Oral Language: The Foundation We Cannot Ignore

Read alouds build vocabulary, knowledge, imagination, and a love of story. Long before children can read complex text on their own, they can listen, wonder, and talk.

I’ve been thinking a lot about oral language lately. The importance of it in reading development. What it actually means for kids. How we teach it. How we evaluate it. And maybe most importantly—how we grow it.

In the reading world, there has long been discussion about the language gap many children bring with them to school. Research has suggested that children from lower socioeconomic backgrounds may enter school having heard millions fewer words than their peers. They may have had fewer opportunities for extended conversation, fewer complex sentences directed toward them, and fewer opportunities to build vocabulary through varied experiences.

Whether the exact number of the so-called “word gap” is accurate or not, one thing is clear to anyone working in schools:

Language differences are real.

Teachers see it every day.

Some children arrive at school able to speak in long, detailed sentences. They tell stories. They describe experiences. They ask questions and build ideas through conversation.

Other children arrive with fewer words, shorter sentences, and less confidence in expressing their thinking.

But here is where the conversation sometimes gets stuck.

We spend a lot of time documenting what students don’t have. And far less time talking about what schools can do about it.

Cognitive scientist Mark Seidenberg has argued that literacy conversations too often focus on deficits rather than solutions. In Language at the Speed of Sight, he notes that what children bring to school matters, but what schools do once children arrive matters just as much. The task for schools is to build the language, knowledge, and experiences that support reading development.

That shift in thinking is important.

Because schools are not powerless.

When Schools First Confront the Challenge

I hear something often when we begin talking about oral language and knowledge-building in schools.

Teachers say:

“It’s too hard.”

I understand why it feels that way.

How can a child with limited language experiences listen to stories about Ancient Rome? How can they build vocabulary and knowledge about complex topics if they don’t yet have the language to understand them? Won’t it just go over their heads?

These are real concerns. I heard them constantly when we first brought CKLA into our schools.

Teachers were frustrated. Many did not believe it would work.

I remember having a conversation with a second-grade teacher during the first or second week of school. She had been teaching for over twenty years, and she was incredibly stressed out. She told me it was the first time in her career that she felt like she had no idea what she was doing.

I remember walking away from that conversation thinking we might lose her.

Then about two months later, I saw her again.

She came running down the hallway toward me. She was so excited she could barely get the words out. She started talking about skills and knowledge and vocabulary and understanding. She was telling me about the conversations her students were having, the words they were using, and the knowledge they were building.

And she said something I’ll never forget.

She said she had never seen anything like this before.

In that moment I remember thinking to myself: This is going to work.

Because what she was seeing was exactly what the research suggests happens when children are immersed in rich language and knowledge building.

As we continued rolling CKLA out across our schools, something interesting happened.

Teachers started to reach that same point.

The moment when they begin to see it working.

And when that happens, the belief starts to change.

Children Can Learn Complex Language

One of the biggest misconceptions in education is that children must learn simple language before they can learn complex language.

But that’s not really how language works.

Children are incredibly capable of absorbing language when they are immersed in it. They are curious about the world.

They love learning about Ancient Rome, Greek myths, the American Revolution, and the Civil War.

They want to understand animal habitats, diseases, inventions, and discoveries.

I’ve had students come up to me talking about yellow fever, ecosystems, and historical events using vocabulary that honestly surprises me.

Sometimes they use words that I have to stop and think about.

But that’s what happens when students are surrounded by rich content and rich conversation. Children learn language.

How Schools Build Oral Language

The most powerful thing schools can do is immerse students in language and knowledge.

That happens through a few key practices.

Read Alouds

High-quality read alouds expose students to vocabulary and sentence structures they might not encounter in everyday conversation.

When teachers read rich texts aloud and stop to discuss ideas, ask questions, and explore words, students are hearing and processing language that expands their understanding of the world.

Conversation

Language grows through talk.

Students need opportunities to explain ideas, ask questions, and build understanding together.

Structured conversations—turn and talk, partner discussions, and whole-class dialogue—allow students to practice using new language in meaningful ways.

Vocabulary in Context

Words stick when they are connected to knowledge and ideas.

When students learn vocabulary while studying topics like ancient civilizations, ecosystems, or historical events, the words become part of a broader understanding of the world.

Knowledge Building

Knowledge and language grow together.

When students learn about history, science, geography, and literature, they acquire both the concepts and the language needed to talk about them.

And something powerful happens over time.

The conversation in schools begins to change.

Instead of focusing on what students can’t do, teachers begin noticing what students can do.

They see students using sophisticated words.

They hear them explaining ideas.

They watch them connecting knowledge across topics.

And once that happens, the question changes.

Instead of asking whether students can handle complex language, we begin asking: How far can we take them?

Because the truth is, children can learn far more language than we sometimes expect.

And schools have not only enormous power to make that happen, we have the responsibility to make sure it does.

When we know better, we teach better.

See you next Sunday!

References

August, D., & Shanahan, T. (Eds.). (2006). Developing literacy in second-language learners: Report of the National Literacy Panel on Language-Minority Children and Youth. Lawrence Erlbaum.

Beck, I. L., McKeown, M. G., & Kucan, L. (2013). Bringing words to life: Robust vocabulary instruction (2nd ed.). Guilford Press.

Catts, H. W., & Kamhi, A. G. (2017). Language and reading disabilities (3rd ed.). Pearson.

Hart, B., & Risley, T. R. (1995). Meaningful differences in the everyday experience of young American children. Paul H. Brookes.

Hirsch, E. D. (2016). Why knowledge matters: Rescuing our children from failed educational theories. Harvard Education Press.

Ness, M. (2016). Think big with Think Alouds: A three-step planning process that develops strategic readers. Scholastic.

Seidenberg, M. S. (2017). Language at the speed of sight: How we read, why so many can’t, and what can be done about it. Basic Books.

Shanahan, T., & Shanahan, C. (2008). Teaching disciplinary literacy to adolescents: Rethinking content-area literacy. Harvard Educational Review, 78(1), 40–59.