Let’s Play - Building Oral Competencies of English Learners in K-3 Settings Through Playful Activities

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by hdkawk

The article examines how early childhood educators can support English learners (ELs) in K-3 oral language development through playful, student-centered activities aligned with EL-specific standards and accommodations. It explains why ELs face social and academic speaking and listening challenges, including language and acculturation gaps, delays in BICS and CALP acquisition, and the need for culturally appropriate nonverbal communication. It also outlines foundations of oral competency and the learning process shaped by trial-and-error, corrective feedback, and acculturation phases.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages9

Reading Time23 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

Foundations of Oral Language Learning for ELs

Let’s Play: Building Oral Competencies of English Learners in K-3 Settings Through Playful Activities Elke Schneider and Andrea Kulmhofer-Bommer Introduction There are several reasons for focusing on nonnative speakers of English, or English learners (ELs) and their oral language development in K-grade 3 settings. For one, ELs represent the fastest growing student population in the U. S. with an over 50 percent increase since 2010 in almost every state, especially in the southern region of the U. S. (U. S. Department of Education, 2017a) . Moreover, it is a daunting task for ELs to become fluent users of English who understand the socio-cultural and linguistic characteristics of this complex language (Ariza & Coady, 2018) . Compared to their native speaker peers, first generation ELs or newcomers who often have experienced mi gration traumas (Dutro, 2019; Guirguis & Longley, 2020), have not had a chance to acquire the foundations of English prior to entering preschool or kindergarten (Fielding, et al. , 2017) . They have a huge language and acculturation gap to fill (for more details on ways to integrate newcomers, see U. S. Department of Education, 2017b) . Second-generation ELs whose parents immigrated to the U. S., are also constantly challenged to process differences and similarities between English and their home languages and traditions (Ariza & Coady, 2018; Yehuda & Lehrner, 2018) . Therefore, early childhood educators need to be aware of ELs’ diverse language and acculturation needs to support them effectively. However, early childhood educators (heretofore referred to as educators) often lack proper training to meet ELs learning needs (Villegas, et al., 2018) . Therefore, this article (1) assists educatorsin better understanding the diverse social and academic learning needs of ELs in their varying language acquisition and acculturation stages, and (2) introduces EL-specific, playful oral language learning activities that are student-centered and align with EL-specific standards (TESOL International Association, 2006) and identified accommodations (Ariza & Coady, 2018) . Foundations of Oral Language Learning for ELs Well-developed oral language skills, in this article referred to as competencies, are the foundation for successful academic reading, writing, and spelling skills (Stagnitti, et al. , 2016; Jennings & Haynes, 2018) . Oral language competencies include both effective listening and speaking skills as both are necessary to communicate competently (Ariza & Coady, 2018) . Consequently, developing oral language competencies for social and academic scenarios in K-grade 3 settings requires an explicit focus on proper social and academic speaking skills and listening comprehension skills (Jennings & Haynes, 2018; Zwiers & Hamerla, 2017) . To acquire these competencies, ELs’ along with all other students, must have an awareness of how to pronounce and use words, phrases, and sentences in grammatically and socially appropriate ways. Additionally, ELs must understand and use nonverbal communication features (i.e. , gestures, postures, facial expressions) and language features such as tone of voice or pausing in culturally appropriate ways to achieve communication goals (Foorman, 2015; Khalifa & Fallal, 2017) . These features make up about 80 percent of oral communication and Dimensions • Volume 50/Number 1 19 complement often fragmentary oral language (Hull, 2016) . For instance, if ELs do not have the language competence to answer a question properly, they can supplement their utterance with gestures or facial expressions to be understood. ELs struggle with the acquisition of oral language competencies for various reasons. For one, dialectal language variations can complicate the development of academic oral competencies needed for school. Furthermore, it takes ELs about two to three years to acquire native-speaker-like basic interpersonal communication skills (BICS) used outside the classroom

FAQs

Why focus on English learners’ oral language development in K-3 settings?

ELs are a rapidly growing student population, and they often need support to become fluent in English with both socio-cultural and linguistic understanding. Early educators also frequently lack training to meet ELs’ diverse learning needs.

What are oral language competencies for English learners?

Oral language competencies include listening and speaking skills necessary for effective communication. They involve socially and grammatically appropriate use of words, phrases, and sentences, plus nonverbal communication features.

How should educators think about ELs’ participation in playful oral language activities?

Participation depends on ELs’ individual stages of language acquisition and acculturation. Educators should recognize that ELs progress at different paces and benefit from positive corrective feedback and opportunities to practice in meaningful interactions.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by hdkawk