From oracy to literacy

Sticht, T. G. (2003). From oracy to literacy. Literacy Today, 36, 18.

Background

The author notes that a child’s listening skills develop ahead of their reading skills. From this, it is possible to develop the concept of ‘reading potential’, the level a child would reach if their reading skills were to match their listening skills. He notes, however, that, when looking at the needs of weak readers among adults, there is a tendency to give them a written intelligence test to judge their potential. He suggests this is inappropriate.

Aims

The author suggests that it might be more appropriate for the adult learners to be given listening tests. The adult learners’ listening level will better indicate their ‘reading potential’ as they will need the oracy skills before phonics, phonemics and decoding skills can be useful.

Sample

The author quotes one study done in the United States with 2,000 adults and another with a prison population of men with fourth-grade reading level. Two other studies respectively involved 71 native speakers of English on an adult literacy programme and 45 adult learners of English as a second language.

Method

In each of the studies, the participants’ listening and reading skills were tested.

Findings

In every case, it was found that, contrary to expectations, the participants’ listening and reading levels were closely aligned. In most cases, their listening levels were only marginally above their reading levels so that their ‘reading potential’ was low. The exception was the learners of English as a second language for whom the levels were reversed with their reading levels (average grade level 4.8) above their listening levels (average grade level 4.4). However, again the gap was small.

Implications

The author believes that these learners need help in developing their oracy in terms of vocabulary and content knowledge. By developing their speaking and listening skills, they will be better prepared to use decoding skills to improve their reading.

Original article retrieved from EBSCOHost.