Oral Language Development:
Five Principles in Rhyme
CSU Transitional Kindergarten Pre-Service Preparation Project
Supported by the David and Lucile Packard Foundation
California State University, Fullerton
August 30, 2013
Importance of Language
 Vocabulary plays a critical role in people’s lives and
future possibilities.
 Vocabulary is strongly related to reading proficiency
and school achievement.
 Early oral language abilities provide the foundation
for development of the advanced oral language
skills necessary for successful comprehension in
older readers.
 Oral language skills make an important contribution
to literacy development as reading tasks become
more complex.
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Five Principles in Rhyme
Yopp, H. K. (2007). Fostering oral language in preschoolers: Five principles in
rhyme. The California Reader, 40(3), 43-59.
#1: You are the one if it is to be done.
 Model the use of rich language in your own speech.
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Children who hear a great deal of
language, including
 rich vocabulary
 wide variety of sentence structures
are more advanced in acquiring the vocabulary and
grammar of their language
than children who hear less language
or
 speech that uses a limited vocabulary
 narrow range of sentence structures.
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 Teachers’ language can have a substantial effect on
children’s emerging language and literacy skills.
 The syntactic complexity of teachers’ language plays
a significant role in children’s syntactic development.
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#1: You are the one if it is to be done.
 Model the use of rich language in your own speech.
 Read aloud! Share (repeatedly) a variety of books,
particularly ones that use rich language, and engage
in analytic talk about text content and language. Ask
questions that elicit language.
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Questions that Elicit Language
 What of importance just happened?
 What did we just learn about this character?
 How have things changed for this character?
 Where do you think this will lead?
 Why does the character feel this way?
 What would the other character do in this
circumstance?
 Let’s review what has happened so far. Who can
help out?
 Why do you suppose the character responded like
that?
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Questions that Limit Language
 How many mice do you see?
 Where did he find the key?
 How many sisters does she have?
 Does he like what happened?
 When did he say he would return?
 What age is the character?
 How did he greet the newcomer?
 So, what just entered the cave?
 Is the character happy about this?
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#1: You are the one if it is to be done.
 Model the use of rich language in your own
speech.
 Read aloud! Share (repeatedly) a variety of
books, particularly ones that use rich language,
and engage in analytic talk about text content
and language. Ask questions that elicit language.
 Establish a classroom atmosphere,
environment and curriculum that encourage
talk.
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#2: Make time for two:
A child and you.
 Development in the early years is best predicted by
the quality of teacher-child interactions.
 Increased ratios of teachers to children have been
found to result in better outcomes for children—likely
in part because of increased opportunities for teacherchild language interactions.
 A major contributor to emergent literacy is the quantity
and quality of conversations with adults that engage
young children.
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#2: Make time for two:
A child and you.
Teachers must be mindful of their conversational
habits.
 Observe children and express interest in their
interests.
 Ask questions that require clarification and
elaboration.
 Be patient and respond warmly.
 Let the child take the conversational lead.
 Organize the day to ensure adult-child
conversations.
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#3: What language is key?
Think about three.
 Build vocabulary, teaching words in rich contexts
and ensuring multiple exposures.
 Engage in decontextualized language, talking with
children about more than the “here and now.”
 Encourage pretend talk.
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 The amount of time young children engage in
pretend play is related to their performance
on language and literacy measures several
years later.
 Research reveals a relationship between
sociodramatic play and…
– Vocabulary development
– Comprehension
– Use of decontextualized language, including more
complex syntax.
 There are clear links between pretend play and social
and linguistic competence.
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#4: Plan for four. Offer a
curriculum that is rich, not poor.
The content areas and language learning are
inextricably connected, and their relationship is
reciprocal.
 Language enhances content learning.
 Content learning enhances language.
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#4: Plan for four. Offer a
curriculum that is rich, not poor.
 Explore topics in (1) social studies, (2)
science, (3) mathematics, and (4) the arts.
 Encourage language use in all subject areas.
 Use and provide friendly explanations of the
language of the content.
 Teach content using strategies appropriate for
young children.
 Avoid shallow treatment of subject matter.
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#5: Strive for five.
Keep the topic alive.
 Engage children in extended discourse, that is
conversations that require the use of multiple
utterances or turn taking (at least five exchanges!).
 Stay on the same topic for a sustained time.
 Express an interest in children’s conversational
initiations and responses.
 Be stationary occasionally. (Moving teachers
seldom engage in lengthy verbal exchanges with
children.)
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The ability to engage with extended discourse
is related to literacy development because
literacy beyond word recognition demands that
readers/ listeners/writers be able to understand
and use increasingly complex narrative and
exposition (i.e., arguments, explanations,
descriptions). Concepts cannot be expressed in
single words, and complex concepts cannot be
expressed in single sentences. They are
developed across extended linguistic structures.
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Conclusion
Oral language is the foundation of literacy and must be a major
emphasis of transitional kindergarten programs. Teachers
contribute to children’s oral language development by
implementing ideas related to these five principles:
1. You are the one if it is to be done.
2. Take time for two: a child and you.
3. What language is key? Think about three.
4. Plan for four. Offer a curriculum that is rich,
not poor.
5. Strive for five. Keep the topic alive.
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Reference
For more detail and research citations, see the
following article:
Yopp, H. K. (2007). Fostering oral language in preschoolers: Five
principles in rhyme. The California Reader, 40(3), 43-59.
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For additional information please visit http://teachingcommons.cdl.edu/tk/ or contact
Dr. Kim Norman, CSU TK Project Director, at [email protected].
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