so their teachers can help them identify words and supply them with unknown words (Freeman & Freeman, 2004). Speech emergent ELLs should do a mix of reading aloud and reading silently. Intermediate and advanced fluency students should read appropriately challenging texts silently and utilize the reading strategies they have internalized (Hill & Flynn, 2006).

Sources:

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.

Hill, J. D. & Flynn, K. M. (2006). Classroom instruction that works with English language learners. Alexandria, VA: Association fro Supervision and Curriculum Development.