Oral Language Development

Across Languages
ELIZA H. SUMALBAG
Head Teacher III

MARITES C. CASTRO
Principal I
 Features of the K to 12 Curriculum

learner-centered, standards- and

inclusive, and research- competence-based,
based seamless, decongested

culture-responsive and
culture-sensitive,
flexible, ICT-based,
integrative and
and global
contextualized, relevant
and responsive

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
 21st Century Skills

1. Visual and 1. Creativity and Collaboration and 1. Flexibility and

information curiosity interpersonal skills adaptability
literacies 2. Critical thinking 2. Initiative and self-
2. Media literacy problem solving direction
skills 3. Social and cross-
3. Basic, scientific, cultural skills
economic and 3. Risk taking
4. Productivity and
technological accountability
literacies and
5. Leadership and
multicultural responsibility
literacy
6. Ethical, moral and
4. Global awareness spiritual values

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
Domains K to Gr. 3 Gr. 4 to 6 Gr. 7 to 10 Gr. 11 to 12
Oral Language

Phonological Awareness
Book and Print Knowledge

Alphabet Knowledge

Phonics and Word Recognition

Spelling

Fluency
Writing and Composition

Grammar Awareness

Vocabulary Development

Listening Comprehension

Reading Comprehension

Attitudes towards literacy, language and

literature
Study skills
Why oral language?
Language to Literacy Model

Reading
comprehension

Decoding
and spelling

Phonics

Martha Cummings, Ph.D. Phonological

CCC-S
Awareness
Speech Pathology Australia
National Conference Alice
Springs 2002 Oral Language
6
How do Children Learn to Talk?

They require:
• Good speaking and listening models
• An interactive environment
• Exposure to books and games
• Encouragement to play and make believe
• An introduction to rhymes and songs

7
How do Children Learn to Talk?

• Encouragement to talk in a variety of situations

with a variety of people
• Repetitive language (eg. rhymes, stories)
• A purpose for talking
• An expectation to communicate
• Opportunities to use and practice language

8
Language Difficulties
• What is language delay?
– Acquisition of skills is behind peers but
developmental order is the same; remediable

• What is a language disorder?

– Difficulties or skills not seen in normal development;
may be remedied through therapy

• What is a language impairment?

– Deficit skills are not able to be remedied; lifelong
difficulties

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION 9
Causes

Hearing loss (eg. middle ear infections)

Genetic predisposition (ie family history)
Siblings talking for them
Language poor environment
Psychological (eg. trauma)
Intellectual or physical Impairment, Autism.
Cultural factors (ie English second language)
Unknown

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION 10
How does language affect learning?
Language demands of the classroom

Language delays and disorders will impact

on all areas of the curriculum e.g. maths
concepts necessary for comparing and
categorising according to number, shape,
size
(ie. What is the number before 20, sort the elephants
from smallest to largest, sort the objects into groups
and name the categories)

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Strategies to Improve Language
Simplify
• Simplify your language when the child doesn't
understand
• This may require you to
– Re-word your instruction or question, focussing on one
information carrying element at a time
– Break down the question or instruction into more manageable
steps

Model and repair

• This is a positive way to stress the words or grammar
you want the child to learn
• Naturally include this in conversation
– For example:
– Child: Him felled down the stairs
– Adult: Yes. He fell down the stairs

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION 12
Strategies to Improve Language
Offering a choice
• This technique significantly reduces the complexity of the response
• For example: Where’s Spot? (No Response) Is he under the chair or
table? (Table)
Focussing on important information
• The technique helps children identify the part of the request they
should be attending to
• For example: How are these flowers different? (Yes they are
different) What colour is this flower? (Red) And what colour is this
one? Etc
Relating unknown to the known
• The technique helps students to make meaning by activating prior
knowledge
• For example: The spaghetti is hard. How will it feel when it is
cooked? (I don’t know) Remember when we cooked the potatoes?
How did they feel?
Ask Open ended questions (not yes/no)

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION 13
Strategies to Improve Language
DO NOT:
• Ask another child the answer
• Challenge the response when it is wrong
(Why do you think that?)
• Say No
These responses affect a child’s self
esteem, they know they are wrong and
will gradually not participate. Stay with
the same child to get the answer by
providing prompts/strategies.

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Learning a new
language…..what is
involved?

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Here is what researchers say about learning a new
language…

We learn a language when

we listen and respond to
real messages…

Learning a language is not

about learning rules of
grammar or listening and
repeating words…
(adapted from Krashan, 2001).

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Best process for language learning:

First listening & responding in

action

Then speaking

Then reading and writing

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First listening:
Students learn a new
language best when they
listen and respond to
clear and interesting
speech in a
non-threatening situation.

Forcing them to speak

too soon and insisting on
correct pronunciation
and grammar hinders their
successful learning.
(Adapted from Krashan, 2001).

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION 18
Then speaking…
…meaningful speaking, together with
meaningful listening, helps students
become aware of the structure of the
language and helps them become
more competent in its use
(Cummins, 2001).

… oral proficiency in the target

language [is] of critical importance
for the development of …
reading comprehension among
third- and fourth-grade students…

(Droop & Verhoeven, 2003, pp. 78-103).

