One big part of comprehension is having a sufficient vocabulary, or knowing the meanings of enough words. Readers who have strong comprehension are able to draw conclusions about what they read – what is important, what is a fact, what caused an event to happen, which characters are funny. Oral language is the ability that provides children with pathways to thought. Without structured oral language, thinking and reading can be difficult. Students who lack exposure to rich oral experiences will need more explicit instruction in language to help them.
- The key to assessment and instruction in oral language is assessing these skills early on and focusing instruction on building a foundation of these skills through listening comprehension and oral expression. Building the foundation of oral language skills can begin as soon as a child enters school.
- Listening comprehension encompasses the multiple processes involved in understanding and making sense of spoken language. These include recognizing speech sounds, understanding the meaning of individual words, and/or understanding the syntax of sentences in which they are presented.
- Listening comprehension, also known as oral comprehension, can present a struggle for learning disabled children. Many disabilities can make it difficult for them to attend to information delivered orally, including difficulties in processing sounds and prioritizing sensory input.
Get your child ready for literacy in Kindergarten through simple everyday activities and play!
Kids can learn valuable skills through small, teachable moments during a normal day. This means no grueling work sessions with flash cards, buying expensive educational toys, or completing tedious worksheets!
Experts agree that children must have repeated exposure to “pre-literacy” activities to build their skills and enable them to become successful future readers. These skills set the stage for reading: (1) print awareness, (2) phonemic awareness, (3) vocabulary, (4) writing, and (5) oral language and comprehension.
Here are effective ways to sneak in literacy skills anywhere you go to give your child a head start for school:
Oral language skills are the foundation for learning how to read and write. Through interactive read-alouds, telling stories or pretend play, singing songs, holding a conversation with an adult and being surrounded in a language-rich Pre-K environment, children will learn the pre-literacy skills they need to be successful readers later.
Tell It Back to Me
A critical skill for young children is that they can retell a simple story. After reading a bedtime book, make a point of asking your child to tell you what happened in the story. It can be very simple, but having them pause, think back and then retell you the characters and important events from the story is a powerful technique for pre-readers to build their comprehension.
Ask Open-ended Questions
Instead of asking your child questions that elicit a one-word answer of yes or no, stretch their thinking by asking “What happened?” Or “What do you think will happen next?What was your favorite part of the story?”
Take Turns When Talking
Engage with your child by teaching them how to hold a back-and-forth conversation. Taking turns modeling for children how to tune-in and listen to another person, then how to articulate a response.
Ask your child questions about their toys, their favorite characters or books; make sure to get down on their level, make eye contact and listen closely as they speak. Take turns when talking with them.
Giving children many chances to engage and communicate, while encouraging them to think and respond through back-and-forth exchanges does wonders to develop their vocabulary and speaking skills. It actually changes their brain according to this MIT study!
Oral Comprehension Activities
Read their favorite books over and over again!
Day after day is your child bringing you the same book to read? There are incredible benefits for young children to hear the same story read over and over again. Hearing the same words, the same pattern and same rhythm of the story will help your child become familiar with more words. They also understand more of the story’s meaning, such as the characters and events, with each reading. So even if you’re tired of reading the same book for the tenth time, just know it’s good for your child!
Vroom App
Oral Comprehension Skills
Download the free Vroom app to teach you ways to use mealtime, bath time, or anytime in between to nurture your child’s brain growth.
One of the best ways to develop your child’s oral language and comprehension is by discussing a great book! See if you can find these books at the library to enjoy with your child.
Check out this list of Favorite Books for Pre-K Children.
Read a Book Online for Free
Using your library card number your child they can visit TumbleBooks, an online collection of animated, talking picture books, or the NC Kids Digital Library to choose from hundreds of picture books that will read aloud as your child follows along.
Oral Comprehension Passages
TumbleBooks TumbleBooks can be read by you or read to you!