An investigation of oral language and writing proficiency in third‐grade students

Abstract

Over the years, professionals have hypothesized that a positive relationship exists between children's oral language proficiency and their written language performance. This study examined the following two aspects of the relationship between oral and written language: (a) Are specific linguistic components of language more closely related than others? (b) Do groups rated high, medium, or low on written language measures differ significantly in oral language proficiency? Measures of oral and written language were administered to 77 third-grade students. Results indicated that moderate relationships existed between grammatical aspects of oral and written language. Oral language proficiency was significantly different for groups rated high, medium, and low on the basis of written language performance.