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Then reading and writing…

“Children's knowledge and

skills transfer across languages
from the mother tongue…
to the school language”.
(Jim Cummins, 2000)

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HOW?

TPR (Total Physical

Response)
to introduce oral L2 and or L3

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION 21
What is TPR & why does it work?
Early TPR activities provide learners with opportunities to
hear, see and respond to directions. Later TPR activities
provide the learners with opportunities to use the language
themselves but always in relaxed and enjoyable situations.
TPR allows learners to acquire L2/L3 vocabulary in a manner
similar to the way that they learned their first language.
All of the language in TPR is immediately understandable,
involves actions and allows learners to pass through a silent
period whereby they build a comprehension base before
being asked to speak.
(Adapted from Total Physical Response Storytelling, on the Internet.)

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION 22
Types of TPR
TPR-B (TPR using the body)

TPR-O (TPR using objects)

TPR-P (TPR using pictures)

TPR-S (TPR using stories)

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION 23
How do TPR-B and TPR-O work?

TPR involves Hear-See-Do

1) HEAR (T says the command; students
listen)
2) SEE (T and 2 volunteers model the
action; other students watch)
3) DO (students do the action)

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION 24
TPR sessions are divided into 2 parts:

1) Teacher and 2 student volunteers to

model the response to commands (25%
of the time)

2) Rest of the students respond to the

commands (75% of the time).

When they are ready, students can give

the commands themselves (taking turns
in small groups).
DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION 25
 What kinds of TPR can we use?
TPR - Body
• Teacher tells/demonstrate/
show the students to do
something with their bodies
(walk, sit, jump, turn around,
etc.)
• Teacher then ask 2 volunteers
to do the actions
• Students do the action

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION 26
 What kinds of TPR can we use?
TPR – Object

• Teacher tells the students

to do something with
objects (pick up an object,
do something with it)
• Teacher, then teacher
and 2 volunteers to
demonstrate the actions
• Students do the actions

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION 27
 What kinds of TPR can we use?
TPR - Drawing
• Teacher says directions to
draw something on the
chalkboard and
demonstrates the response
(draws as directed)

• Teacher says directions again

and volunteers demonstrate
the response

• Teacher says the directions again and several students

respond by drawing on the chalkboard while others
draw as directed in their exercise books

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION 28
 What kinds of TPR can we use?
TPR-Picture: Listen and Point

• Teacher shows a picture to

teach new vocabulary words.

• Teacher says 2 short

sentences about something
in the picture.

• Teacher tells student to point

to the things in the sentence.

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION 29
DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
 What kinds of TPR can we use?
TPR-Picture:
Respond to questions
• Teacher shows a Big Picture
of a familiar setting.
• Teacher uses short L2/3
sentences to talk about
different parts of the picture.
• Teacher asks students short
questions, based on what was said.
Students respond to the questions.

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION 31
 What kinds of TPR can we use?
TPR-S: Listen, then act out a story

Teacher introduces new

vocabulary in the story

Teacher tells the story

(4-5 sentences), with actions
and a lot of expressions.

Teacher tells the story again

and students act it out.

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When they are ready,
encourage children to start
giving directions to each other;
move to longer, more complex
activities.

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION 33
Instructions for a series of actions.
Teacher gives students a series of
instructions relating to a familiar set of
activities. Students listen to all the
directions and then do them. Example:
Erase the chalkboard.
1) Go to the chalkboard.
2) Pick up the eraser.
3) Erase all the writing on the chalkboard.
4) Put down the eraser.
5) Go back to your seat.
6) Sit down.

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION 34
Dialogue
Teacher and volunteers demonstrate a conversation relating to common
events. At first, these conversations are short; later they can be longer.
Then students, in pairs, practice the dialogue. Teacher walks around the
room to encourage the students.
Examples:
Teacher: Hello, Ana! How are you today?
Student: Hello, teacher. I am fine, thank you.
How are you?
Teacher: I am fine, thank you.

Teacher: What did you do yesterday?

Student: Yesterday, I went to the market.
Teacher: Where are you going now?
Student: I am going to get water.
Teacher: Okay. Have a good day!
Student: Thank you. You, too!

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION 35
Questions about an L2 story
Teacher tells or reads a familiar story and
then asks simple questions about the story.
Children respond. Encourage the children
to use whole sentences when they respond.

Teacher: Where did the girl go?

Student: She went to the river.
Teacher: What is the man doing?
Student: He is washing the truck.

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION 36
Relay story to teach L2/3 tense, vocabulary
(number, color, etc)

 Teacher tells the students the focus of the

activity.
 Teacher starts the story or sequence by saying
one sentence.
 She throws the ball to a student who says the
next sentence.
 The student then throws the ball back to the
teacher who throws it to another student who
says the next sentence.
 Teacher makes sure that as many students as
possible get a chance to say a sentence.

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION 37
Word Bank— academic terms (after TPR)
 Identify 1-2 L2/3 terms relating to the concept in
focus (Find these words in the text before class. )
 Teach the concept in L1;
 Introduce the new term. Write it on the
chalkboard and use L1 to relate it to the concept
 Use the new term in L-2 TPR activities; students
respond
 Ask a student to write the new term on the Word
Bank (poster) for that subject.
 Review the new terms as often as possible in
meaningful activities.
DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION 38