Transcript

What is the relationship between oral language and written language? Often what happens in schools, we are so eager to get to the written part that sometimes we actually forget that oral language lays the foundation for literacy. When children are growing and developing and maturing, what's happening is they're hearing language around them in a social context and they're learning to use language themselves and they're learning to understand language. And language becomes much more complex as they grow.

Because oral language is so critical, it allows you to talk about what you're feeling, what you're seeing, but it also allows you to talk understand what you're hearing. If you do not have strong oral language skills, so that means you have difficulty understanding the vocabulary, the words that the teacher uses in the classroom. If you have difficulty following instructions, if you have difficulty understanding questions, you're going to have difficulty with reading comprehension because listening comprehension is directly related to your ability to abstract meaning from text.

The other part with your expression, your ability to use words in a clear and coherent manner, is going to impact how you will be able to write down what you're feeling, what you're seeing and to generate stories.

Your listening comprehension and your ability to express your ideas directly relate to your ability to understand what you read and what you write, to be able to produce writing.