Best way to develop oral skills?

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jillio said:
Agreed. I think, once again, oral skills are being confused with, and equated to, language acquisition.
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Why can't it be both? I think that a child should not just learn rote phrases, but to understand and use spoken language.
 
faire_jour said:
Why can't it be both? I think that a child should not just learn rote phrases, but to understand and use spoken language.
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It can be both, as long as the child has complete access to the language being acquired. For instance, a hearing child can acquire spoken language while learning ASL. Acquisition of an L1 language, however, is necessary, in order for the L2 language to be learned to fluency. If there are deficits in the first language, they are carried over into the second language and become greater. That is why the L1 language and acquisition are so important to the topic of language learning. Learning and acquiring are not the same process.
 
jillio said:
It can be both, as long as the child has complete access to the language being acquired. For instance, a hearing child can acquire spoken language while learning ASL. Acquisition of an L1 language, however, is necessary, in order for the L2 language to be learned to fluency. If there are deficits in the first language, they are carried over into the second language and become greater. That is why the L1 language and acquisition are so important to the topic of language learning. Learning and acquiring are not the same process.
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Can you explain the difference to me?
 
faire_jour said:
Can you explain the difference to me?
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Acquisition is a passive activity that takes place within a specific time frame. It is an innate ability. Learning is active, and can take place at any time. That is a simplified explanation, but covers the basics.
 
jillio said:
Acquisition is a passive activity that takes place within a specific time frame. It is an innate ability. Learning is active, and can take place at any time. That is a simplified explanation, but covers the basics.
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And what is the time frame?
 
faire_jour said:
Language for this discussion.
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In that case, the prime period for language acquisition would be birth to age 3. That doesn't mean that some aspects of language cannot be acquired after that period, but the critical components attributed to acquisition will always have gaps.
 
jillio said:
In that case, the prime period for language acquisition would be birth to age 3. That doesn't mean that some aspects of language cannot be acquired after that period, but the critical components attributed to acquisition will always have gaps.
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And how much language must be acquired by that age? If they do not have a complete knowledge, or at least be age appropriate, will they forever be delayed?
 
faire_jour said:
And how much language must be acquired by that age? If they do not have a complete knowledge, or at least be age appropriate, will they forever be delayed?
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I think that you are thinking in terms of vocabulary. Much of what is acuired during the acquisition period has nothing to do with vocab. Vocab can be learned. The grammar difficulties generally seen as life long in language delayed children are one of the most pervasive consequences of failure to acquire language.
 
So, bring it back to the OP. How does a child go about acquiring spoken language? Can it be done in 20 minute a week therapy sessions?
 
faire_jour said:
So, bring it back to the OP. How does a child go about acquiring spoken language? Can it be done in 20 minute a week therapy sessions?
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A deaf child does not acquire spoken language. A deaf child learns spoken language. Are you again talking about vocab?

You'll note that the OP used the term "develop". That is a different concept that acquisition when applied to language.
 
jillio said:
A deaf child does not acquire spoken language. A deaf child learns spoken language. Are you again talking about vocab?
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And that is where I disagree. I have seen many deaf children who have very good, age appropriate spoken language. Sometime it is their only language, sometimes it is one of their bilingual languages. They hear well enough to acquire spoken language in a normal fashion.
 
faire_jour said:
And that is where I disagree. I have seen many deaf children who have very good, age appropriate spoken language. Sometime it is their only language, sometimes it is one of their bilingual languages. They hear well enough to acquire spoken language in a normal fashion.
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you'll have to be very specific about "many deaf children" you're talking about because what you just said can be very misleading
 
Jiro said:
you'll have to be very specific about "many deaf children" you're talking about because what you just said can be very misleading
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Ok. Many profoundly deaf children implanted very young.
 
faire_jour said:
And that is where I disagree. I have seen many deaf children who have very good, age appropriate spoken language. Sometime it is their only language, sometimes it is one of their bilingual languages. They hear well enough to acquire spoken language in a normal fashion.
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To offense intended, but unless you are doing cognitive assessments on these children, there is no way that you can make that statement and have it hold up. You are again confusing language with the ability to speak a word. And unless they have 100% access to all the features of language that are acquired from birth-age 3, they cannot acquire such. They can learn such, but there will be obvious gaps in their comprehension of the function and use of language. These gaps are what result in literacy and fluency deficits.
 
jillio said:
To offense intended, but unless you are doing cognitive assessments on these children, there is no way that you can make that statement and have it hold up. You are again confusing language with the ability to speak a word. And unless they have 100% access to all the features of language that are acquired from birth-age 3, they cannot acquire such. They can learn such, but there will be obvious gaps in their comprehension of the function and use of language. These gaps are what result in literacy and fluency deficits.
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I sit in on IEP meetings as an advocate, so yes, sometimes I do get to see the assessements.
 
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