Research: Oral Language and Writing

Question: Is writing simply an extension of oral language?

Answer/Quote: “…does not consider written language as simply an extension of the child’s oral language….”

Comment: With reading, especially beginning reading, oral language and reading build on each other. The young child uses the words in their oral vocabulary and relates them to the words in print. The case is otherwise with writing.

In fact, the closer students are to oral language habits, conversational habits, the farther they are from standard written English.

I don’t discourage students from writing as they speak, especially when they are starting out, but as they mature, I help them to understand how standard written English differs from the English they use when they speak.

In my next blog, I will elaborate on this concept. I will tell how I help students differentiate informal from formal Standard Written English. RayS.

Title: “Viewpoints: The Word and the World—Reconceptualizing Written Language Development Or Do Rainbows Mean a Lot to Little Girls?” AH Dyson. Research in the Teaching of English (February 1991), 997-123.