Oral and Written Language: Understanding the Differences and Implications for Teaching

Presented by Claude Goldenberg, Ph.D., Nomellini & Olivier Professor of Education, Emeritus, Stanford University

Sponsored by Illuminate Education

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As long as there are no brain injuries or disabilities, the ability to understand and produce oral language (listening and speaking) comes naturally to humans. Oral language evolved in our species about 300,000 years ago—it’s built into our DNA. The same is not true of written language, which was invented a short 5,000 years ago. Alphabetic languages are even more recent.

In order to become literate, individuals must learn how to access and process written language, which in turn requires learning how speech sounds are represented in print. Full, comprehensive literacy requires much more, but explicitly linking speech to print is an essential step in the process. During this edWebinar, Dr. Claude Goldenberg explores this “speech-to-print” (and “print-to-speech”) connection and shares:

• The difference between oral and written language
• How and why oral language and written language are different and why that matters when teaching students to read and write
• Why the difference really matters when teaching ELs
• What teachers need to do differently when teaching ELs to read and write in English compared to when teaching English speakers to read and write

Don’t miss this opportunity to expand your knowledge of language development and its implications for reading instruction. This recorded edWebinar is of interest to K-12 teachers, librarians, school and district leaders, assessment, RTI, and MTSS coordinators, and educational coaches.

About the Presenter

Claude Goldenberg, Ph.D. is Nomellini & Olivier Professor of Education, Emeritus, Stanford University. He is the author of Successful School Change: Creating Settings to Improve Teaching and Learning (Teachers College); co-author with Rhoda Coleman of Promoting Academic Achievement Among English Learners: A Guide to the Research (Corwin); and co-editor with Aydin Durgunoglu of Language and Literacy Development in Bilingual Settings (Guilford). He has published and been on the editorial boards of various literacy and education academic and professional journals. Dr. Goldenberg’s previous projects focused on improving literacy achievement among English learners in elementary and middle school, language and literacy development among Mexican children in Mexico, and a randomized control trial of an early literacy intervention in Rwanda. His current projects include consulting for the U.S. Department of Justice on English learner issues and chairing a research advisory panel on early childhood education for Arizona’s First Things First.

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Illuminate Education partners with K-12 educators to equip them with data to serve the whole child and reach new levels of student performance. Our solution brings together holistic data and collaborative tools and puts them in the hands of educators. Illuminate supports over 17 million students and 5200 districts/schools.