Ending Literacy Poverty: The Role of Early Childhood Educators and Caregivers in Developing Oral Language

Oral literacy development is the basis for other language skills, lifelong learning, and acquisition of indigenous knowledge. The oral literacy skills of language lay a solid foundation for other skills. This paper aims at exploring the teacher role of oral literacy facilitation in the early grades. The paper is a qualitative type. Thematic explanatory and descriptive approach were used. Population for the study was all primary schools in a deprived district of Volta Region in Ghana. Fifty early grade classrooms were purposively selected in four circuits in the district for data collection. Observation, interview, and focus group discussion were the data collection instruments. It was found that teacher talk time in lesson delivery is high as compared to learner talk time. Low usage of Teaching and Learning Resources (TLRs) in lessons was evident. Inadequate professional capacity of the use of TLRs is a factor that requires attention. It was found that many strategies are available for oral literacy development in the classroom. The paper concludes that, teachers do not purposefully teach oral literacy at the early grade levels. Consequently, learners acquire less vocabulary and comprehension skills. Learners struggle along the levels of education to acquire lexical competency in many fields. The paper suggests a review of the content of the Colleges of Education curriculum to include courses in oral literacy development. It also recommends a purposeful use of the Professional Learning Community of the Standard Based Curriculum to continuously equip teachers with knowledge and skills of classroom practices to develop oral literacy skills. The supervision unit of Ghana Education Service should be resourced to monitor and coach teachers to facilitate oral literacy in early grade classrooms. Parents and caregivers are encouraged to involve children in oral interactive activities at home.