The relevance of oral language skills to early literacy: A multivariate analysis

Abstract

This study examined relationships between oral language and literacy in a two-year, multivariate design. Through empirical cluster analysis of a sample of 88 kindergarten children, four oral language subtypes were identified based on measures of semantics, syntax, metalinguistics, and oral narration. Validation efforts included (a) concurrent and predictive analyses of subtype differences on reading, spelling, and listening comprehension measures based on a priori hypotheses and (b) a comparison of the teacher classification of the children with the empirical classification. The subtypes represented high average, low average, high narrative, and low overall patterns of oral language skill. The high average subtype received the most consistent evidence for validation. The pattern of validation results indicates that the relationship between oral language and literacy is not uniform and suggests a modification of the assumption that oral language skills have a direct role in reading acquisition.

The Home Literacy Environment and the English Narrative Development of Spanish–English Bilingual Children

“…As a consequence, it is commonly agreed that oral narrative production plays an important role in fostering young children's literacy skills, such as reading comprehension, narrative writing, and reading fluency, as well as their overall academic outcomes (e.g., Bishop & Edmundson, 1987;Feagans & Appelbaum, 1986;Griffin et al, 2004;Justice, Bowles, Pence, & Gosse, 2010;Pankratz, Plante, Vance, & Insalaco, 2007;E. Reese, Suggate, Long, & Schaughency, 2010;Speece, Roth, Cooper, & De La Paz, 1999;Tabors, Snow, & Dickinson, 2001). For example, Griffin et al (2004) found that children's use of evaluative information and elements of story grammar in their stories at 5 years of age were a unique predictor of reading comprehension and narrative writing skills, respectively, at 8 years of age.…”

Early Predictors of Reading Comprehension Difficulties

“…It has been suggested that vocabulary (or oral language skills) influence reading comprehension only after decoding skills have been established (Speece, Roth, Cooper, & de la Paz, 1999;Vellutino, Tunmer, Jaccard, & Chen, 2007). However, some studies suggest that oral language skills are essential in early reading comprehension (Bishop & Adams, 1990;Catts, Fey, Zhang, & Tomblin, 2001).…”

Early phonological and lexical markers of reading disabilities

“…Children with reading disability are often reported to have subtle impairments in expressive phonology and vocabulary (Masterson & Kamhi, 1992;Olofsson & Niedersøe, 1999;Scarborough, 1990aScarborough, , 2001Shankweiler et al, 1995;Speece, Roth, Cooper, & De La Paz, 1999). Such impairments become apparent with a variety of language tasks including confrontation naming (e.g., Dietrich & Brady, 2001) and speeded repetition (e.g., Catts, 1989;Fawcett & Nicholson, 2002).…”