Oral Language Development
Developing oral language can be challenging for many emergent bilinguals because of phonemes, morphemes, prosody, fluency, and semantics in the English language. Its important to know where a student's English proficiency level is at so an instructor can modify any work and goals that will best fit their students needs. Students are most exposed to oral language in a social setting such as on the playground at school when they're with their friends. They feel more safe in a social setting because their affective filter is down, they feel comfortable taking risks with using their oral language. Compared to a formal setting such as in the classroom, their affective filter is high and they feel more pressure to implement oral language. When their affective filter is high, a child might go into what is called a silent period, where they are not speaking at school. This does not mean that the child is not learning. This is when they can successfully demonstrate near proficiency or proficiency in English.
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Ongoing participation in academic conversations provides practice in both listening to and speaking AL, shown to increase content area understanding and language development in students from diverse cultural, socioeconomic and linguistic backgrounds." - Michaels. Colombo. 2011 |
Wait TimeSince cultures vary on how long it is appropriate to pause before responding to a question. (Lorien. 2019). Wait time allows students to process their thinking to a question especially for Emergent Bilinguals so they can develop their responses in English.
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How this looks like in the classroom
Teachers need to:
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Strategies for Developing Oral Language in the Classroom
Listening
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Speaking
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Discussion
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When and How to Correct Students Speech Errors
When ELL's are acquiring a second language they may feel like they are always being corrected by instructors when they are speaking. As a result they begin to feel bombarded, like they shouldn't move on with the material because "their mistakes are holding them back." Its important to use careful steps when correcting a students errors so we could prevent them from feeling confronted.
When to Correct:
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How to Correct:
instructor: "Oh, you went to the store this weekend?"
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Image/Video Sources:
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http://slideplayer.com/slide/4523869/15/images/6/CoMPRehensible+Input+A+Variety+of+Appropriate+Techniques+Used+Speech.jpg
https://hechingerreport.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/photo-4.jpg
http://www.njfamily.com/200488328-001.jpg
Sources:
Chambers Schuldt, L. (2019). Oral Language Strategies_Intro to TPR. PowerPoint Slides
Colombo, Michaela. Teaching English Language Learners: 43 Strategies for Successful K-8 Classrooms. [BryteWave]. Retrieved from https://shelf.brytewave.com/#/books/9781506320137/
Gibbons, P. Scaffolding Language, Scaffolding Learning: Teaching English Language Learners in the Mainstream Classroom. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann, 2015
Wright, Wayne E. Foundations for Teaching English Language Learners: Research, Theory, Policy, and Practice. Philadelphia: Caslon, 2015. Print