Remington Landis
The Development of Oral Language
Learning a new language can be challenging and sometimes even difficult. This can be the reason that some language learners are not ready to jump into a new language. The result of this can be a silent period and wait time. Most second language learners go through something called a silent period before they begin to speak. Teachers should not assume that because students do not talk, they are not learning (Wright, 2015, p.155). A silent period is essentially just an amount of time that a student is absorbing so much information, they chose not to speak. These can last for different amounts of time and can be very important to developing a second language. When learners of a new language do not feel comfortable using the language, they may also need time to process their thoughts in English before speaking. Giving students time for this process after asking them a question or requiring them to respond is called wait time (Wright, 2015, p.156). This can be difficult for some teachers to achieve because the silence required for wait time can seem awkward. Yet, this extra time you give students to process what they want to say helps them understand and eventually gain confidence when using the new language.
Another thing that supports the development of oral language are productive ways of correcting student errors. One way to do this is to recast. Recasting the student is basically repeated whatever the student said in a way that rewords it to help understanding. This can sometimes be rewording what the students says so it is grammatically correct, or it can be rewording it so others can have an easier time of understanding it.
​
​
Strategies For Listening
One of the very important mechanisms for supporting Emergent Bilinguals in the development of oral language is listening strategies. We know from second language learning theory that to learn English, students must receive comprehensible input, and much of that input comes from listening in the context of meaningful interaction (Wright, 2015, p.165). Because the comprehensible input from listening in the context of meaningful interaction is important in the development of oral language, several strategies can be helpful in order to achieve it. Several strategies are:
​
- Total Physical Response (TPR) Lessons
- Listening Comprehension Tasks
-Listening Centers
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
Total Physical Response, or (TPR) Lessons, are lessons that provide a set of commands in the target language to which students respond by taking a specific action (Wright, 2015, p.165). These lessons will include a lot of repetition visuals and realia in order to develop a full understanding. Listening comprehension tasks require students to listen to the new language being learned and then respond by completing a task in order to demonstrate understanding and comprehension. Listening centers are places in a classroom that students will be allowed to go to in order to hear recordings of books and follow along with the written texts. They can be recorded tapes, cds, or MP3 players that can be listened to with headphones on preferably.
Strategies For Speaking
Another important mechanism in supporting Emergent Bilinguals in the development of oral language is speaking strategies. The idea behind this is that students develop oral language more effectively when speaking. When students are in situations where they must communicate with others and create comprehensible output, they may become aware of gaps in their developing language and may be pushed to pay more attention to input containing what they need to successfully communicate with others (Wright, 2015, p.168). A few helping strategies in the development of speaking in order to support oral language are:
​
-Oral Retellings
-Song and Chants
-Oral Presentation
-Minimal Pairs
​
Strategies For Classroom Interaction
An additional mechanism in supporting Emergent Bilinguals in the development of oral language is strategies for classroom interaction. The most important and beneficial listening and speaking that students will do is through interaction with the teacher, their fellow ELLs, and proficient English speakers within the sociocultural contexts of their classroom, school, and neighborhood (Wright, 2015, p.170).
-Cooperative Learning
-Think-Pair-Share
-Roundtable Concentric Circles
-Numbered Heads Together
-Role Play
-Barrier Games
-Obstacle Course
-Acting Out Stories
-Class Discussions
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
Discussion strategies
To enact environments in which it is possible to practice effective listening and speaking strategies, one must provide thoughtful classroom discussion. In the book, Teaching English language learners: 43 strategies for successful K-8 classrooms, Michaela Colombo, provides helpful strategies for enacting discussion. She states, “For ELLs to develop academic oral language proficiencies they must engage in ongoing, meaningful classroom conversations. Social conversations are a good way to ease into academic conversations” (Colombo, 2011, p.176).
​
​
​
​
​
References
Colombo, M. (2011). Teaching English language learners: 43 strategies for successful K-8 classrooms. Sage.
​
Wright, W. E. (2015). Foundations for teaching English language learners: research, theory, policy, and practice (Second ed.). Philadelphia: Caslon Publishing.
​
Images Retrieved From:
​
