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Comprehensive Definition
Oral Language is the system of spoken words people use to understand and express ideas. It develops before and underpins written language, making it the foundation on which literacy is built. Oral Language is made up of several interrelated components: phonology (the sound system of the language), vocabulary (knowledge of words and their meanings), grammar or syntax (the rules for combining words into sentences), and pragmatics (using language appropriately in social contexts). Of all the early skills measured in young children, Oral Language is the strongest predictor of later reading comprehension.
In the early years, children depend on spoken language to make sense of print: they must already understand a word in its spoken form before they can read it with meaning. At this stage much of their richer vocabulary comes not from everyday conversation, which tends to use a fairly limited set of common words, but from books read aloud to them. Storybooks and information texts contain more varied and sophisticated vocabulary than casual talk, so reading aloud is one of the main ways young children are exposed to the words they will later need.
As students become fluent readers, this becomes even more pronounced, because reading turns into a primary source of new vocabulary and language. Written texts introduce words, sentence structures, and ideas that rarely appear in spoken conversation, so the more a student reads, the more sophisticated language they absorb. This is also where a quiet problem can take hold. Students who read little miss out on that steady exposure, and the gap does not stay confined to reading. Because so much advanced vocabulary is encountered mainly through text, limited reading leads to limited vocabulary, which surfaces as weaker oral language in the upper primary and high school years, exactly when the language demands of the curriculum are rising. Reading and oral language therefore support one another: strong language helps a student comprehend what they read, and wide reading in turn feeds and strengthens their language.
Practical Example
In the early years, a story read aloud about dinosaurs, in which children hear words such as herbivore and carnivore used in full sentences, gives them vocabulary they would be unlikely to pick up from everyday conversation, and builds the language they will later draw on when reading about dinosaurs themselves. By the upper primary years, a student who reads widely keeps adding to their store of words and language structures, while a student who reads little is cut off from that source, and over time their spoken and written language reflects the difference.
FAQs
Q: Why is oral language the foundation of reading?
A: Reading is the process of attaching print to spoken language. In the early years a student cannot understand a written word whose spoken form and meaning they do not already know, so the strength of a student's oral language sets a ceiling on how much they can comprehend in print.
Q: Which components matter most for reading comprehension?
A: Vocabulary and syntax. Knowing the meanings of words, and understanding how words combine into sentences, are what allow a reader to make sense of text beyond simply decoding it.
Q: How does reading build oral language, rather than just relying on it?
A: Written texts contain far more varied and sophisticated vocabulary than everyday speech, so reading is one of the main ways students are exposed to advanced language. In the early years this happens through books read aloud; later it happens through students' own reading. The consequence is that students who read little receive much less exposure to sophisticated vocabulary, and this can show up as weakening oral language across the upper primary and high school years, just as the curriculum's language demands increase. Wide reading and strong oral language build on each other over time.
Q: What is academic language?
A: The more formal style of language used in school texts and instruction, which differs from everyday conversational language in its vocabulary and sentence structure. Because students encounter it far less often outside school, and largely through reading rather than conversation, academic language usually needs to be taught explicitly rather than left to develop on its own.
