Oral language is a broad skill that includes listening and speaking. It involves understanding how to say words, what words mean, and how to use words to convey wants, needs and ideas.
Developing oral language is important because it is the foundation for phonemic and phonological awareness. This video share more about oral language milestones across grade levels. If you’d like to learn more about the milestones for all the essential literacy skills, visit our online module here.
What does it look like when a child is struggling with oral language?
What this feels like to me
- “I don’t know how to say words I want to say.”
- “When people ask me questions, I don’t understand what they mean.”
- “I get frustrated when I can’t express myself and I will cry, hit or bite.”
What I see at home
- My child doesn’t seem to understand when I make a simple request or ask them questions.
- Other people do not understand my child when they are speaking or trying to communicate.
- My child isn’t understood by other children when they are playing.
- My child avoids or gets upset during back and forth play with other children.
What I see in the classroom
- She avoids or gets upset frequently while playing with other children.
- What they are saying or the words they are using don’t make sense in the situation.
- He has a hard time making inferences when I am reading books to the class.
How do we support oral language development?
What I can do to help myself
- Try to use words even when others don’t seem to understand.
- Be patient with others when they don’t understand. Learning to speak to others is difficult!
- Ask questions when you don’t understand what someone is saying or asking you.
What I can do at home
- Narrate your day to your child so they are exposed to lots of language.
- Be patient when you don’t understand what your child is saying. Ask them to “say it another way” when you don’t understand.
- Give extra time for your child to respond after asking a question or making a request.
- Ask questions while reading books like “what do you think happens next?”
- Consider a referral to early intervention or special education for a speech and language evaluation.
Find activities you can do at home to support oral language below!
What I can do to in the classroom
- Narrate what I am doing in the classroom to expose students to language.
- Ask students open ended questions to get them thinking and speaking deeply about the books and word around them.
- Give students time to respond when asking questions.
- Ask students to “say it another way” when you don’t understand.
- Ask a speech therapist to observe and provide feedback to you.
What are some fun and easy activities I can do at home?
These are just some examples of activities that you can do at home with your child to support oral language development depending on the stage of your child’s reading. To find more easy activities to do at home that support all the essential literacy skills, visit our online module here.
- The ABCs of Active Reading: This video shares techniques to use when you read aloud to your child that will help build their oral language skills.
- Dialogic Reading: This technique supports children in discussing what they read with an adult. An example for Kindergarten is shown here.
- Extended Dialogue: When talking with your child, ask questions to extend the conversation. Try for five back and forth exchanges!
- Talking in the Kitchen: These prompts encourage extended dialogue and opportunities for your child to expand their oral language at home. An example of these prompts is shown here.
- The ABCs of Active Reading: This video shares techniques to use when you read aloud that will help your child build their oral language.
- Dialogic Reading: This technique supports children in discussing what they read with an adult. An example for second grade is shown here.
- Mirror mouths: Look at how your mouth moves as you make sounds looking in a mirror
- Rhyming Games: “How many words rhyme with cat?”
- I-Spy with sounds: “I spy something that starts with ha.”
- Word chains: Say a word and change the first or last letter “cat…bat…sat…sad…mad…”
- Robbie the Robot: Click to see a robot activity that helps students work on segmenting and blending sounds. (link to this page:
- Cheerleader Chants: Using letter sounds, not letter names, say “C…A…T…What does that spell? CAT!
- Convince Me: Provide opportunities for your child to persuade you the next time the child is trying to convince you to buy something, go somewhere, etc. Ask them to create a presentation (e.g., speaking, writing, or using online tools) to share their reasoning.
- Ask How/Why Questions: When talking to your child about their interests, incorporate “how” and “why” questions to encourage detailed responses. (Ex. How do you think that makes them feel? Why do you think that is?)
- Visit the 95% Group Website for more activities