Educator Edition: 4 Simple Strategies to Enhance Oral Language in the Classroom
Practical Approaches to Strengthen Literacy Through Oral Language Instruction
The Power of Oral Language in Literacy
Before children pick up a book, they listen, speak, and communicate, forming the building blocks of reading comprehension and written expression. At the core of this process is oral language development, the foundation for literacy success.
As an educator, you play a vital role in bridging the gap between spoken and written language, and you’re likely already incorporating many of these strategies in your classroom. This guide offers practical, research-backed techniques to help you refine and enhance oral language instruction, ensuring that every student—regardless of background or skill level—has the tools needed for academic success.
Learn more about our Five Key Components of the Science of Oral Language for Educators
- Select language-rich texts that expose students to new vocabulary and complex sentence structures.
- Pause throughout the reading to ask open-ended questions and engage in collaborative discussions, encouraging students to think critically and verbalize their thoughts.
- Introduce new words in meaningful contexts, connecting them to students' prior knowledge and encouraging students to use new vocabulary in discussions and writing to reinforce their understanding.
- Implement morphological instruction by breaking words into prefixes, roots, and suffixes, helping students decode and comprehend complex words.
- Have students retell stories in their own words, focusing on sequencing and key details.
- Encourage students to describe events from what they read in order, improving comprehension and verbal organization.
- Use partner discussions and small group activities to encourage students to articulate their ideas. Teacher tip: Provide sentence starters and prompts to support structured conversations.
- Implement classroom debates and structure discussions to foster verbal reasoning and fluency.
Oral language instruction is not just an added component of literacy education, it is the foundation of reading success. By incorporating explicit vocabulary instruction, structured discussions, and interactive read-alouds, teachers can equip students with the skills they need to become confident readers and expressive communicators. By prioritizing oral language development, you set students up for literacy success and lifelong learning.
See how oral language development paves the way for literacy and lifelong learning with our
Connecting Language & Literacy: From Early Assessment of Oral Language Skills to Confident Reading.
