The Stages of Oral Development in Young Children

What do we mean when we say “Oral Development” Oral development refers to the way children learn to express themselves fluently by speaking. Just like teachers help children progress when they learn to read or write children develop the ability to speak well when they are stimulated and supported in their explorations with oral language.

Milestones in Oral language Development AgeLanguage Milestone 3 MonthsMakes cooing sounds 11 MonthsUses multiple syllable babbling (mama, baba, dada) 16 MonthsUses some words besides mama and dada 23 MonthsCan form two-word sentences 34 MonthsUses prepositions, carries on a conversation 47 MonthsCan be understood by strangers most of the time

The Three Ps of Teacher Qualities that Promote Oral Language Learning Playful- Enjoying talking, reading, and writing with children. Planful- Thinking ahead to meet children’s oral needs Purposeful- Interacting with children to accomplish important language goals.

Planful…. Consider what the children already know and can do Take steps to further the students oral language development

Purposeful Set clear learning goals for students and deliberately engage them in activities that help them to explore and use language.

Playful Adults playful language interactions and exchanges appeal to children encouraging them to use new words and exercise their oral language skills in different situations.

Some Teaching Strategies That Promote Oral Language Storytelling Songs Shared Writing Show n tell Rhymes Finger plays Shared reading Guided play

Going from Speakers and Listeners to Readers and Writers. Before children can read and write they learn to talk and listen. To move from speaking and listening to being able to read and write requires an intellectual shift in the way children think. They must understand there is a code to be deciphered and that it is different than speech. Reading is more than understanding speech written down.

Talk and Print are Alike Talking reading and writing are all alike- they all require using words to stand for objects, people and ideas. They are all interrelated children listen to a teacher reading out loud, they read what is written down. The four join together to build children’s knowledge about the world and words. When they are learning to read children rely on their experiences with speech to help them with their print experiences

Talk and Print are Different Learning to read is harder than learning to talk Print is a code that relies on the manipulation of 26 symbols (the alphabet) and children must learn to decode print first before they can say it. Adults need to help children realize the relationship between print symbols and speech sounds and help them make the effort to remember it. Print does not have the real time qualities of tone, pitch, expression and rhythm. There are sensory clues to tell the child what the words mean.

Speaking, Listening, Reading, and Writing Share Skills. Making Predictions Asking and Answering Telling and Retelling Sense of a Story Phonological Awareness

Thank You!!!

Bibliography The Importance of Oral Language Aledridge, Jerry Childhood Education. Spring, Oral Language and Early Literacy by Kathy Roskos,Patton O. Tabors,Lisa A. Lenhart Young Children's Oral Language Development. ERIC Digest Stages of Oral Language Development by By B. Otto taken from AURANO/OralLanguage.htm AURANO/OralLanguage.htm