Children's oral language development and early literacy practices

Strong oral language skills and the ability to communicate effectively provide the foundation for learning in all curriculum areas. A well-developed knowledge of oral language and its uses enables children to manage and direct their own activities as a learner, along with the ability to operate successfully in formal classroom settings where language is used in increasingly abstract ways. In relation to early literacy practices, oral language skills provide the foundation for sound literacy development and are the pre-requisite to written language. The reciprocal relationship between children's spoken and written language means that oral language skills will impact early and later achievements in learning to read and write (Morrow & Tracey, 2007)..