Particularly at the secondary level, it’s not second nature for teachers to systematically teach oral language in their classrooms, educators told me recently at a conference hosted by the National Center for Research on the Educational Achievement and Teaching of English-Language Learners, or CREATE.
Secondary-level teachers are trained to get across content to their students, they said.
Researchers at the conference presented findings that show that English-language learners, and other students with weak verbal skills, benefit from oral language. I write about these findings in an article that was just published at edweek.org. They stressed that the teaching of oral language in the classroom helps students to improve their vocabulary and background knowledge, which helps to enhance reading comprehension.