Recent studies indicate that strengthening oral language skills during early education significantly enhances literacy and overall academic performance. Findings from recent oral assessments of sixth-grade and fourth-year secondary students in Catalonia reveal disparities of nearly 20 points favoring Spanish over Catalan in certain indicators. This highlights a long-recognized need, supported by scientific evidence, to prioritize oral language instruction throughout schooling.
Pilar Prieto, an ICREA researcher from the Department of Translation and Language Sciences at Pompeu Fabra University (UPF), emphasizes that promoting oral discourse directly improves literacy, as it forms the foundation of language. She advocates for a paradigm shift in language instruction, relying on scientific research that confirms that enhancing oral communication, particularly in preschool and primary education through oral storytelling interventions, positively impacts linguistic learning.
A study conducted by Prieto”s research group, focusing specifically on secondary students learning English, demonstrated that oral skills significantly bolster written expression. “We must recognize that enhancing oral skills also improves writing; the development of complex oral narrative discourse directly influences overall academic performance, which is closely linked to reducing early school dropout rates,” states Prieto. She points out that structured interactions with adults enhance both children”s discourse levels and vocabulary usage.
The UPF research group asserts that oral language development should incorporate what they term “multimodal language,” which emphasizes the importance of vocal and physical expression during communication. Prieto notes that a decade ago, they began studies on enhancing oral language through multimodality, which includes the use of gestures, yielding promising results. Subsequently, they integrated this research into educational programs tailored for learning Catalan in multilingual environments.
“We have developed programs for early childhood education and reception classrooms throughout Catalonia, co-created in collaboration with educators and technicians from the Department of Education and Vocational Training,” highlights Prieto.
Researcher Julia Florit-Pons, also from the same group, based her thesis on a project implemented in early childhood classrooms in L”Hospitalet, where many students do not regularly speak Catalan. “In addition to observing improvements in the target measure we were analyzing—narrative structure—we noted an effect on language use. After participating in nine sessions of the program, the narrative discourses of these children featured more Catalan than Spanish, where initially it was not the case. Their vocabulary became richer and more varied,” she recounts.
These positive outcomes led to the development of a new version specifically designed for reception classrooms, which is currently in the implementation phase, but preliminary results are already very encouraging. This program is being rolled out in 20 schools across Catalonia, involving 176 participants, and both teachers and students “have noticed a systematic improvement in oral and written comprehension, as well as social language use,” according to Ingrid Vilà-Giménez from the Comparative Minds research group at the University of Girona (UdG). Preliminary results also indicate “an increase in confidence and fluency among these newly arrived students in schools.” “They perceive that they understand and speak Catalan better. These are very positive developments,” adds Vilà-Giménez.
Considering these findings, how should language be taught? The researchers stress the need to incorporate communicative activities that are “relevant and contextualized” in real-life situations and to do so transversally across all subjects, not just language classes. Another crucial aspect is to ensure that students are exposed to a strong language model through teachers” language (a rich, natural, and expressive use of oral language). “In our programs, we work to ensure that teachers are aware of their role as linguistic role models and have the tools to promote oral communication within the classroom,” they assert.
Furthermore, it is essential to provide opportunities for students to express themselves orally in the classroom, offering many chances for children to reflect on these high-quality linguistic models and generate their own discourse while consistently using Catalan as the language of cohesion and reference.
