Oral Language Development & Phonological Awareness

Chapter 4, Thompkins, pp. 111-114 (handout for 6 th ed.); Chapter 5, pp. 146-155
(142-148 6th ed.)
Oral Language Development:
1. Why is oral language so important?
a. It is the foundation for literacy learning.
b. It can predict reading success: if not developed by first grade, vocabulary knowledge,
phonological knowledge, etc.
2. How do young children develop oral language?
a. Through everyday language experiences and interactions with language models
(talking, childrens television shows, play, etc.)
b. Through interactive read alouds
c. Through planned classroom language experiences like retells, grand conversations,
Language Experience Approach, etc.
3. What are the four language modes of oral language development?
a. Phonology-sound of language
b. Syntax-grammar of language
c. Semantics-meaning of language
d. Pragmatics-social conventions of language
4. Things to consider for language development of second language learners:
a. Basic Interpersonal Communicative Skills may only take around two years to develop.
b. Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency may take seven or eight years to develop.
Phonological/Phonemic Awareness:
1. Phonemes-smallest units of sound
2. Phonological Awareness the ability to think and talk about differences in speech sounds; it is
about sound only; it has been found to be the most powerful predictor of later reading
achievementso dont skip it in your teaching.
a. Understanding that our language is made of sentences.
b. Understanding that the sentences are made of words.
c. Understanding that words can rhyme and have divisible parts
i. Syllables- cat has one syllable; kitten has two syllables
ii. Rhyme-cat, hat, batall rhyme
iii. Onset-consonant before first vowel in syllable
iv. Rime-vowel followed by consonant in syllable
d. Phonemic awareness -more sophisticated level of awareness because it is an ability to
hear individual phonemes
i. Manipulation:
1. Matching- identifying sounds that are the same in syllables/words
2. Segmenting-breaking a syllable/word apart to hear individual
syllables/sounds

3. Blending-putting individual syllables/sounds together to hear

syllables/words
4. Phoneme deletion and substitution-If I have cat, I can remove the /k/
sound and add the /b/ sound to get bat. If I have bat, I can remove the
/b/ sound to get the word at.
5. Isolation-identifying an individual sound within a word
6. Counting-counting individual sounds within a word
3. Teaching phonological/phonemic awareness.
a. Remember it is only about sound and can be developed through oral language and read
aloud activities. Teaching should be:
i. Developmentally appropriate
ii. Purposeful and thoughtful
iii. Integrated, not isolated
b. Special considerations for ELL students
i. Engage them in much song, word play, read aloud, etc. This mimics the early
language experiences that children get before entering school.
ii. Start with sounds that are similar in their home language.
iii. Explicitly teach sounds that are dissimilar from their home language, noting that
they are different.