Oral Language Development

This weeks reading focused on oral language development in the classroom. I found the section on the integration of skills beneficial because when students learn a language they learn all four skills listening, reading, writing, and speaking. A successful teacher would not separate these skills and teach them individually every time. I will integrate listening activities that make students create written projects. The students can then present there project to other students enhancing the other students listening skills, while keeping the content relatively comprehensible. One interesting thing I learned while reading was that children acquire listening before reading and writing in the L1. When I reflect on this idea, I see how this is true. Humans acquire listening skills before reading, writing, or speaking. I think this is a very important point to make for the classroom. Students need to be exposed to language in various forms. They need to be able to listen to music, tv, jokes, and total physical response storytelling (TPRS). One has to keep in mind that the content should be scaffolded to student ability and take into account of students interests. All activities should be meaningful for learners, otherwise it makes learning less effective.

The P&B book continues on by describing the effectiveness of oral language development in content area instruction. The three areas mention in this chapter are math, social studies, and science. There are many advantages of content instruction including development of metacognitive skills, students can be allowed to explore the world around them through problem solving, and students are exposed to new vocabulary and should be given the opportunity to present new material to other students.

Finally, how do you assess students? The SOLOM is an observation instrument used to asses students oral language. The five characteristics are comprehension, fluency, vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation. I can use this assessment to monitor student progress through out the year in daily classroom activities. It is suggested to assess students in a group setting. The benefit of the group setting is the anxiety factor students can feel when they take a formal assessment. Teachers should not only use formal assessments like the SOLOM, but also informal. These can include obeservations, grades, and assignments students have completed. The more students are assessed the better understanding teachers can have of student oral language development.