Oral Language

I think that two important oral language concepts for English language learners are listening and speaking. It is important for ELL students to feel comfortable with oral language before they begin to develop their written language skills.

Listening is key to learning to speak. Some ELL students will experience a silent period. This is perfectly okay. They are trying to adapt to their new environment and will speak when they are ready.

When mastering their speaking skills, there are two aspects of language to look at: BICS and CALP. BICS is the day to day language skills that one needs to interact with people. It's more of a social language. CALP is more of the academic language that is used in the classroom.

I found the following two websites both useful and interesting.

http://www.alliance.brown.edu/tdl/elemlit/orallanguage.shtml

http://www.everythingesl.net/inservices/bics_calp.php

The first website talks about oral language development strategies to use with ELL students.

The second website talks about BICS and CALP. It explains what they are and the differences between the two.