Building Oral Language and Vocabulary through the Use of Literature

Children are coming to classrooms across the United States with a need to develop their oral language. With the increased promotion of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, commercialized programs are being provided for teachers to use to build oral language in their students. The authors believe that schools and teachers can best enhance children's oral language and vocabulary development through the discriminating selection of great literature in the classroom. The authors present a tip for teachers, which is intended to show them how to build oral language and needed vocabulary when attempting to read and understand text through the use of literature, rather than with commercialized programs.