Oral Language and Comprehension in Preschool: Teaching the Essentials

Before children are readers and writers, they are speakers and listeners. This book provides creative, hands-on strategies for developing preschoolers' speaking, listening, and oral comprehension skills, within a literacy-rich classroom environment. Each chapter features helpful classroom vignettes; a section called Preschool in Practice, with step-by-step lesson ideas; and Ideas for Discussion, Reflection, and Action. The book addresses the needs of English language learners  and describes ways to support students' literacy development at home. The final chapter pulls it all together through a portrait of an exemplary day of preschool teaching and learning. Reproducible forms and checklists can be downloaded and printed in a convenient 8 1/2" x 11" size.

Lesley Mandel Morrow, PhD, is Distinguished Professor of Literacy and Director of the Center for Literacy Development at the Graduate School of Education at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey. Her research, which she conducts with children and families from diverse backgrounds, deals with early literacy development and the organization and management of language arts programs and literacy-rich environments. Dr. Morrow has published more than 300 journal articles, chapters, and books. Her work has been recognized with awards including the Outstanding Teacher Educator in Reading Award and the William S. Gray Citation of Merit, both from the International Reading Association (IRA; now International Literacy Association), and the Oscar S. Causey Award from the Literacy Research Association (LRA) for outstanding contributions to reading research. Dr. Morrow is past president of the IRA and is a member and past president of the Reading Hall of Fame.

Kathleen A. Roskos, PhD, is Professor in the Department of Education and School Psychology at John Carroll University, where she teaches courses in reading assessment and intervention. Formerly an elementary classroom teacher, Dr. Roskos has served in a variety of educational roles, including as director of federal programs in the public schools, department chair in higher education, director of the Ohio Literacy Initiative at the Ohio Department of Education, and a coprincipal investigator of several Early Reading First federal projects. Dr. Roskos studies early literacy development, teacher learning, and the instructional design of professional development for educators, and has published research articles, chapters, and books on these topics.

Linda B. Gambrell, PhD, until her death in 2024, was Professor Emerita in the Eugene T. Moore School of Education at Clemson University. A leader in the literacy field, she conducted research and published widely on reading instruction, comprehension strategy instruction, and literacy motivation. Dr. Gambrell was elected to the Reading Hall of Fame in 2002 and was a recipient of the Oscar S. Causey Award and the Albert J. Kingston Award from the Literacy Research Association, among other honors. She was a past president of the International Literacy Organization.