Oracy: social facets of language learning

Researchers and educators have developed an interest in language development. Their studies focused on the cultural context in which language is learned and developed and its relationship to cognitive development. This article reviews the researchers’ definitions on oracy and its social facets of language learning. Specifically, it reviews studies that describe (1) how language develops, beginning at birth and throughout the children’s lives, based on their cultural group’s social life, (2) the teachers’ roles in providing young children with a variety of receptive and expressive language experiences, and (3) experiences that can be provided in natural settings to help young children recognize the relationship between the spoken and written language.