Mary-Kate DeSantis, educator and reading specialist who trains teachers, and Charles Hulme, D.Phil., Oxford psychologist researching reading and dyslexia, discuss oral language’s central role in reading. They explore what oral language is, how to screen for language deficits, and classroom strategies and interventions that boost comprehension.
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insights INSIGHT
Reading Is Fundamentally Language
Reading is fundamentally a language activity that converts written symbols back into spoken language meaning.
Oral language skills underlie both decoding and comprehension, so language is core to reading development.
insights INSIGHT
Simple View Needs Developmental Context
The Simple View splits reading into decoding and language comprehension but treats them as independent.
Developmentally they both grow from earlier oral language skills, so the model is useful but incomplete.
insights INSIGHT
Early Language Predicts Reading Outcomes
The Reading Is Language model traces both decoding and comprehension back to preschool language competence.
Early language predicts later dyslexia risk, word reading, and reading comprehension outcomes.
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Susan Lambert is joined by emeritus professor of psychology and education and the University of Oxford, Charles Hulme, D.Phil., and founder of Left Side Strong LLC, MaryKate DeSantis. They dive into the critial connection between oral language development and reading comprehension. They also explore exactly what oral language development is, how to screen children for deficits in oral language abilities, and the most effective strategies educators can use for intervention.
"Language comprehension is really what leads us to reading comprehension." —MaryKate DeSantis
"We talk about learning to read, but we also need to talk about reading to learn. A lot of what we learn in our lives is through reading, and reading is certainly a powerful drive of vocabulary and language development." —Charles Hulme, D.Phil.
"Language skills are unconstrained, meaning the sky's the limit. As long as you continue to engage in any sort of way, your language skills can continue to develop throughout your lifetime." —Susan Lambert
Timestamps*: 00:00 How language skills shape reading success 06:00 Defining reading comprehension 08:00 Reading is language. Without language, there would be no reading. 12:00 Importance of language skills for comprehension 16:00 Our main purpose in life is to communicate with others 21:00 Development of language skills 23:00 Moving the needle on literacy achievement 28:00 How students can help develop students' language capacity 31:00 Screening to assess oral language skills 35:00 Why early language instruction is effective and sustainable 39:00 Key takeaways 41:00 Focusing on language is worth the time 43:00 Closing thoughts *Timestamps are approximate, rounded to nearest minute
Science of Reading: The Podcast