Oral Language and Literacy Development

According to Scarborough oral language and literacy development have a strong relationship. In fact, there should not be teaching one with out the other. Children who have strong oral skills are more likely to have strong reading and writing skills and consequently, children with poor language skills are more likely to have reading and writing difficulties. Research also shows that during the first year of life children will produce the same types of words. Pinker a noted researcher said that by eighteen months children put together two words and vocabulary grows rapidly.

Children learn vocabulary so quickly, there is either a cognitive process or innate process for language. According to Krashen, they seem to learn language differently from the way they learn other things. Reading is the key to academic achievement and it can either be taught by word recognition where there is a series of identifying words to get the meaning of the text, or through a psycho linguist view where background knowledge and cues are used to construct meaning. Regardless of the view that is chosen by teachers when people read comprehensible texts, they become proficient readers and writers. Krashen also suggests that students make connections between oral reading, language, and print. If children acquire enough knowledge of language oral or written, they will become independent readers.

Writing Instruction Reflection

My writing experiences did not include a writers workshop. I do not recall writing very much for pleasure until I took a creative writing class in the ninth grade. My elementary and junior high school days consisted of writing that would be considered teacher directed. For example, "Write about what you did last summer", "Write about what you want for Christmas." It is not difficult for me to identify with ELL students because unfortunately I heard a lot of dialects and broken English. This was mostly heard outside of school because my teachers insisted on using and making sure that students were exposed to and consistently used standard English. There was a lot of dialogue between the student and teacher in all the classes.


I can identify with Teacher-Guided Reporting because as suggested in the chapter "activity by itself is not enough". The teacher talks were important to all black teachers who taught black students because it was a noted consensus that using standard English was essential in order to get decent opportunities for employment and so when they taught any kind of subject these teachers mandated "teacher talks" that was informative, so their students understood the language. According to Wegerif and Mercer, in teacher guided reporting, the teacher talks with the students to make sure they are engaged in at the time. My River of Literacy includes teachers like Mrs. Clement and Mrs. Delafose working closely with me on learning the alphabets, phonics and fluency being taught very quickly. My mama and daddy could not read or write but saw to it that all eight of their children did. When I think back, my sisters and my brother were my first teachers and they were harder on me than any teachers I ever had.

Questions and Answer with Ms. Lani Tassillo

Ms. Lani Tassillo has been teaching for over 30 years. She has taught 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th grades. Lani loves teaching. She says it keeps her young and she prides herself on maintaining a sharp memory because she has to read a great deal to keep up with and innovate methods regarding reading. She has been trained in the whole language approach of reading but Lani's philosophy about teaching literacy is more of an eclectic approach. She believes that children must be able to comprehend written and spoken language thoroughly in order to succeed. I asked her the following questions about her literacy philosophy.

Brenda: "Do you believe that reading and writing should be taught together or separately?"

Lani: "I believe that reading and writing should be taught together or course. I do believe that a teacher must know her class in order to teach them effectively because children must be mature enough in order to receive explicit instruction."

Brenda: "What literacy skills should be taught explicitly if any?"

Lani: "Precursors such as the ability to decode comprehension of texts and fluency. Children must be able to have clear and consistent literacy skills so that they will be good readers and writers. They must know the alphabets, have great memory and even though I love whole language, children need phonics to decode well, it helps with comprehension.

Brenda: "What is the most important component of literacy?"

Lani: "I think comprehension because that is the ultimate goal of reading. If a person can not comprehend what is written or said, what is the use? When a person has to take standardized tests, they need to be able to comprehend a passage in a paragraph so they can get the main idea if asked."

Brenda: " What does literacy do for children, especially the young?"

Lani: "Literacy helps a child understand the world around them. it helps them learn to think critically and opens the door to so many fun experiences they would not necessarily have the opportunity to enjoy."

Brenda: "What advice do you have for new teachers who are just beginning to teach literacy?"

Lani: "Just remember that teaching good literacy skills will help with academics in other subjects and will create a way to build knowledge. Reading is power no matter what language or country you're from, reading and knowing how to read is power.