Oral Language

The article that I choose is a wonderful resource that outlines oral language development in second language acquisition. It began with a quote, "Conversation is the laboratory and workshop of the student." The article then goes on to explains and discuss how oral language in connected with literacy and academic development. Then it provides suggestions for promoting and assessing oral language development in ELL’s. Some of the other topics this article covers are what are the relationships among listening, reading, speaking, and writing? How does language form, communicative function, and social context combine to affect a students’ oral language performance in the classroom? Also what strategies will assist students in developing oral language proficiency and mastery?

From reading the article I learned that listening, speaking, reading, and writing occur naturally together at school in all grade levels. When students are either writing stories, or reading them they are reading what they write. Then they might ask others to read and comment on their writing, and then they get oral feedback or written feedback from their teacher. In all these situations, the written text has been the focus of oral discussion and interpretation, this showed me how oral and written language are naturally interwoven. As a teacher I plan to enrich my students by giving them opportunities to use oral and written language for meaningful learning purposes.The article then showed me how natural oral language functions can be connected to your classroom routines, through integrating oral language with reading and writing activities. I also liked how this article showed the importance of integrating drama, poetry, and songs into the school curriculum. The site explains “by creating a secure climate where all students want to share, and by providing opportunities for students to process and present academic material in small groups and in front of the class, you will assist English learners with oral language development.” I agree that I hope that is everyone’s goal as a future teacher In conclusion here is my resource: http://www.ablongman.com/html/productinfo/peregoy5e/0205593240_ch4.pdf