Enhancing Oral Language Development for Multilingual Learners

As multilingual learners acquire English proficiency, building oral language skills should be a priority. Oral language provides the foundation for literacy and overall academic success. Students — English speakers and multilingual learners alike — need to develop both productive (speaking) and receptive (listening) language.?Vocabulary is a critical aspect of oral proficiency (but it’s not the whole story). We know that students with robust vocabularies do well in school because they use their word knowledge to comprehend text and read fluently, to understand lectures and explanations, and to more clearly express their ideas orally and in writing.??Students’ word knowledge is the driver of speaking and listening and is critical for learning new information.?

To get back to the “rest of the story,” other aspects of oral language that students need to develop are, for example, syntax, pronunciation, and pragmatics, which refers to socially acceptable ways of communicating such as knowing when more formal speech is required, taking turns in a discussion, or interpreting a comment as intended.?

Most multilingual learners enter U.S. schools with weaker oral language skills than their English-speaking peers. They’ve had much less exposure to the sounds, words, and phrases of English, have had fewer opportunities to develop an innate sense of English grammar, and may have culturally influenced pragmatic practices.

Thus, multilingual learners need daily opportunities to learn and practice oral English in classroom environments that invite collaborative academic discussions,?where oral language use is emphasized, and student-to-student interaction is promoted.?As students strengthen vocabulary and other oral language skills, their reading and writing skills are more likely to improve.

Multilingual learners benefit from brief interactions to express their understanding (e.g., Think-Pair-Share, Turn and Talk) as well as more extended discussions where they summarize material, grapple with ideas, and build on one another’s contributions.?

The following?activities?promote oral language practice through more extended language use, practice that is more likely to develop a deeper level of oral language than brief exchanges. As an added benefit, these activities combine oral language practice with movement.?Research shows that?movement improves learning and focus as well as reducing classroom management issues. Multilingual learners have double the work, learning new information and skills in a new language, so opportunities to get up, move, and interact provide much-needed breaks from seat work. Establish and practice transition routines so that students move smoothly into the activities.?

Take a Stand.?This activity provides multilingual learners with listening skills practice. Students agree or disagree with a stated position and provide a rationale for their decision. Sentence frames may be useful for multilingual learners (and other students) such as,?I respectfully disagree with ___________ because______________.??The activity begins with the teacher making a statement to students related to a topic being learned, a current event, a story or novel, etc. Working in partners or teams with four to six students per team, the partners/team first discuss the statement made by the teacher. They have a?chance to grapple with ideas, make connections between others’ ideas and their own, build on a peer’s contribution, express disagreement, make a counterargument, and come to consensus. On the teacher’s cue, “Take a Stand,” the partners/team stand or stay seated depending on what they decided. They then explain to the class their rationale for agreeing or disagreeing. Multilingual learners participate orally in the discussion but also practice listening skills within the group and as other partners/groups articulate the rationale for their decision to stand or sit. They also hear vocabulary associated with the topic repeated multiple times by speakers and in their own group discussion. Depending on the age of students, the students themselves can create the statements used for agreeing or disagreeing and ask the rest of the class to respond.

Standing Circle Share.?This activity promotes oral interaction among small group members. While appropriate for all grade levels, teachers need to ensure?students can accurately paraphrase or summarize text and teachers should take care to select readings at appropriate reading levels for their students. This activity provides differentiated instruction by having texts on the same topic at varied reading levels.?

?????Students in a group are given a short passage or a paragraph from a text to read that is numbered, such as 1-6. Students number off so each one has a section of text to read.?After students read their section, they all stand up and form a standing circle joining with their group members. In their groups, each person orally paraphrases what they read in the section of the text.?Together, the group of students answers a series of teacher-created questions based on the information they read and shared, coming to consensus about their answers.?After students finish their conversation about the questions and the text, they return to their seats?and record in their notes three things they learned, or individually answer the questions after having the benefit of listening to the standing circle share.

Example: Math – Fractions Review

1. Students are given one of the following readings: Adding Fractions, Subtracting Fractions, Multiplying Fractions, Dividing Fractions
2. Students read and highlight/annotate their section of the text.
3. Students form standing circles of 4 that represent each of the readings.
4. Students paraphrase their section of the reading.
5. Together, students discuss:????
6. “What similarities and differences are there between adding and multiplying fractions?”
7. “What similarities and differences are there between dividing and subtracting fractions?”??
8. “What are ways to remember the steps for one of the readings?” (e.g., a mnemonic for the steps of adding fractions)

Frozen Moment.?In this activity,?students re-enact scenes from a book and freeze in place as they role play for their peers. In this example, students are studying immigration and reading a piece of literature connected to the content. After reading,?Front Desk?a book about a Chinese immigrant family, the teacher distributes to each group of four or five students a piece of paper that has a three-or four-sentence scene taken from the story. Each group takes a few minutes to discuss their planned re-creation of the scene in pantomime, requiring that the scene be delivered with absolutely no movement (similar to a tableau), and each person in the group must assume a role. The roles may be characters (such as Mia or Mr. Yao) or stage props (such as the front desk, hamburger, or ledger). After adequate time to practice, students create their “frozen moments” while the rest of the class members close their eyes. When ready, class members open their eyes to view the scene and attempt to identify the which section of the book is being portrayed. (No calling out is permitted. If students think they can identify the scene, they raise a hand or use an agreed-upon signal). After the students have viewed the scene for a few minutes, the teacher joins the performers, tapping one of the actors who then “comes to life.” In character, this student describes what he or she is thinking or feeling at that moment. For example, Mr. Lorenz’s bright green car might say, “I can’t believe I was stolen in the middle of the night. I’m in a strange place now.”?The teacher ends the soliloquy by again tapping the student, who returns to the fixed, still position. Other players in the scene are tapped until class members have correctly identified the scene that is being performed.??????????

These activities are only a sampling of the many engaging ways to enhance oral language development in general education classrooms. All students benefit from these opportunities but oral language practice is critical for our multilingual learners to become more proficient users of English.?

??Activities are from:?99 Ideas and Activities for 99 Ideas and Activities for Teaching English Learners with the SIOP Model, 2nd edition?(2022). Special thanks to Andrea Rients for her contribution.