10
Support Materials for Students with Special Education Needs
English K–6
Investigating oral language skills/strategies
What may be observed
Contributing skills/strategies
which may require assessment/
further investigation
Comprehension of oral language
The student:
• cannot repeat sentences accurately
• has difficulty answering basic
questions related to what they
are doing, recent experiences or
oral texts
• gives unrelated answers
• takes a long time to respond
to what others say
• has difficulty following instructions
of increasing length
• does one part of a multi-step
instruction
• misses key information in
instructions
• has a blank look when given
instructions
• waits for others to respond
• is restless when listening for
extended periods of time
• seems confused when outside
routines
Note:
Rule out hearing impairment.
• auditory memory
• understanding of sentence structure
and grammar
• receptive vocabulary (eg understanding
of nouns, verbs, adjectives, etc)
• background knowledge related to topic
• auditory processing time
• using contextual and semantic
information to infer meaning
Expression of oral language
• uses incomplete sentences or
incorrect word order
• uses short, simple sentences
• demonstrates problems with joining
phrases or sentences together
Vocabulary
• uses made up words
• uses lots of simple generic words, eg
‘good’, ‘big’, ‘stuff’, ‘sort of’, ‘thing’
• struggles to find the right word
• uses limited or repetitive vocabulary
• has difficulty using new words
• understanding of the concept
of a sentence
• understanding of sentence
structure (syntax)
• ability to combine sentences
to give more information
• ability to use more complex
sentence structures
• understanding and retention
of vocabulary
Speaking and listening
ASSESSMENT
